“The New York Times had a lengthy piece giving a story on how the Democrats lost the support of working-class voters over the last three decades. The essence of the argument is that working-class voters were angered by Democrats’ support of “free trade” and the bailouts of the financial industry in the financial crisis. While this story is largely true, it seriously understates the working-class cause for complaint. First and foremost, our trade deals were not about free trade. They did little or nothing to free up trade in highly paid professional services, such as physicians’ and dentists’ services. As a result of the continued protectionism in these services our doctors get paid more than twice as much as their counterparts in other wealthy countries.” (01/06/25)
“Robin Brooks, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, took to X recently to declare that ‘there needs to be a ban on any academic papers that interpret Russia’s resilient GDP as a sign that sanctions aren’t working.’ I found it remarkable that he should acknowledge the unexpected resilience of Russia’s economy yet try to disbar analysis which might suggest, therefore, that sanctions had failed. Brooks produces some interesting analysis, and at the heart of his statement lies an important argument that others have taken up recently: that Western powers didn’t impose tough enough sanctions on Russia at the start of the Ukraine crisis, but could still impose such a catastrophic economic cost on Russia that Putin will, for the first time, be forced to back down. Let’s take a look at what a maximum pressure policy in 2014 might have involved.” (01/06/25)
“It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Back in 2015 when Justin Trudeau ascended to the prime ministership his father had held long before him, he was supposed to be the young, sexy, brash leader who could guide the Liberal Party and Canada for decades. Today, Trudeau’s political career and reputation lie in the dustbin of history, like so many other slick-haired neoliberals from Italy to Argentina to Germany, and beyond. The frustration with the progressive status quo of globalism has boiled over.” (01/06/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Ninos P Malek
“While WCW enjoyed success for a few years, it began to lose steam in the late 1990s. Issues such as internal management struggles, poor creative choices, and a failure to develop new stars contributed to its decline. By the start of the millennium, WCW programming was behind that of the WWF, which featured new stars such as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, and the company was losing lots of money. Ultimately, in March 2001, WWF bought its competitor, signaling the end of WCW. The lesson is simple: trying to dominate the market or attain a complete market share is not anti-competitive behavior; rather, it is what real competition looks like.” (01/06/25)
“Imagine a UK government warning independent publishers of children’s books that it didn’t like the quality of their products. Imagine that it claimed they were drawing too many children away from the wholesome reading on offer from government-approved outlets. And imagine that it told publishers that if they didn’t change the books’ content themselves it might compel them to do so by law. Unthinkable? Don’t be too sure. UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy seems to have ideas along these lines for online platforms.” (01/06/25)
“Honestly, as 2025 begins, isn’t it finally time to reimagine American history? So, what do you think of this: George Trump, Abraham Trump, Ulysses S. Trump, Franklin D. Trump, Dwight D. Trump, John F. Trump, Lyndon B. Trump, and even Richard M. and George W. Trump. And yes, of course, on January 20th, Donald J. Trump (of all people) will once again be president of these distinctly (dis-)United States of America. As Joe Biden hobbles into … well, if not the future, then some unknown past, HE looms over us, the political equivalent of a giant armed drone about to be back in the skies of our lives.” (01/06/25)
“Even if Iran were building a nuclear arsenal right now (it isn’t), the U.S. would have no right to attack them. The prohibition against the use of force has only one exception, and waging a preventive war against Iran has nothing to do with self-defense. If the U.S. chose to attack Iran, it would be doing so because it wanted to and because it had no respect for international law. It would be the act of a rogue aggressor. One of the biggest lies that interventionists like to tell is that the U.S. has been forced into taking military action. They will always insist that they don’t want war, but that the other state has ‘forced’ the most powerful country in the world to attack anyway.” (01/06/25)
“After decades of dormancy, FARA prosecutions have been skyrocketing in recent years, with a clear focus on those who challenge US foreign policy or question official government narratives. In the past seven years alone, there have been 21 prosecutions under FARA – three times as many as in the previous five decades combined. The resurgence in prosecutions reflects a broader trend of leveraging existing laws to address new geopolitical concerns, as fears of foreign influence have risen in the digital age. As whistleblowers, journalists, and activists face mounting scrutiny, FARA prosecutions have become a tool for stifling opposition to US foreign (and domestic) policy. If you are reading this on antiwar.com, don’t kid yourself – you’re exactly the kind of person FARA is aimed at silencing.” (01/06/25)
“I have been writing this annual post celebrating a handful of people who have achieved the impossible and miraculously failed to suck over the last twelve months for almost a decade now and I have little intention of ending this New Year’s ritual any time soon. Even my shrink agrees that it’s a healthy thing for a perpetually angry anarchist to do. However, my obsessive-compulsive disorder will not allow me to ignore the fact that for several years running I have begun this list by observing with some astonishment that somehow this past year was even more brutally soul crushing than the last and this looks to be yet another ritual unlikely to change in the near future.” (01/05/25)
