Tweet [1]
Calling people on the political left “liberal” only strengthens the political left [2].
Thomas Firey assesses the Trump administration’s first 500 days [3]. A slice (which prompts me to note this irony: the deficit about which Trump & Co. incessantly screech and warn – the so-called “trade deficit” – is neither really a deficit nor a problem, while the deficit that is both real and really a problem – the actual U.S. government budget deficit – barely registers a peep of a complaint from this administration and its supporters):
However, the overall reduction of Americans’ taxes will almost certainly not endure because federal spending was not cut along with the tax changes. What spending cuts the Trump administration did propose were tiny, and Congress didn’t adopt them anyway (which the White House probably expected). Instead, Trump and Congress will close the budget gap with more federal borrowing.
Marian Tupy explains that markets have achieved what Karl Marx wanted: a reduced need to toil [7].
Speaking of too-often-unnoticed achievements of modernity, here’s Marty Mazorra [8].
Steve Landsburg’s loves Robin Hanson’s and Kevin Simler’s The Elephant in the Brain [9].
That’s a big “if,” Veronique [10].