Gary Hufbauer warns of America’s tighter bipartisan embrace of economic nationalism. A slice:
The US’ lurch from its post-World War II free trade principles offers China a golden opportunity. On the world stage, China will espouse open free trade and investment. China will encourage EV and battery firms to establish plants in Europe, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere, essentially daring the US to damage its own alliances by restricting third country imports containing Chinese components.
Walter Olson argues that the U.S. Supreme Court went too far on presidential immunity.
The U.S. is already crossing this ominous line. This year alone, interest payments on the national debt will reach $892 billion, which is larger than defense base funding. Annual interest payments will reach $1.71 trillion by 2034, widening the gap into an abyss.
“The blue-state wealth exodus continues.” A slice:
The IRS last week published its annual data on the migration of taxpayers and adjusted gross income (AGI) between states. California ranked, again, as the biggest income loser ($23.8 billion) in 2022, followed by New York ($14.2 billion), Illinois ($9.8 billion), New Jersey ($5.3 billion) and Massachusetts ($3.9 billion). The top gainers were Florida ($36 billion), Texas ($10.1 billion), South Carolina ($4.8 billion), Tennessee ($4.7 billion) and North Carolina ($4.6 billion).
Although higher interest rates and housing prices reduced mobility in 2022, the flight from progressive states far surpassed pre-pandemic levels. California lost nearly three times as much income in 2022 to other states as it did in 2019. New Jersey’s net income loss hit a record in 2022, largely owing to fewer New Yorkers moving across the Hudson River.
Iain Murray reflects on Liz Truss’s new book.
Then there’s Mr. Biden’s disconcertingly robotic invocation on every Charlottesville anniversary of the “bulging veins” of racist protesters. His administration adopted a habit, from day one, of equating opponents with white supremacists.
