Consumption Tax on the Horizon
Source: Law & Liberty
by Mitch Daniels
“Entitlement costs keep rising, which means new experiments in taxation are coming. They may already be here.” (03/31/26)
Category: Opinion
Private Equity’s Great Escape
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen & Maureen Tkacik
“For 14 years, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) remained silent about John Raymond’s woefully underperforming Houston private equity firm Energy & Minerals Group (EMG). The $330 billion sovereign wealth fund’s leadership made no public pronouncements when Raymond, son of the iconic Exxon chief executive who masterminded the merger with Mobil, agreed to invest some $3 billion in the new venture of extravagant fracking mogul Aubrey McClendon, who’d just been forced out of the company he’d founded for looting corporate coffers …. They raised no alarm bells when McClendon and his new company American Energy Partners were sued a few years later for stealing trade secrets, or when the next year he was indicted for orchestrating a vast bid-rigging conspiracy, or when following his spectacular death the day after the indictment by driving 75 miles per hour into an overpass wall, EMG’s investments were themselves set ablaze.” (03/31/26)
Trump’s limitation of birthright citizenship is so clearly unconstitutional
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Erwin Chemerinsky
“Cases before the Supreme Court inevitably present hard issues of law and almost always involve questions over matters about which the lower courts have disagreed. But the constitutionality of President Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship is an easy question of law and every single judge to rule on it has found it to be unconstitutional. On Wednesday, the justices will hear oral arguments in Trump vs. Barbara, and even for a conservative court that has repeatedly sided with the president, it is hard to imagine the justices upholding an executive order that is so clearly in violation of historical practice, the text of the Constitution and decided precedents.” (03/31/26)
The United States Is Already Headed for a Forever War
Source: The American Conservative
by Jude Russo
“Let’s all give a hand for Marco Rubio, secretary of state, favored champion of the White House, and all-around cretinous worm. The Amazing Plastic Man — the adjective refers to his flexible principles, not his increasingly inflexible face — was hitting the airwaves this Monday morning to articulate the latest version of what the Trump administration regards as its war aims. Excuse me, military operation aims; President Donald Trump has figured out the One Weird Trick around constitutional checks on executive war powers. You just have to use the right words! … Stupendously expensive and destructive military operations every six to 18 months for the foreseeable future does not seem like an appreciably better outcome than the Bush-era occupations.” (03/31/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-united-states-is-already-headed-for-a-forever-war/
Trump’s Confused, Again: He’s Bringing Prices Up
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“We know Donald Trump gets easily confused. During his campaign, he repeatedly insisted that he would keep us out of a war in Iran. Now, after being in office less than 14 months, he started an unprovoked war in Iran. Trump obviously couldn’t remember whether he was supposed to avoid a war in the Middle East or start one. It seems he is facing the same problem when it comes to inflation and prices. He promised to bring prices down on the first day of his presidency. While inflation had been falling to the Fed’s 2.0 percent inflation target before Trump was elected, it is now close to 3.0 percent and looks to be heading higher, and that was even before the impact of his war against Iran.” (03/31/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/31/trumps-confused-again-hes-bringing-prices-up/
Inflated Grades Deflate Future Earnings
Source: The Daily Economy
by Julia R Cartwright
“Educators continue to debate a question that sounds philosophical but is actually quite practical: when a student earns a diploma, what exactly have they earned? Is it proof of real, transferable, labor-market-ready skills? Or is it a signal, a flag planted in the employer’s field of view that says this person showed up, tried hard, and turned things in on time? Most honest observers land somewhere in the middle. Yes, school teaches skills. And yes, the diploma itself also signals something beyond the skills taught. The degree is both product and receipt. New research throws a wrench into both sides of that supposed balance.” (03/31/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/inflated-grades-deflate-future-earnings/
What’s behind Trump’s 180-degree turn, allowing Russian oil to Cuba?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Lee Schlenker
“In a positive twist, the Trump administration said it does not plan to block a Russian oil tanker from delivering 730,000 barrels of crude to Cuba, which has been suffering from acute fuel shortages since the U.S. imposed a de facto oil blockade on the island in late January. … On the one hand, the administration may be concerned about the dire humanitarian impacts of ongoing fuel shortages and a potential migratory crisis brewing just off U.S. shores in an election season. The island’s worsening crisis risks undermining U.S. moral standing and leverage in ongoing negotiations with Cuba, particularly if the country collapses before a deal can be reached. On the other hand, the U.S. may simply need to focus on other priorities.” (03/30/26)
China’s abuse makes birthright citizenship a life-or-death choice for America
Source: New York Post
by Daniel McCarthy
“Get ready for the next Roe v. Wade — as a new Supreme Court case threatens to split the country, not over abortion, but over ‘birthright citizenship.’ Trump v. Barbara is before the court this week, and with it comes the very question of who is an American. On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order [pretending] that the children of illegal immigrants or temporary residents aren’t American citizens just by virtue of being born on American soil. People born here to at least one citizen parent are automatically citizens, and Trump’s order recognizes the children of lawful permanent residents as birthright citizens, too. But that’s not enough for those who insist the Constitution’s 14th Amendment establishes a radical definition of birthright citizenship.” [editor’s note: It didn’t “establish” anything — birthright citizenship was the case from the beginning of the US, except for slaves, and in England before that – TLK] (03/31/26)
The Tragicomic Death Throes of Canada’s (Former) Workers’ Party
Source: Quillette
by Jonathan Kay
“The New Democratic Party, which once championed the country’s unions, is now in the hands of a radicalised anti-Israel activist who wants to nationalise grocery sales and shut down oil production.” (03/30/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/03/30/the-tragicomic-death-throes-of-canadas-former-workers-party-2/
The images a Florida city says only it can use
Source: Expression
by helloiamcarrie
“Imagine you are engaging in the time-honored American tradition of criticizing your local government. You air your complaints on a website you’ve set up to report on city news — and then the city threatens you with legal action and potential jail time, all because some of your comments feature the city’s seal and logos. That’s what happened to Kyle L’Hommedieu and the local watchdog group he chairs, Take Out The Trash Committee of Cape Coral.” (03/30/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/the-images-a-florida-city-says-only