1) Guilty As Charged: Yes, We ARE "Free Market Fundamentalists"
At the recent National Conservatism conference in Washington, we at Unleash Prosperity were maligned as "Dogmatic Market Fundamentalists."
Perhaps we've been brainwashed by Milton Friedman, Arthur Laffer, Thomas Sowell, F.A. Hayek, and Adam Smith.
Many of the leaders of the NatCon movement are colleagues, and some of their ideas - "put America first," protect American sovereignty, and roll back the ESG movement – we agree with fully.
But the NatCon movement has morphed into Big Government "Conservatism". They want infrastructure spending, antitrust regulations, tariffs, and even higher tax rates. They sound a lot like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Our friends at Americans for Tax Reform compiled the similarities here:
The idea that giving MORE money and authority to the Deep State that runs our $7 trillion leviathan in Washington will solve America's economic and cultural problems is so hopelessly naive and counter to our first principles that, frankly, we're astonished that otherwise smart people would subscribe to it. But as the WSJ pointed out yesterday, the movement is gaining steam.
We are fully committed to countering the Big Government "Conservative" movement. The last thing we need in Washington now is two parties trying to out-spend and out-tax each other.
2) Stock Market Liked Trumponomics a Lot More Than Bidenomics
When the Dow Jones briefly rose above 40,000 earlier this year, the Biden White House crowed about the "great news for Americans' retirement accounts and another sign of confidence in America's economy."
We agree that a booming stock market does signal a healthy economy. Some in the media keep putting out headlines like this one a few months ago from Yahoo Finance:
But as we've mentioned in the past, when you measure stock market performance, you have to inflation-adjust the returns. See below for the most recent data from the exchanges. What the charts show is much higher returns under Trump than Biden.
In short, it was Trump, not Biden who was better for 401k plans.
Speaking of wacko ideas, the Biden administration is now touting national rent control.
God help us. If there is ANY economic issue that virtually all economists agree on, it's that rent control limits the availability of affordable housing, increases homelessness, and fails to help the poor.
No one bothered to tell the nutcases in this White House. Here is what Joe said yesterday:
"We're going to make sure that rents are kept at 5% increase in corporate rents for apartments and the like. Homes are limited to 5%."
Assar Lindbeck, the late left-wing Swedish economist who for many years chaired the committee that awarded the Nobel Prize, famously said: "In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city--except for bombing."
Usually when we feature New York Times headlines, it's to mock them. This one is perfect:
A new diesel-powered bus was going to cost about $120,000. So when Dr. P heard from a bus dealer that Wymore, as a rural, low-income district, might qualify for a free alternative-energy bus, he was eager to learn more......
Through the Environmental Protection Agency, schools can apply for grants to replace older diesel-burning buses with ones powered by propane, natural gas or electricity, but must promise to destroy the old diesel engine. It''s part of the Biden administration''s efforts to fight climate change......
Last October, as children were preparing for a chilly night of trick-or-treating, the future rolled into Wymore in the form of a 2023 Blue Bird Vision electric bus. Dr. Prososki went to the school parking lot to take a look, and the school maintenance worker plugged it in.
Nothing happened. The brand-new bus wouldn''t charge.
He wound up having to ship it to Colorado for repairs. The fix took months......
This past March, the new bus finally made its debut. School officials had already agreed on a way to allay everyone''s concerns. It wouldn''t drive beyond the edge of town.
Earlier this week, Republicans passed the SAVE Act, to ensure only eligible citizens are voting – despite almost universal opposition from House Democrats. So the bill was moved to the Senate where – surprise, surprise – Chucky Schumer and Senate Democrats blocked passage.
Why do Senate Democrats oppose requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration???
