“After President Donald Trump imposed broad tariffs, some of his left-wing critics began quoting economists like Milton Friedman, who adamantly believed in unilateral free trade. Friedman preferred that our trading partners refrain from imposing barriers on goods imported from the United States. He said: ‘We would be benefited by dispensing with our tariffs even if other countries did not. We would of course be benefited even more if they reduce theirs but our benefiting does not require that they reduce tariffs.’ What if Trump succeeds in getting our trading partners to reduce their tariffs, which are imposed at a higher rate on American goods? Friedman served as an adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, who, free trade rhetoric aside, did engage in some protectionism, including imposing ‘voluntary import quotas’ on foreign vehicles, primarily from Japan.” (04/10/25)
“While it would technically be possible for all agency programs to allow any executive branch leader to have direct access to all data, doing so would create myriad security risks and provide minimal value. That’s why large private sector companies favor balancing robust security practices with carefully managed access granted to fraud-focused teams. Large private-sector companies don’t rely on small strike teams with broad access to all datasets. Instead, they invest in robust, long-term anti-fraud capabilities that leverage continuous monitoring of fraud signals, cloud-first security models, AI-driven detection, and adaptive risk modeling.” (04/09/25)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Make no mistake about it. When one nation-state drops bombs on another nation-state, that is an act of war. When the first bomb drops, the United States will initiating another war of aggression — that is, the type of war that was condemned as a war crime at Nuremberg. Before then, U.S. officials will undoubtedly try to pressure Mexican president Claudia Scheinbaum into agreeing to their bombing campaign. That way, they can say that they are not really waging war on Mexico with their bombs because Mexico’s president has agreed to the U.S. Empire’s bombing of her country.” (04/09/25)
“When Trump bluffs then retracts a tariff threat to attain diplomatic concessions, tariffs are merely a negotiating device. When he pulls the tariff trigger on the same nation a few days later, we’re told that it’s to address a national-security ’emergency’ on the border or part of a plan to somehow offset Chinese steel production by taxing Canadian steel. When the markets crash, it’s all part of an elaborate four-dimensional chess game to restructure the global economy. Administration talking points about the dangers of a tariff-induced recession change by the hour, ranging from denying any threat of economic turmoil to insinuating that some purposeful economic ‘reset’ of the global trading system is afoot.” (04/09/25)
“Members of the armed forces have been pummeled with disrespect over the past several months. Veterans nationwide have had their health care snatched away, their jobs abolished, and their careers sideswiped. The latest indignity comes courtesy of North Carolina, where active-duty members who are state residents now find themselves facing an incomprehensible threat: disenfranchisement. ‘They are furious about this,’ says Jason Cain, a ten-year Army veteran and member of Common Defense, a veterans advocacy group. … All told, more than 65,000 North Carolina voters’ ballots from last November’s election are being contested because the Republican candidate for a state supreme court seat, Jefferson Griffin, an appeals court judge, found himself on the wrong side of a 734-vote margin that favored Allison Riggs, the Democratic state supreme court justice seeking re-election.” (04/10/25)
“The year was 1971 and the claims against dollar-based debt were pouring in from every country. The rumor was that the US did not really have the gold to pay. Foreign holders of US assets decided to test the promise, just in case. Sure enough, Nixon panicked and shut the gold window, in effect defaulting on the terms of the deal, as did his predecessor FDR back in 1933. Nixon too was panicking over the draining of gold from the US Treasury. His intention was to protect the US dollar. Briefly, the US attempted a fixed-rate regime without settlement but failed. Two years later, the US announced a new system, one that they claimed would be better than ever. Henceforth, the US would be backed by nothing but confidence.” (04/09/25)
“Imagine a second Trump administration that comes to be defined by judicial and legislative efforts to restrain a would-be authoritarian president after his trade policy made him toxically unpopular. That’s the optimistic path forward the events of the past week has opened up. But unfortunately, that’s not the only possible path …. There is another in which the president and members of his administration stand their ground in the face of softening polls, threaten wavering members of Congress who dare to criticize Trump’s policies, and simply disregard or dismiss evidence of rising popular discontent. … There’s nothing more dangerous in the wilderness than a wounded animal — and maybe nothing more dangerous in the political world than a wounded aspiring tyrant. That the wounds in this case would be largely self-inflicted, tied directly to Trump’s reckless insistence on imposing unjustifiably massive tariffs, could even make his desperation worse.” (04/09/25)
“The eyes of a new generation were opened in an episode that seemed like dark science fiction for those of a certain age, and an unyielding nightmare regardless: a genocide streaming into smartphones around the world in real time. Many American eyes were opened for the first time to the reality not only in Palestine, but in the places in the world that are meant to be forgotten, where the U.S. and its allies may tread at their will and pleasure. At the center of this system of license and aggression is the Department of Defense, as it is now euphemistically named. What we call ‘defense’ spending in the United States is actually spending on weapons and war-making, and it has continued its unabated rise in both red and blue presidential administrations.” (04/09/25)
“John Maynard Keynes famously said, ‘Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.’ The point being that, even if you’re right about where the stock market is bound to go eventually, the market doesn’t have to follow your route or timetable in getting there. Since ‘Liberation Day’ last week, when the U.S. announced punishing new tariffs on just about every country in the world, a lot of Americans are learning a corollary to Keynes’[s] maxim: Donald Trump can stay irrational longer than you can remain solvent. … The markets are not merely saying that Trump’s policies are bad for stock prices or corporate profits. They are saying to other politicians and policymakers, ‘We’re not going to save you from Trump’s irrationality.’ That realization is starting to dawn on some Republicans who bought the preposterous idea that Trump has a mandate to unilaterally and irrationally bend the international economy to his will.” (04/09/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
“In her new book, Who Needs College Anymore? Imagining A Future Where Degrees Won’t Matter, Kathleen deLaski looks more closely at the college alternatives currently available and why more students are interested in them. She says debt is the biggest reason, but young people are also more eager for practical, ‘just-in-time-learning’ options connected more closely with career possibilities. A senior advisor to the Project on Workforce at Harvard University, and an adjunct professor at George Mason University, deLaski is a strong proponent of higher education, as well as high-quality alternatives. She urges colleges and universities to explore creative ways to be more responsive to the needs and interests of students.” (04/09/25)
