“The Texas Senate Education Committee on Tuesday night voted to advance school voucher legislation for a full vote in the Senate after hours of public testimony largely focused on whether the proposal would live up to its promise of prioritizing low-income families and children with disabilities. A 9-2 Republican majority on the committee pushed the bill forward days before Gov. Greg Abbott takes the stage Sunday for his State of the State speech. It is expected that Abbott will declare the school voucher bill — his top legislative priority in recent years — an ’emergency item,’ allowing lawmakers to pass the proposal within the first 60 days of the ongoing legislative session, which started earlier this month.” (01/29/25)
“On Day One of his second administration, President Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants and even for children of some temporary visa holders. This idea won’t survive legal scrutiny (it has already been blocked by a judge). But even if allowed to stand, this policy wouldn’t help fix America’s immigration system one bit. What it would do is hinder assimilation and create more problems instead. It’s unclear why ending birthright citizenship for the targeted populations is a Day One priority for the Trump administration. It’s possible he made the move in part to signal to some of his voter base that he is tough on immigration. The policy would have very little impact on immigration levels for a very simple reason: Immigrants aren’t motivated to come to America primarily to have children.” (01/29/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Patrick Carroll
“Reich begins by raising and immediately dismissing two common explanations for inflation: wage increases and government spending. It would have been nice if he had actually explained what these theories say and where he thinks they go wrong. But instead, he effectively says, ‘They’re wrong because this other theory (concentration) is right.’ Even if he’s correct about corporate concentration being an important factor behind inflation, that’s not much of a rebuttal. Briefly, then, the wage-increase theory says that when wages go up — perhaps because of union pressure — employers respond by passing the higher costs on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Thus, wage increases result in price inflation. As it happens, Reich is correct to call this particular explanation a myth.” (01/29/25)
“While it is entirely reasonable to treat children and adults differently, and for laws to reflect this basic division, questions of precisely when children should become adults have eluded rationality.
In Argentina, where the legal age to vote is 16, young people may join the military at age 18, but had to wait till 21 to own a gun. Until Argentine president Javier Milei’s reduced the minimum age to purchase and carry a firearm to 18, a step towards greater consistency. But that is not how the culturally dominant left-wing media and intelligentsia see it.” (01/28/25)
“There may be a battle looming, not just between the Trump administration and Ukraine over the conscription of men between the ages of 18 and 25, but also within the Trump administration. The call for Ukraine to cast a wider conscription net predates the Trump administration. Facing imminent loss on the battlefield, after NATO had bankrupted its supply of weapons, demanding that Ukraine throw more men into battle emerged as the last grasp solution during the Biden administration. … That call was picked up by Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz …. Asking Ukrainians to throw more soldiers into a lost war is asking a lot of Ukrainians. But asking them to send their 18-25 year olds is especially asking a lot. There is a special demographic difficulty with asking Ukrainians to offer up their 18-25 year olds.” (01/29/25)
“The Justice Department on Wednesday moved to drop its effort to prosecute Donald Trump’s former co-defendants in special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case. Prosecutors asked a federal appeals court to dismiss an appeal filed during the Biden administration that sought to reinstate criminal charges against two men Smith had charged alongside Trump. The request from the interim U.S. attorney in Miami, Hayden O’Byrne, offered no explanation for the Justice Department’s decision to abandon the case against the two Trump allies: Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. Nauta and De Oliveira are Trump aides who were accused of helping Trump obstruct the investigation into classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s first term. Smith charged them with obstructing justice and making false statements.” (01/29/25)
“Last fall, I had the extraordinary opportunity to travel to Delhi, India, to give a talk to young Indian liberals. The topic was the connection between Buddhist philosophy and liberalism. If you’re a regular reader of my work, or listen to my podcast, you’ll know this connection has been central to my work for some time. I believe that Buddhist ideas give us important tools for understanding not just why we ought to be liberals, but why liberalism is the best political system for make the world better.” (01/29/25)
Source: Niskanen Center
by Lawson Mansell & Jared Rhoads
“Despite its vast wealth, the United States has fewer physicians per capita than most other developed nations. According to the OECD, the U.S. has about 2.7 physicians per 1,000 residents, ranking 28th out of 31 member countries. This shortage is partly due to the way graduate medical education (GME) is funded. Each year, the federal government allocates over $20 billion dollars to teaching hospitals through formulas designed to encourage hospitals to train medical residents and to guide trainees toward specific geographic areas and specialties. However, this system is underperforming. The U.S. graduates only about 8 new physicians per 100,000 residents annually, whereas other OECD countries train two to three times as many doctors per capita.” (01/29/25)
