Wall Street Journal columnist James Freeman is correct:
The idea that the center of the world’s capital markets may be about to elect a socialist mayor could cause people to laugh or cry. New Yorkers may need to laugh through their tears if self-proclaimed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani wins the November election. Fortunately Gotham residents will be able to draw on a rich trove of humor from earlier experiments in socialist economics. Bringing back the jokes from earlier leftist failures could end up being the city’s most popular recycling program.
Wherever it is permitted, capitalism continues to result in abundance, lower prices for consumers and rising wages for workers—the affordability that Mr. Mamdani says he wants.
John Phelan summarizes matters nicely: “Sow a trade war, harvest a farm crisis.”
My GMU Econ colleague Chris Coyne reviews Andrew Preston’s Total Defense. A slice:
The main contribution of the book is a more accurate understanding of the foundations of the US national security state. This is not merely a matter of getting the historical timing right, although that too is important. More fundamentally, Preston’s reorientation clarifies that the American welfare and warfare states are close siblings that cannot be separated in their origins and purpose. The unifying theme is their shared foundation in the Progressive ideology. As Preston writes, “Insurance and military efficiency sprouted from the same conceptual ground as progressivism: a desire for improvement by modernizing and rationalizing society in a way that preserved what were thought to be the core elements of American identity, democracy, and sovereignty. It wasn’t a stretch, then, for advocates of a larger military to locate their position within broader trends that propelled a progressive state in the pursuit of a better society.” This ideology birthed a large-scale and sprawling state apparatus that merged traditional military activities (the maintenance and use of a standing army and military equipment) with top-down government policies related to economic, social, and cultural policies undertaken in the name of national security. Its purpose was the same as other New Deal programs—to implement top-down state control over domestic life by an expert class who promised protection to the American populace.
Sergio Martínez writes about the 2025 Nobel Prize laureates in economics. Here’s his conclusion:
While many economists whose contributions deserve recognition—names such as Armen Alchian, Harold Demsetz, Arnold Harberger, or Israel Kirzner—have never received the honor, this year’s prize strikes a rare and worthy chord. By celebrating those who have deepened our understanding of innovation, institutions, and the dynamics of creative destruction, the committee has reminded the world that economic progress depends not on avoiding change but on harnessing it.
Michael Strain is correct: “Congress should let the Obamacare subsidies expire.”
