“About 10 years ago, backlash against an influx of Eastern European immigrants – mainly from Poland – helped propel Brexit, the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union. (That, in turn, led thousands of Poles to leave the U.K.) A little more than 10 days ago, The London Times published a guide for citizens of the U.K. about picking up their lives and moving … to Poland! ‘With a lower cost of living and a booming tech industry, [Poland] is calling to many Brits,’ the Times stated. This turnaround highlights how economic progress in the formerly communist nation has taken place side by side with growth in democratic values and institutions that reward individual effort and innovation. ‘Poland … stands as one of history’s most remarkable examples of how embracing democratic institutions and a free-market economy can radically transform a nation and propel it [to] rapid development,’ the Atlantic Council noted in a report last year.” (03/23/26)
“The logic of the war at present offers a stark choice: either expand the mission to regime change — which will entail the use of large numbers of ground troops for an extended period of time — or else pocket the tactical gains achieved today and pursue an off-ramp. In light of the costs and with the war’s stated goals secure, Trump should work to end the conflict and reestablish the stable flow of oil and natural gas onto world markets, shoring up the U.S. and global economies. Caution is called for: However hard the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program were, talks to end the war are likely to be harder. Both sides will need to ignore things they want, stop doing things they want to keep doing, and restrain potential spoilers.” (03/24/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“When I first published my interpretation of the implications of Coase’s article ‘The Problem of Social Cost,’ Coase was a colleague of mine at the University of Chicago Law School. His comment on the piece was that one never understands one’s ideas until someone else explains them to you. I suspected at the time that the comment was intended to be gently critical of my interpretation, only worked out more precisely why many years later, rereading the body of his work in the process of writing a review of his final book. Coase thought of the article primarily as a critique of modern economics. Since I was an economist with a position in a law school I read it for its implications for constructing legal systems. This is an account of his ideas from my point of view, not necessarily his.” (03/23/26)
“If feminism means standing for all women, then the silence surrounding Iranian women today demands an answer. Not all women are free — and not all feminists are willing to say so. Members of Iran’s women’s national soccer team recently sought asylum in Australia after refusing to sing the Islamic Republic’s national anthem. For that act alone, an act of conscience, they were treated as enemies of the state. Some were ultimately forced to return to Iran after being warned that their families’ lives were at risk. That is what courage looks like in Iran: choosing between your own freedom and the safety of the people you love most.” (03/23/26)
“How much would it cost to bribe a Daily Caller writer for positive coverage? It could be cheaper than you think. According to a newly unearthed ledger kept by a Washington lobbyist who tracked his payments to conservative bloggers, it took only $500 to buy a story in the publication, which was one of a handful caught in the latest payola scandal. And though the story appeared under the byline of the Caller’s managing editor, prosecutors who unearthed the ledger say it was actually ghostwritten by the company that effectively bought the coverage. The spreadsheet listing these transactions was seized by the FBI as part of a 2020 investigation into a fraudulent cryptocurrency promoted by infamous Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.” (03/24/26)
“War allows governments to increase spending, taxes, and regulations in order to feed the war machine. Wars can justify measures that remain in place long after the wars end. An example of this is income tax withholding that was created to fund World War Two. The use of war as a justification for increased interference in the market is reason enough for libertarians to oppose war. However, war also enables the government to violate liberty.” (03/23/26)
“RISAA attempts to limit the use of Section 702 for purely domestic criminal investigations by prohibiting queries conducted solely to find evidence of a crime unrelated to foreign intelligence or national security. That constraint, however, is narrower than it may appear. RISAA does not impose a warrant requirement for U.S. person queries, and it allows queries to proceed where a foreign intelligence or national security nexus can be asserted. In practice, queries are almost never characterized as being conducted solely for evidence-of-a-crime purposes. This dynamic is at the center of the warrant requirement debate.” (03/24/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“We tend to focus on why immigrants want to come to the U.S., but we talk much less about why the U.S. wants immigrants to come to this country—i.e., why, xenophobic rhetoric notwithstanding, so many Americans have quietly and consistently welcomed them. The foremost reason for this is simply that Americans don’t want to have babies. For decades now, the fertility rate among native-born Americans has been below the replacement rate (2.1). … Not surprisingly, the native-born work force has diminished by several million since peaking in 2005 and now amounts to less than 140 million. If no foreign workers are added to the economy, in a few years, the labor force will shrink much more dramatically, reflecting the impact of the currently dismal fertility rate.” (03/23/26)
“Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS) has been tasked with integrating its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid eligibility systems while preparing for new community engagement requirements. This integration has been needed for years, but the new federal rules make it urgent. The goal is straightforward: simplify how benefits are administered while reducing costly errors. If Missouri cannot bring those error rates down, the state will be responsible for a larger share of program costs.” [editor’s note: Why not just eliminate the “benefits,” and with them the need for that “administration?” – TLK] (03/24/26)
