Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: The Bulwark
by Will Selber

“Dexter Filkins did the world a disservice when he coined the term ‘Forever War’ for the wars I fought in — Iraq, Afghanistan, the Global War on Terror. The real forever war has been going on for half a century, ever since President Nixon signed the Substance Control Act in 1971, and it shows no signs of stopping. Over the decades, Democrats and Republicans came together to spend more than a trillion dollars — and probably much more — enforcing prohibitions on a wide range of psychoactive chemicals. … Despite the time and resources invested in the drug war, Americans continue to seek illegal drugs. The statistics are alarming: Half of Americans older than 12 have used illicit drugs, and some 700,000 Americans have died from overdoses since 2000. Now President Trump and his national security team are doubling down.” (03/13/25)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-doubles-down-forever-drug-war-mexico-cartels

Source: The Daily Economy
by David Hebert & Emily Bissett

“Imagine that you wanted to do some grocery shopping. To do so, you drive your car from your house not to the grocery store, but to a parking lot miles and miles away from the grocery store.  There, you get on a bus (which you have to pay for) that will then take you to the grocery store. You do your shopping, get back on the bus (paying once again) with your groceries, which then takes you back to your car where you can unload the groceries from the bus and reload them into your car before ultimately driving home. This would be absurd. It’s also remarkably similar to how people in the great states of Hawaii and Alaska must do almost all of their shopping, thanks to the Jones Act.” (03/13/25)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/century-old-anchor-the-cost-of-keeping-up-with-the-jones-act/

Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter

“During a February 20, 2024, speech at a new General Dynamics factory outside Dallas Texas, Biden made the alleged ‘economic benefits’ argument explicitly. A supplemental spending measure pending in Congress at the time contained a total of $95 billion in foreign aid, including money for Ukraine, Israel, and other countries. Of the $60.7 billion for Ukraine, $38.8 billion would go to U.S. factories that made missiles, munitions and other gear. ‘While this bill sends military equipment to Ukraine,” Biden emphasized, “it spends the money right here in the United States of America in places like Arizona, where the Patriot missiles are built; and Alabama, where the Javelin missiles are built; and Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas, where artillery shells are made.’ Republican pro-Ukraine hawks embraced similar ‘logic’ …. Such justifications, which should be termed military Keynesianism, are not only erroneous, but also sleazy.” (03/13/25)

https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2025/03/12/moral-bankruptcy-justifying-the-ukraine-war-as-good-for-the-us-economy/

Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman

“No serious person mourns the offshoring of apparel employment. Clothing production is a low-tech industry that even in its heyday mostly employed immigrants who, despite being represented by a powerful union, were paid low wages and often faced harsh working conditions. For a poor nation like Bangladesh, apparel jobs are a big step up from the alternatives. But American workers have better, and better-paying, things to do. As I said, no serious person wants the apparel industry to come back. But Donald Trump’s economic team aren’t serious people.” (03/13/25)

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/making-sweatshops-great-again