[link removed]

February 26, 2025

Welcome to The Lighthouse ([link removed]) , the weekly email newsletter of the Independent Institute covering politics, economics, current events, and everything in between.

Dear Readers,

A tale as old as time: Congress is in the process of passing a budget framework that would add trillions of dollars to the debt over the next several years. This proposal cuts taxes significantly, while making only modest spending reductions. While the tax cuts should be applauded, not pairing them with the spending cuts necessary to achieve a balanced budget will inevitably mean future inflation and tax increases to pay for years of accumulated debt. The specifics will have to be decided later when a formal budget is passed, but the framework taking shape is certainly lackluster.

This budgetary news comes on the heels of new reports revealing the Biden administration went on a massive spending spree during the final days of the presidency. Craig Eyermann covers the details and questions how much taxpayer money has been doled out with little to no oversight.

Just as with spending, bad environmental strategies have also had downstream effects. Using New Mexico as a case study, Kenneth Costello shows how flawed energy policies persist while efficiency and resilience are sacrificed.

In the meantime, across the Atlantic, Ethan Yang covers the changing of the guard in the European Union, indicating that the E.U. is likely to lean into antitrust rules as an industrial policy tool. Alvaro Vargas Llosa points out that while the headlines intimate a worldwide upsurge of right-wing politics, the situation is much more nuanced, especially when it comes to economic agendas.

Read about all these topics in our latest issue of Independent Weekly!

Jonathan Hofer
Managing Editor

Top picks this week
[link removed]


** Bureaucrats Tossing Gold Bars Off the Titanic ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** by Craig Eyermann
------------------------------------------------------------

On their way out, Biden appointed officials and bureaucrats opened the money spigots as an “insurance policy.”
Read More ([link removed])

[link removed]


** Senseless Energy Policy in the Land of Enchantment ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** by Kenneth W. Costello
------------------------------------------------------------

Government-driven energy policies inherently place more faith in the implausible benevolence and infallibility of government intervention than in the choices made by consumers and other market participants.
Read More ([link removed])

[link removed]


** Is There a United New Right? ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
------------------------------------------------------------

There is a narrative that right-wing leaders are gaining steam worldwide, but this view misses some marks.
Read More ([link removed])

[link removed]


** The European Union Signals New Age of Antitrust ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** by Ethan Yang
------------------------------------------------------------

Major changes are on the horizon in Europe with significant implications for American companies.
Read More ([link removed])


** FEATURED BOOK
------------------------------------------------------------


** Race & Liberty (Updated Edition) ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** The Essential Reader ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** Edited by Jonathan J. Bean
------------------------------------------------------------

With new contributions from Thomas Sowell, Coleman Hughes, Thomas Chatteron Williams, Kenny Xu, David Bernstein, and Ilya Somin—as well as a plethora of primary source evidence from recent landmark US Supreme Court decisions—Bean champions the values of colorblindness, freedom, and equal constitutional protection for all individuals—regardless of race. It’s a message that couldn’t be more timely.
[link removed]

Donate ([link removed])

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
mailto:[email protected]

You received this message because you are subscribed to The Lighthouse.

Independent Institute, 100 Swan Way, Oakland, CA 94621-1428
Manage preferences ([link removed]) | Unsubscribe ([link removed])

Copyright © 2025 Independent Institute, All rights reserved.