“In his 1944 book The Road to Serfdom, Fredrich Hayek, the future economics Nobel laureate, foresaw that as the state gains power, the worst people would become rulers, whether it be a single dictator adored by the majority or an omnipotent democratic majority. The regime would be supported by people with the lowest moral and intellectual standards and by the most gullible. They would embrace the principle that the end justifies the means and unite against scapegoats. People would lose any ‘respect for the individual qua man instead of merely as a member of an organized group.’ Cynicism and disregard for truth would spread. Tribal emotions and government propaganda would displace rational arguments. Hayek would not have been surprised if foreigners, immigrants, and pet-eating Haitians were among the scapegoats.” (12/12/24)
“If Biden is going to abuse his power to benefit his own family, then we should at least get something in return. There are federally incarcerated individuals who are genuine victims of miscarriages of justice. There are those who had the misfortune of committing their crimes during the ‘80s and ‘90s when the war on drugs was in full force, leading many of them to receive disproportionately harsh sentences. The draconian mandatory minimums of the time saw people like Michelle West receive life sentences for first-time drug offenses. On behalf of the government, Biden should also apologize to and pardon Edward Snowden so that he can return to his family. Snowden did us all a great service by exposing the government’s secret programs to illegally and unconstitutionally spy on us.” (12/12/24)
“If one thing is certain, there will be more uncertainty abroad. Yet most Washington officials believe their job is to manage the world, even the least minutiae involving other states. And the rest of the world’s job is to obey them. At a time of multiplying wars, U.S. policymakers continue to waste time, resources, and credibility on issues that are frankly none of America’s business.” (12/12/24)
“In 2016, Donald Trump ran for president as a kinda-sorta, maybe-a-little-bit, ‘antiwar’ candidate. Once in office, however, he escalated every war he had inherited …. This year, Trump once again ran — and won — as a kinda-sorta, maybe-a-little-bit, ‘antiwar’ candidate, mainly on his claim that he could negotiate a ‘deal’ with Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the US proxy war in Ukraine. Should we have believed him this time? His prospective appointees to office are a mixed bag on the subject of foreign military entanglements, but a recent event in Congress provides strong evidence that the answer is ‘no.'” (12/12/24)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, represents the latest in a long line of ambitious attempts to streamline the U.S. federal government and address fiscal inefficiencies. While the symbolic aspects of DOGE — its internet meme-inspired acronym and high-profile leadership — signal a modern approach to government reform, the initiative bears striking similarities to previous efforts, notably the Keep Commission under President Theodore Roosevelt, the Grace Commission under President Ronald Reagan, and the National Partnership for Reinventing Government under President Bill Clinton. These historical examples provide a cautionary tale about the limitations of advisory commissions in achieving meaningful reform in a system rife with entrenched interests.” (12/12/24)
“Just a day after capturing Syria’s capital Dec. 8, the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) felt compelled to issue a rule for its fighters: Do not interfere with ‘the right’ of women ‘to choose their attire or appearance.’ Whether the Islamist group – with roots in Al Qaeda – sticks to the rule remains in doubt. In areas long under its control in northwest Syria, HTS has not put any women in high government positions. Yet the timing was telling. To quickly unify a shattered nation after a half-century of dictatorship, HTS will need the support of Syrian women, whose views on gender equality have risen since the 2011 Arab Spring, the spread of social media, and 13 years of conflict and mass displacement. ‘We’re not afraid of them,’ a nurse named Noor told the BBC.” (12/12/24)
“When United States President Ronald Reagan and his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev met in Geneva in 1985 they agreed ‘A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.’ It was the prelude to the beginning of the end of the Cold War nuclear arms race and subsequent deep cuts in American and Soviet – later Russian – arsenals. Since then, the original five nuclear weapons states have reaffirmed this statement, most recently in 2022. But some disagree and hark back to the military strategies of the 1950s that envisaged the use of nuclear weapons by troops on the battlefield to win wars.” (12/12/24)
“Many conservatives fear for this country’s future — and for themselves. America — or at least progressive America — has lapsed from the family tradition, they argue. Swathes of the country repudiate religion, democracy, and patriotism. They root for terrorist organisations. They call for defunding the police and the elimination of traditional gender categories. Conservative expositions on America’s decline often read like sermons once preached in a Home for Fallen Women, the point of which is to allege that America has slipped into disrepute and become a discredit to its ancestors. Some conservatives even live in a state of panic, wondering how they will survive in the new order. … the correct analogy is not always a Home for Fallen Women but an insane asylum, and what is needed is not a sermon but a diagnosis. America is not fallen; it is simply given to periodic bouts of madness. The country has always been a little crazy.” (12/12/24)
“In 1970 everyone was feeling bad about the economy. How bad? To put a number to the pervasively negative vibe, Arthur Okun created the ‘misery index:’ the sum of inflation and unemployment rates. But now everyone is puzzled. Why was the economic vibe of 2024 bad enough to get the Democrats thrown out of office? After all, Okun’s misery index for the quarter leading up to the election stood at just 6.8, which was actually a whisker below its average of 6.9 for the Trump years. What is more, it had been falling almost continuously for nine quarters after peaking in April 2022. … Paul Krugman wrote that for most Americans, the answer to the question, ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ should clearly be, ‘Yes.’ But Krugman ruefully added, ‘for reasons that still remain unclear, many seem disinclined to believe it.’ What went wrong?” (12/12/24)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Peter Jacobsen
“For ‘Ask an Economist’ this week, I have a question from Luis in Mexico City. He says: I’m an assiduous reader of the FEE regular material. I write to you from Mexico City regarding your very liked column: ‘Ask an Economist.’ ‘For a long time my head has been turning around trying to understand the puzzle of how are economic science and security related (in the most generic sense of this last term)?’ So let’s dive into the relationship between economics and security.” (12/12/24)
