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George Will again – and rightly – takes aim at the banana-republic practice of civil asset forfeiture.  A slice:

Civil forfeiture is the power to seize property suspected of being produced by, or involved in, crime. In this “Through the Looking-Glass,” guilty-until-proven-innocent inversion, the property’s owners bear the burden of proving that they were not involved in such activity, which can be a costly and protracted process as people must hire lawyers and do battle with a government wielding unlimited resources. Law enforcement agencies get to keep the profits from forfeited property, which gives them an incentive to do what too many of them do: abuse the process. But, then, the process — punishment before a crime is proven — is inherently abusive.

Larry Reed introduces Nicholas Elliott’s applause for the great John Bright.

Michael Tanner writes that Americans understandably love Amazon – and that Trump’s attack on it are only further evidence of the president’s economic ignorance.

Ben Wilterdink makes the case for looking at the longer-run effects of minimum wages.  (HT Gonzalo Schwarz)

Here’s Rick Newman on Trump’s misguided trade policies.

GMU Econ alum Mark Perry corrects the mercantilist-in-chief’s misunderstanding of trade deficits stuff-surpluses.

My intrepid Mercatus Center colleague Veronique de Rugy explains that Trump’s trade policies could leave the U.S. economy in tatters.

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