“For many people who have served in the executive branch, the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) encapsulates why government is broken. Risk aversion, policy cruft, and the cascade of rigidity — the dysfunctions described in our foundational state capacity report — all contribute to a process of “paperwork reduction” that often does quite the opposite. The White House office charged with overseeing the act made some notable improvements in recent years, but there is growing support for more far-reaching change. The question now is not whether or not to act, but just how far to reach and what tradeoffs a reform push will face at a moment when the Trump administration has certainly proved willing to disrupt the status quo, but often recklessly and without regard for Congress.” (04/17/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Nicole James
“If you’re from overseas and trying to make sense of Australian politics, do yourself a favor, and lower your expectations. Way down. This election is more like a chaotic family reunion in a Home Depot carpark, with everyone shouting over burnt sausages and fighting for the last hi-vis vest. Let’s unpack the who, what, when, why, and how before someone nominates the family dog and it actually polls well.” (04/17/25)
“In June 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) began lowering its key interest rate. Borrowing costs were reduced from 4.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent in March 2025 — which, after accounting for the officially measured inflation, is almost zero per cent in real terms. The time when euro deposit holders could achieve a positive real interest rate was very brief. What is the reason for the interest rate cuts? ECB decision-makers explain to the public that inflation is declining — in February, the rise in consumer goods prices in the euro area was 2.4 per cent — and that would justify lower interest rates. However, the real reason is something else.” (04/17/25)
“Disdain for President Donald Trump translates into a refusal to accept reality if doing it gives Trump a political victory. Examples include, but are certainly not limited to, the continuing [and irrefutably factually correct] assertion that Trump, about Charlottesville, said some variation of, ‘There were good and bad white nationalists and neo-Nazis on both sides;’ the denial of the Hunter Biden laptop; that Trump ‘mocked’ a disabled reporter; that Trump said to ‘drink bleach’ to fight COVID; and that the Trump tax cuts [sic] ‘only benefit the rich.'” (04/17/25)
“After the recent lifting of the currency controls that Argentines had to deal with for six years, the use of stablecoins, which had been very popular in the country, is under scrutiny. While some believe that Argentines will prefer regular dollars, local analysts sustain that the popularity of stablecoins will continue to be high, as they present interesting possibilities.” (04/17/25)
“How families choose to educate their children is still the locus of enormously controversial debates. But we should favor freedom in education just as much as we do in anything else, precisely because each child is uniquely known by just one family, who are in the best position to know what educational opportunities would best make that child thrive and have a richly fulfilling life. Those outside the family unit may have their own opinions that they would like to substitute for the judgment of the family, and they may use modern-day alternatives to hemlock to get their way: zoning laws, teacher certification, multiple layers of required administrative staff, mandates to teach to state-mandated tests. When educational bureaucrats want graduates who all conform to the conventions of non-conformity, non-conformists to those conventions are often thought of as somehow disruptive to the educational project.” (04/17/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“They are sending billionaires and pop stars into space while the planet burns and Americans ration their insulin / There are companies marketing AI lovers to lonely people and harvesting their data / Last night Israel bombed a tent camp in Gaza, and women and children burned alive / This is a strange, dark place; Strange, dark times in a strange, dark world / Light a candle for those who have died / Light a candle for those who are dead inside / Light a candle for those with algorithms in their eyes / Light a candle for those with AI in their souls / Light a candle for the screaming red children / Light a candle for the silent gray children / Light a candle for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch / Light a candle for the songs of the whales / Light a candle for the hearts like cast lead / Light a candle for the hearts like wallaby roadkill …” (04/17/25)
“Recent tariff-related turmoil in the U.S. stock market has motivated several Trump administration officials and many of their online allies to shrug it off as unrepresentative of the ‘real’ U.S. economy. Many have argued, in fact, that the scary sell-off of U.S. stocks, bonds, and dollars … was not just meaningless ‘digital ones and zeroes’ but actually good because ‘Wall Street’ losses meant ‘Main Street’ gains. … the idea that recent market troubles aren’t related to the ‘real’ U.S. economy or, even worse, that what’s good/bad for ‘Wall Street’ is necessarily bad/good for ‘Main Street,’ is absurd. And populists peddling such myths are either clueless about what the stock market is or are simply desperate to avoid admitting that Trump’s tariffs are harming both it and the ‘real’ U.S. economy more broadly.” (04/17/25)
