1) Interest on the Debt Now Eclipses $3 Billion a DAY
Here's our chart of the day, courtesy of our friend Scott Bessent of Key Square Capital. This is based on the latest Treasury Department data:
Our view is that borrowing and paying interest isn't always bad, but it depends on what you are spending the money on and whether the borrowing builds a better future. That was clearly true, for example, with the Reagan tax cuts and defense buildup to win the Cold War.
In recent years, we've been spending money on three Biden-Harris priorities: welfare and income redistribution programs, green energy flops, and student loan bailouts.
The first stage to recovery from any addiction is to acknowledge you have a problem. Both parties are still in denial.
Trump and Harris finally agree on something and they're both dead wrong.
They both oppose the Nippon Steel/US Steel deal.
Our Unleash Prosperity study explains how the $14.9 billion Nippon Steel acquisition to rejuvenate U.S. Steel, will bring technological advancements, productivity gains, and a commitment to maintaining current labor agreements. The study also emphasized the strategic importance of welcoming foreign investment, particularly from a close ally like Japan, in countering global competitors like China.
Nobody is smiling wider than Xi Jinping at the apparent scuttling of the deal while China moves to dominate the global market:
Blocking a major investment from an investor-owned company headquartered in a major ally would represent a departure from the historic openness of US markets. We agree with our friends at the Wall Street Journal editorial page: this is one issue in which Trump and Harris agree, and they're both dead wrong.
Our study found:
Although U.S. affiliates of foreign multinational enterprises comprise less than 1% of U.S. companies, in 2021 these affiliates in America accounted for 13% of business spending on research and development, 17.3% of investment in plant and equipment, and 23.6% of total goods exports. In short, foreign direct investment fuels a disproportionate share of U.S. economic growth.
Multinational affiliates employed more than 7.9 million U.S. workers, of which 35% were in manufacturing - far higher than manufacturing's 9.7% share of all U.S. private-sector jobs today. Total annual compensation at these companies averaged $86,859 per worker, a full 22% above the average for the rest of the private sector.
Ironically, our politicians are scaring off foreign investment in the private sector at the exact same time they are borrowing more money than ever from abroad to finance government spending!
Too many of America's 4,000 colleges and universities have become dismal centers of intellectual stagnation, intolerance, and indignation. We're pleased to note that the new University of Austin has opened its doors in Texas to provide a classical liberal education.
The school's president is Pano Kanelos. He's the former head of the esteemed St. Johns College in Annapolis, Md., which teaches undergraduates using the "Great Books" program. UATX has a Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership, which is designed to "equip students with the entrepreneurial spirit and practical skills necessary to build innovative businesses, craft impactful policies, or enrich our cultural landscape."
We can only hope this audacious start-up succeeds in shaking up the closed-minded and the 'Blame America First' mentality of modern higher education.
4) This Is What Happens When the Government Owns the Land
Burnt to a Crisp - Thanks, Washington!
One of the hallmarks of America's economic success has been the private ownership of the land.
Think of the Oklahomans-to-be, racing their stagecoaches across the wilderness to stake their claims. Whoever got there first took ownership of the property – with the ones allegedly jumping the gun called "sooners."
Roughly half of the land west of the Mississippi in the year 2024 is still owned by the government. Much of it is forest.
Our friend Amos Enos of Landcan.org, one of the nation's leading land conservation groups, has analyzed how the government is horrifically managing these vast tracts of land:
Federal lands are in a crisis. Twelve of 15 million acres of our federal forests in California in the majestic Sierras have been burnt to a crisp and the culprit is not so much the media touted global warming, but the environmental movement and the Clinton Forest plan held steadfast by his successors. We confront 50 years of built up fuel loads in federal forests that our Native American predecessors burnt every year for 5 millennia, so instead of grassland forest floors, we now have kindling half the height of our Ponderosas...
Environmental litigants prevent any forest management, the result is an environmental travesty. Federal strategies have been demonstratively ineffective not only on forest fire management but also endangered species recovery. USFWS has only recovered (3%) of the thousands of listed endangered species.
Ironically, the government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on federal land purchases and "tree planting programs." For every tree planted, these fires have burned at least 10 to the ground.
Forest fires are a MAJOR emitter of greenhouse gasses. For a fraction of the cost of the Green New Deal, we could save the planet by letting private owners manage the lands.
Want to reduce the debt? Let's start selling millions of acres of federal lands.
5) Critics Pan "Reagan" Movie – But Audiences Love It
Movie critics have done everything but pour boiling tar on the film and its makers. On the Rotten Tomatoes review site, Reagan earns a 22% "rotten" rating based on 51 reviews by critics. They call the film shallow "historical hooey" and a giant bore.
On the other side, the Rotten Tomatoes measure of audience appreciation ("Popcornmeter") gives the film a 98% "fresh" score, based on more than 2,500 verified film attendees. Reagan also scored big on two theatrical exit-polling sites, earning an "A" grade from CinemaScore and 4.5 stars from PostTrak.
Of the approximately 15,000 films released in the quarter century of Rotten Tomatoes' existence, there has never been a gulf between critics and audiences as vast as that for Reagan.
Only five films since 1998 have seen a divide of 50% or more. The gap with Reagan is an unprecedented 76%.
We've said about Ronald Reagan that he was always underestimated by his adversaries – and here we have the latest example.
