Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman

“The infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930 pushed the average tariff rate to about 20 percent. So far every country that has received a letter will be facing rates higher than that. Another way to look at it to ask how much we would expect these tariffs to reduce trade. The key number is the elasticity of substitution in world trade — the percent fall in imports caused by a one percent rise in import prices. The median estimate from many studies is 3.8, which implies that in the long run 25 percent tariffs will reduce trans-Pacific trade by almost 60 percent. That’s a lot. … These tariffs are going to hurt South Korea and Japan, although they’ll hurt U.S. consumers even more. So why didn’t Korean and Japanese negotiators make big enough concessions to satisfy Trump? Because there was nothing for them to concede.” (07/08/25)

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-tariff-beatings-will-continue

Source: The Daily Economy
by John Phelan

“Economists find state income tax rates impact the performance of professional sports teams. Athletes, like many Americans, relocate with tax liability in mind.” (07/08/25)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/do-low-tax-states-win-more-stanley-cups/

Source: TomDispatch
by Andrea Mazzarino

“War kills in so many ways. These days, Americans are bombarded with images from Gaza and elsewhere of people or broken bodies being ferried on stretchers from the rubble of homes and hospitals, by rescue workers whose thin bodies and stricken faces suggest they are barely better off than those they’re helping. Social media and journalists make us eyewitnesses to emaciated children too weak to cry. And yet, compared with air raids that crush and bloody instantaneously, a slower disaster, more difficult to capture (especially given our made-for-TikTok attention spans), consists of the hours that many people in war zones spend wasting away from infectious diseases of one sort or another. … Between 2003 and 2007, half of Iraq’s 18,000 doctors left the country due to the deteriorating security situation (with few intending to return).” (07/08/25)

https://tomdispatch.com/illness-and-endless-wars/

Source: The Realist Review
by Lucy Komisar

“In 2012 an explosive story resulted in a U.S. law which blocked visas and froze the assets of dozens of Russians accused by William Browder, a U.S.-born investment fund manager in London, of having organized or abetted the murder of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who he said had accused Russian government officials of complicity in the theft of $230 million from the Russian Treasury. But investigations show Magnitsky was not a lawyer but was instead Browder’s accountant who was linked to the scam. And he hadn’t been murdered — he died of a badly treated illness during a nearly year-long term in prison where he was detained thanks to an investigation into his managing a multi-million-dollar tax evasion scheme for Browder’s companies. … in its way, the Browder hoax set the stage for Russiagate, itself a complex web of disinformation.” (07/08/25)

https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/conman-the-story-of-william-browder

Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore

“Everyone knows that the ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill signed into law on the Fourth of July lowers tax burdens for families and businesses. It also averts a $4 trillion tax increase starting next year. That’s enough reason to celebrate heartily. But what isn’t well known is that this new law doesn’t just change tax policy. It includes dozens of other long-sought policy goals — what I call ‘hidden gems.’ Here is a list of some of the major policy victories: * The law is the most aggressive federal advancement of school choice by allowing low-income parents to direct education dollars to private, charter, or Catholic schools that are better for their kids. * The law also expands eligibility for personalized medical savings accounts instead of conventional insurance. This allows workers to control their health care dollars.” (07/08/25)

https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2025/07/08/he-biggest-conservative-victory-in-30-years-n2660034

Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders

“Because Elon Musk’s new party is light on details, I would like to propose some planks for the platform. Just for giggles.” (07/08/25)

https://underthrow.substack.com/p/new-america-party-a-proposed-platform