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Unleash Prosperity Hotline
Issue #1260
05/08/2025
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1) If You're Happy About the Way Things Are Going, You're a Republican

The chart below confirms what we had suspected about consumer confidence numbers. They really only reveal which political party you identify with.

Not only is the widely cited Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index reflecting a partisan gap in recent times, but that gap keeps widening. It was 27% during the second Bush and both Obama terms, then 54% across Trump's first term, 72% during Biden's four years, and now a gigantic 88% so far in Trump 2.0. Republicans are almost twice as likely to have confidence in the future right now.

The jury is still out as to whether this optimism is justified.
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2) Argentina President Javier Milei's Popularity Soars While Spending Plunges

This has to rank among the greatest first-year accomplishments of any president anywhere in the world: in 2024, under Javier Milei, Argentina's national government spending declined as a percent of GDP from 22.3% to 15.6% in one year. That's a 30% drop. Why, oh why can't we do that?
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For context, in fiscal year 2024 the United States federal government spent 23.4% of GDP - a little bit more than pre-Milei Argentina - and Republicans in Congress are struggling to find any spending cuts at all.

The politicians who are scared of even the slightest spending reductions should note that Milei now enjoys the second-highest approval rating of any world leader:
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We attribute some of Milei's success to the advice he received from UP co-founder Arthur Laffer.
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3) Headline of the Week

Here's one sure to make you smile:
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How did this happen? What leaps to our mind is that there never was a real "consensus" in the first place. Just because the Harvard professors and the Euro bureaucrats sit around the campfire at Davos with Al Gore and all agree, doesn't make it a consensus.
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4) States Are Slapping Down Abusive Lawsuits

One of the worst aspects of the U.S. legal system is the SLAPP, which stands for "strategic lawsuit against public participation."

These are frivolous suits meant to silence opponents, debate, or dissent. SLAPPs come in many forms - claims for defamation, invasion of privacy, nuisance. But winning the case isn't really their goal. The point is to put the defendants through expensive and painful defenses. Even when these cases fail in court, as most do, the plaintiffs keep the heat on and the falsely accused are left with expensive legal bills.

Thankfully, a quiet revolution to crack down on SLAPPs is taking place in state legislatures. This month, Iowa's legislature passed a new law allowing courts to more rapidly dismiss SLAPP suits within 60 days of being filed. At least 37 states - including some blue states like California and Oregon - have put anti-SLAPP laws on the books, almost all in the last five years.

We know that bipartisan efforts are rare and far between these days, but this appears to be one where the only losers are bullies and trial lawyers - who (sadly) are too often the same people.
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5) California's High Speed Rail Is Reaching the End Of the Line

In 2008, California progressives convinced a bare majority of voters to start an 800-mile high-speed rail service that would connect San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento. It was to be finished in 2020.

Now, 17 years later, the project looks more like a con artist's dream than transportation. Construction is inching along on a third of the route, a mere stub between Merced (population 93,000) and Bakersfield (population 413,000). The funding shortfall is nearly $100 billion, and President Donald Trump is about to cut off all federal funding.

UP Senior Fellow Wendell Cox authoreda report ([link removed]) for us last month that indicated the cost of California's project will likely double again, to as much as $250 billion. The federal government needs to mercy kill this expensive boondoggle. No point in the rest of the nation supporting the project, whether with loans or grants, given the disastrous record we've seen so far. If Californians want a bullet train to nowhere, they can pay for it.
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6) A Gavin Newsom Self Portrait

Gavin thinks the train is a success!
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