My intrepid Mercatus Center colleague Veronique de Rugy is unhappy – justifiably so – with Ramesh Ponnuru’s case for paid family leave. See also Veronique’s letter in today’s print edition of the Wall Street Journal.
Check out – by listening to – the Why Minutes.
Jason Brennan (with help from Phil Magness) explains why Nancy MacLean deserves our contempt. A slice:
If anything, Magness goes easy on MacLean. He doesn’t mention here how she has lied about our motivations in critiquing her, saying that there is Koch-funded organization attempt to smear her. (I’m not Koch-funded and there is no organized reaction.) He doesn’t mention how she has manipulated her readers to flood Amazon with positive reviews and then gotten Amazon to remove critical reviews.
The Wall Street Journal comes down impressively hard on the absurdity of Trump’s assertion that U.S. national security requires punitive taxes on Americans who buy steel and aluminum. Here’s the conclusion:
The Trump Administration has pulled the 232 stunt because it gives the President power to act unilaterally. But its own analysis shows how weak its case is. Steel users should challenge this in court as the unlawful ruse it is.
Warren Meyer assess pro-tariff arguments.
My Mercatus Center colleague Dan Griswold exposes the faults that infect Trump’s trade-balance math. A slice:
Complaining about the “lost” $800 billion from the U.S. trade deficit is like grumbling about the $100 you lost at the checkout counter while ignoring the cornucopia of goods and groceries bulging from your shopping cart.
