Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Douglas E French
“Jim Beam has been making whiskey for a long time, through thick and thin. But the Trump tariffs have shut down the venerable distillery. Bourbon Whiskey is a high-order (as Austrian economists would say) beverage due to the aging process required. Jim Beam is aged for four years in new charred oak barrels. Jim Beam Black is aged 7 years. … The uncertainty created by today’s tariffs will create scarcity (and higher prices) of lower order goods (in this case whiskey) in the future.” (12/29/25)
“Why, in the previous Millennium, did Europe come to dominate the world, rather than China, India, or some other region? How did the Catholic Church, the legal profession, and the fall of the Roman Empire all set the stage for Europe’s eventual global supremacy? Meanwhile, in today’s age of AI, rockets, and robots, how can societies continue to innovate and prosper, rather than stagnate and decay? In Two Paths to Prosperity, Joel Mokyr, a 2025 Nobel laureate and professor at Northwestern University, offers a compelling narrative.” (12/29/25)
“A Georgia judge on Monday ordered a temporary pause to a December execution that was already put on hold, saying questions about the state’s clemency process must be addressed before Stacey Humphreys’ death sentence could be carried out. Humphreys, 52, was facing scheduled execution Dec. 17, but the procedure was paused just days before he was to have received a lethal injection. … Humphreys’ lawyers contend that two members of Georgia’s parole board have conflicts of interest that would taint their participation in a clemency hearing. Humphreys’ lawyers earlier this month filed a petition asking a judge to order the two members of the parole board to recuse themselves from considering his clemency petition.” (12/29/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Benjamin BH Ko
‘On the Isle of Lewis, crofters still work the old way: one man, two dogs, a flock and the Atlantic wind. Watching Leslie and his collies, Bruce and Jude, round up sheep across the moor, I was struck by how little command was needed. After a whistle and a word, Bruce and Jude’s instincts took care of the rest. It was order without control, and freedom within purpose. This is liberty properly understood.” (12/29/25)
“The United States is a generous nation, and most agree that low-income households deserve help from their fellow Americans when times are tough. But that help should not inadvertently trap people in poverty and government dependence by disincentivizing healthy, working-age adults from working more hours, pursuing higher wages, or marrying out of fear of ending up financially worse off. … The need for reform is clear, as we recently argued in a report along with several colleagues. The solutions and how to enact them are less so. A common response is universal benefits or more government assistance higher up the income scale to allow for a more gradual phase out of benefits. But this approach creates more government dependence among American households rather than encouraging independence and hope. This would also require substantial new federal resources at a time when budget deficits are already unsustainable. That’s why we need a new approach that starts with the states.” (12/29/25)
“New research strongly suggests teachers’ unions are driving the skyrocketing administrative bloat that’s sucking resources away from classrooms. By diverting additional funding toward hiring more people, they starve effective educators of the raises and support they need, all to pad their own power structures. Unions benefit enormously from inflating the number of employees in the system, turning public schools into top-heavy bureaucracies that serve adults — not our kids. Teachers’ union bosses gain in two major ways from the rapid expansion in administrative hiring — which also siphons resources away from teachers, students, and classrooms.” (12/29/25)
“Bitcoin has dropped sharply over the last few weeks of 2025, losing 30% since hitting an all-time high in October (even as U.S. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent reveals a price game-changer). The bitcoin price has found a floor at just under $90,000 per bitcoin, failing to climb in last couple of weeks along with gold, silver, copper and other commodities that have made huge gains—potentially paving the way for a huge bitcoin price boom in 2026. Now, after a $3 trillion stock market warning suddenly flashed red, the bitcoin price and crypto market is braced for a ‘crazy week’ after the silver price dropped 10% in just over an hour.” (12/29/25)
“Robby Soave delivers radar on Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) bragging about a proposed wealth tax aimed at California residents worth more than $1 billion to pay a one-time tax equivalent to 5% of their assets that can be paid over five years.” (12/29/25)
“Something has gone wrong in America. By historical standards, we live in a time of unimaginable abundance. Yet there is a malaise, and we all feel it. The normal rules of normal politics no longer seem sufficient to answer our questions. The straitjacket of the Long 90’s is breaking: what will replace it? Enter Brink Lindsey’s The Permanent Problem. A vice president at the Niskanen Center, Lindsey diagnoses America’s malaise as a breakdown of two opposed forces: the dynamism of capitalism and the inclusiveness of communities. … According to Lindsey, we must recover the Promethean spirit — the willingness to go out and change the world, and use this to solve Keynes'[s] ‘permanent problem’ of ‘living wisely and agreeably and and well.'” (12/29/25)
