Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Law & Liberty
by Alex J Pollock

“The failure of pandemic-era forecasting calls for a return to monetary basics.” (03/16/26)

https://lawliberty.org/book-review/money-still-matters/

Source: The Contrarians
by Jennifer Rubin

“General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned Donald Trump that an attack on Iran would provoke its closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Every president contemplating war in the Middle East has known this and therefore avoided a full regional war. But Trump said he knew better and plunged into war. Of course, Trump was wrong — monumentally, predictably, and inexcusably wrong. Now, the Strait is mined and closed, the war rages out of control, oil prices have spiked, and the economy is teetering.” (03/16/26)

https://www.contrariannews.org/p/trumps-war-is-the-worst-conceived

Source: EconLog
by Asad E Butt

“When inflation was rising rapidly in 2022, it was predicted that a sustained period of high unemployment would be required to bring inflation back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Such predictions are closely aligned with the findings of the classic Phillips curve, which hypothesizes a trade-off between inflation and unemployment. These predictions were strongly rooted in the sacrifice ratio — the rise in unemployment typically required to reduce inflation by one percentage point. Historical experience suggested that the sacrifice ratio would be substantial, but inflation declined significantly without a notable rise in unemployment. It remained low, fluctuating between 3.6% and 3.9% through 2021 and 2022. The sacrifice ratio turned out to be close to zero. The big question that these events raise is whether the economists overestimated the persistence of supply-side shocks and the sensitivity of inflation to unemployment.” (03/16/26)

https://www.econlib.org/econlog/the-sacrifice-ratio-puzzle

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Andrew Bernstein

“There are two extraordinary truths about the Brooklyn Bridge. The first is that its creation was one of the heroic feats of 19th-century American capitalism; the second is that it was the personal epic of John Roebling and his family. The bridge’s construction was akin to Cyrus Fields’s laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable, to Thomas Edison’s harnessing of electrical power, to James J. Hill’s privately funded construction of the Great Northern Railroad, and to numerous other notable achievements.” (03/16/26)

https://fee.org/articles/the-brooklyn-bridge/

Source: Los Angeles Times
by Darren Rosenblum

“What’s the difference between a 15-year-old and a transgender adult? The 15-year-old can drive legally in Kansas. It sounds like a joke, but it’s a cruel reality. As of Feb. 26, Kansas has invalidated the driver’s licenses of the approximately 1,700 trans Kansans whose licenses reflected their gender rather than their birth-assigned sex. Unlike states that never allowed changes to gender markers, Kansas’[s] move is a striking reversal of its prior permissive policy. This law, one of hundreds of pieces of anti-trans legislation across the country senselessly targets the small minority of people who happen to be trans.” (03/16/26)

https://archive.is/qgegc

Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Katrina Gulliver

“The anarchist as a figure in crime is distinct. His goals are not financial, and the terrorist acts committed under the heading of anarchism have ranged from assassinations of public figures to bombings of random civilians. He has also slid far enough into history to seem quaint, or vaguely romantic, from the vantage point of the twenty-first century.” (03/16/26)

https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/anarchists-and-crime