A recent survey of U.S. economics professionals, released by my organization, found nearly 3 in 4 believe a $15 minimum wage will reduce employment among young workers and increase automation. This concern doesn’t always resonate with voters who perceive an immediate benefit in a higher hourly rate for low-income workers.
Thus, somewhat absurdly, the agreement that President Trump helped to create and is threatening to kill has become the primary way for North American supply chains to survive his tariff agenda.
The USMCA certainly has some faults, and perhaps forthcoming reviews will address some of them. Overall, however, it’s been a net benefit for American manufacturers and the US economy, and—contra Trump’s words—it’ll likely be here after he’s gone.
For a discussion of these issues (and plenty more), you can join us at Cato’s event this Thursday (6/25) or watch online at the same link.
Pierre Lemieux is correct: “Speaking precisely is useful.”
The Cato Institute’s Colin Grabow spoke out against the cronyist U.S. sugar program.
George Will describes Cuba as “a threadbare museum of Marxism.” A slice:
In March, a mob sacked a Communist Party headquarters in central Cuba. This spark of insurrection was aberrant and fleeting. Totalitarianism always has one foundational objective, which it has achieved in Cuba. The population is a dust of wary individuals, easily blown about. Their capacity for collaboration — for politics — has atrophied. A smooth democratic transition is a chimera.
Larry Ciolorito’s letter in today’s Wall Street Journal is excellent:
Barton Swaim’s plea for less government activism “Please, No More New Deals” (Unruly Republic, June 18) is reminiscent of an exchange from the movie “Lawrence of Arabia.” An officer says to Gen. Allenby, “Look, sir, we can’t just do nothing”, to which the general replies, “Why not? It’s usually best.”
Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer just finished a jaunt to Europe to attract business to her state, and if only she could be counted on to lure them with good policy instead of taxpayer money. A new report on business subsidies in Michigan during her tenure adds to the evidence that corporate welfare is a bad economic bet.
Gov. Whitmer has authorized nearly $7 billion in business subsidies during her two terms, says the report by James Hohman of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Mr. Hohman focuses on eight of the biggest projects, which put $2.7 billion of taxpayer money on the line. Some $1.8 billion has been paid out, and “none of these deals have delivered what was originally announced,” he writes.
Of 20,595 jobs promised from these deals, only 602 have been created—a mere 3%, estimates Mr. Hohman. The under-deliveries include $109 million in 2019 for Fiat Chrysler to upgrade plants and create 6,433 jobs in Warren and Detroit. Fiat Chrysler has added some jobs, says Mr. Hohman, but his evaluation of state reports suggests that’s no thanks to the state incentives, which were canceled.
Another dud: $125 million authorized in 2022 for Gotion to build an electric-vehicle battery plant employing 2,350 people that was never built. A $200 million deal in 2023 to upgrade a paper mill in Billerud was canceled. In 2024 the state touted a $250 million deal to bring semiconductor manufacturer Sandisk to Flint and create 7,400 jobs, but the company pulled out. “The result is a big empty field” and “one school demolished,” says the report.
Nick Gillespie warns against increased government regulation of AI.
Jeffery Degner recounts the sordid history and purpose of the 1936 Robinson-Patman Act.
Jonah Goldberg mulls the miasma on the Mall. A slice:
The man who vowed to “drain the swamp” of D.C.’s corrupt cronyism used figurative swampy means to deliver literal swampy ends.
Another familiar aspect of the pool fiasco: A project Trump touted as proof of his genius and expertise becomes proof of unpatriotic enemies undermining him when it flounders. Without any evidence, Trump claimed that the only reason the Reflecting Pool’s paint is peeling and algae blooming is because anti-American “vandals” sabotaged it with a “300-foot long gash.”
How vandals evaded park police, security cameras and his own National Guard deployment remains unknown. Never mind how they put a 300-foot gash in a paint job Trump described as “So very strong. You couldn’t, if you had a knife — I don’t want to give anybody ideas — if you had a knife, you can’t even cut it. So strong, so powerful.”
