“A major objection by protectionists is that international trade with other countries, especially low-wage countries, will undermine American workers. As a consequence, there will be a ‘giant sucking sound’ (to use Ross Perot’s phrasing) as jobs are pulled from the United States to these countries. From a purely theoretical perspective, there is little reason to think this will happen. Wages are determined by the marginal productivity of workers. Workers across countries are not identical, which is why firms do not necessarily pursue low wage workers. … Standard theory gives us good reason to doubt protectionist claims. But the protectionists present an alternative theory. We can test the empirical claims of the protectionists to see which theory better explains the empirical evidence.” (08/04/26)
“Last week, there was a lot of rumbling out of Washington about a massive escalation against Iran. … But the hand of mercy stayed the whip of calamity, or something. Trump on Sunday said the attack was off following interventions from our Gulf allies, who apparently haven’t been too hot on the idea of Iran wiping out their desalination plants and oil infrastructure in retaliatory strikes. … A remarkable cycle! But perhaps not so very remarkable. People have started to notice that the administration has a propensity for extravagant threats followed by equally extravagant walkbacks, often in concert with the weekly operations of the markets.” (08/04/26)
“Superforecasting is the art/science/sport of predicting the future – for example, who will win elections, which countries will fight wars, when key technologies will be discovered. Over the past few years, it went from an obscure academic subfield to a multibillion dollar industry in the form of prediction markets. More recently, AI superforecasters have come close to the accuracy of top humans, and their performance is rising rapidly. … Either humans have already come close to some fundamental limit on the predictability of world events – in which case AIs will plateau at or slightly above the human level – or the trend line will continue until AIs are far beyond top humans.” (08/03/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness
“Marx’s conception of alienation posits that, under capitalism, workers become alienated from the products of their labor. Instead, the owner of the factory who employs them asserts control over something that was made by another’s hand and sells it for his own profit, depriving their workforce of not only its full economic value but any meaningful stake in how it is sold. Since Marxists view laborers and owners of capital as adversarial parties, alienation also reveals a disparity of economic power through which the latter exerts control over the former and reduces them to subjugation.” (08/03/26)
Source: Fox News Forum
by Peter St. Onge & EJ Antoni
“Thirty-five years after the Soviet Union collapsed, the Communist bread line is poised for a comeback in the Big Apple, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani announces his government grocery stores will be undercutting real groceries by 30%. Not to worry, socialism will work this time. The announcement came during a press conference on July 27, where Comrade Mamdani promised 30% discounts for ‘essential’ products at his new city-run grocery stores. The problem, of course, is grocery stores are in a razor-thin industry, sporting profit margins of roughly 2%. And that’s with competent management, which New York City government is decidedly not famous for. That means even if the socialists somehow manage to run a grocery as efficiently as Aldi, Walmart or Gristedes, the city will be losing an ungodly amount of money — at least 28 cents on the dollar.” (08/04/26)
“There is a proposal for a $39 million tax-increment financing (TIF) district in the Midtown area of the City of St. Louis. The forces behind the TIF proposal include the area’s commercial and artistic associations. The backers are claiming that because the redirected taxes will go toward “public” items such as infrastructure improvements for sidewalks, crosswalks, and streets, that this is a responsible use of TIF. They could not be more wrong.” (08/03/26)
“Republicans are already treating the DSA as a proxy for the Democratic Party as a whole. Rather than limiting their attacks to the handful of districts where DSA-backed candidates are actually running, Republican campaigns are using those races to argue that the party itself is shifting toward democratic socialism. Whether that message resonates with swing voters remains to be seen, but it is likely to become a recurring theme in competitive House and Senate races this fall. … The same political dynamic cuts both ways. If Republicans intend to portray the Democratic Party through the lens of the DSA, they should expect Democrats to point to Donald Trump and the broader direction of today’s Republican Party.” (08/03/26)
“There was nothing ‘instinctive’ about Mr. Salinas[s]’ actions. He trained and trained, and he used what he taught himself and applied it. Just as anyone that has a single ounce of civic duty should. Civic duty is far more than going out and informing yourself and voting wisely, well-beyond ‘being a good citizen’ and paying your taxes and driving at the posted speed limit. One key civic duty is to be able, prepared, and above all, willing, to defend yourselves, your family and friends, your community, and even your enemies.” (08/03/26)
