David French exposes the many fallacies – and the thorough shallowness – of Tucker Carlson’s populism. (HT Scott Lincicome) A slice:
The problem with populism — and indeed with much of American politics — is that it focuses on the political at the expense of the personal. As I’ve argued many times, there are wounds that public policy can’t heal. But populism too often pretends otherwise. It tells a fundamentally false story about Americans as victims of a heartless elite and their “worship” of market economics rather than the true story of America as a flawed society that still grants its citizens access to tremendous opportunity.
(By the way, it’s strange to hear populists of either party talk — as Tucker does — of elites thinking of market capitalism as a “religion.” Both parties in this nation have embraced a truly massive social safety net. Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare dwarf other categories of federal spending. Total federal outlays — not counting state and local expenditures — represent roughly 20 percent of gross domestic product.)
Ryan Bourne reflects on Scott Sumner’s reflection on behavioral economics.
George Will writes about today’s Germany.
I could pick a few nits with this Peterson Institute report, “What Is Globalization?” – but overall it’s excellent.
Scott Lincicome discusses trade with Bill Kristol.
Jeffrey Tucker explains that Apple’s woes are evidence that Trump’s trade war is a calamity. A slice:
Tragically, too few Republicans and market defenders have called out the Trump administration for its trade policies. They decided to downplay the potential dangers because they like the deregulation, the judicial appointments, and the general war on the left. This has allowed the administration to pursue its dangerous policies, and unrelenting errors on the trade deficit, with impunity.
