Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
by Ben Luongo

“Ronald Reagan’s budget director, David Stockman, spoke candidly years ago about why Republicans like tax cuts so much. In his 1986 book, The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed, he confided that tax cuts served the purpose of creating budget deficits that could then be used to justify spending cuts on government programs. Typically, administrations only cut spending for a program if it’s no longer necessary, and the resultant surplus may then be used as a tax cut to stimulate the economy. However, Stockman turned this on its head by using the tax cuts to create a budgetary crisis that would then require cuts in spending regardless of whether the programs were necessary or not. In other words, Stockman used tax cuts to create a revenue problem that the Reagan administration could then mask as a spending problem. This is known as ‘starving the beast’.” (04/16/26)

https://fpif.org/starving-the-beast-through-war/

Source: In These Times
by Thomas Birmingham

“When yet another air conditioner in her apartment building broke down in early March, Heather Myatt braced herself and began her usual beeline for the property manager’s office. For more than a year, Myatt and her neighbors have been waging a war to secure long-overdue repairs at Maple Grove Apartments, an income-restricted building in Brandenburg, KY. Being ignored had become routine for the tenants of Maple Grove; last summer, an elderly resident whose AC had been broken for two years, despite regular complaints to the building’s landlord, reportedly collapsed from the heat. But now, for the first time, Myatt knew her demand might actually be heard. ‘Y’all really don’t want to be violating this contract already,’ Myatt, a proud mother of two, recalls telling the property manager. ‘You have 24 hours to respond, or that’s a breach. You put it on this paper. You just signed it. Keep your word.'” (04/16/26)

https://inthesetimes.com/article/kentucky-tenant-union-contract-win-retaliation

Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann

“The U.S. government’s total public debt outstanding is on the verge of permanently surpassing $39 trillion. In truth, it already has, first breaching it on March 17, 2026. Since then, it’s bounced around that level, sometimes over, sometimes under. This situation won’t last. Soon, the U.S. government will borrow even more money to support its excessive spending. When it does, it will leave $39 trillion in the rear-view mirror, probably for good.” (04/15/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/15/another-trillion-national-debt/

Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm

“The executive branch is out of control. We’re now more than six weeks into a deeply unpopular, unnecessary war with Iran that lacks any semblance of congressional authorization. The Trump administration has sent masked, unaccountable goons into American cities, where they have harassed and arrested innocent people and killed multiple times. President Donald Trump’s signature economic policy is an illegal tax increase that his administration is refusing to refund. Congress has been unwilling or unable to stop these unlawful actions. If legislators will not deploy ‘the power of the purse,’ then it falls to the rest of us to do something. That’s why I have stopped paying the federal income tax. I’m not the only one doing it. I think you should, too.” (04/15/26)

https://reason.com/2026/04/15/trumps-illegal-war-in-iran-is-financed-by-your-taxes-thats-a-good-reason-to-stop-paying-them/

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Wendy McElroy

“Individuals may feel powerless but, in fact, individuals are the only restorative for civil society because they are the ones who can bind it together by establishing what is called ‘high trust.’ A high-trust society is characterized by members who reasonably expect others in the community to treat them fairly, which encourages voluntary association far beyond family bonds or other tight networks.” (04/16/26)

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/civil-society-needs-the-high-trust-that-only-individuals-can-provide/