1) The Swamp Strikes Back

We are celebrating the rare program eliminations in the $9 billion rescission bill.

Meanwhile, the swamp groups aren't letting up in their predictions of doom, pestilence, disease, hunger, war, and death if they don't get their money.  Their yelps of protest sound like a parody. But we're not making this up - they are.

Washington, DC - "In a letter sent to Congress, leading anti-hunger, anti-poverty, environmental, faith-based, gender equality, global health, humanitarian aid, human rights, peacebuilding and refugee agencies urged Members to "oppose the rescission of any foreign assistance funds related to urgent human needs, including food, medical and humanitarian aid, and to global stability and resilience, such as peacebuilding, poverty-focused development assistance, climate resilience and good governance."

"Congressional approval for these cuts will result in otherwise preventable deaths, the spread of infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance, and increased global poverty, instability and violence."

Of course, the letter conveniently fails to mention that most of these signatory groups are the parasitic recipients of these billions of taxpayer dollars that line their pockets, but have done nothing to bring actual development to poor nations.

2) Trade Deficits Don't Cost America Jobs

We interrupt all of the celebration of tariffs to rebut a common economic fallacy that many of our Republican friends keep repeating. It is the myth that trade deficits are associated with American economic decline.  

This myth is ably rebutted in a great new book by former Texas Senator Phil Gramm and George Mason University economist Donald Boudreaux entitled "The Triumph of Economic Freedom".

This chart from that book shows:

"There is no correlation between trade deficits and job creation...The trend of employment growth in America did not change when the United States started running annual trade deficits in 1976. Investment in America fuels job creation no less than does demand for American exports."

We are all for a level tariff playing field, but trade deficits are a byproduct of US capital investment dominance.  

Ed Feulner was a free-market conservative and fierce anti-communist back in the 1970s, long before it was cool. He invented the modern-day think tank, taking it from the days of stodgy 200-page tomes that lay gathering dust on bookshelves and read by few, to providing just-in-time, influential, hard-hitting studies delivered into the hands of the policymakers that mattered.

Among his many contributions to advancing freedom and free enterprise was to train hundreds of today's leading voices in the conservative movement - including some of the thinkers and activists at Unleash Prosperity.  Heritage taught young talent how to be relevant and impactful - something our billion-dollar universities don't do.  

He believed that "people are policy" and that's a lesson that this so-far successful Trump administration has taken to heart. His legacy lives on.

4) Trump Scores Win To Lower Drug Prices

There's an old joke in economics that whoever invented the idea of "eliminating the middle man" probably wasn't a middle man.  

The insurance companies and their pharmacy (PBM) divisions insist that they add value to drug distribution that justifies their business practice of pocketing rebates using their exemption from the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.  

We're skeptical.  

But the best way to find out who's right in this fight is to open the drug delivery system up to competition by allowing direct-to-consumer sales by manufacturers.  This is now happening, thanks to President Trump persuading manufacturers to start offering blockbuster drugs directly at a 40% discount from list price.

This way, consumers can decide for themselves whether the middleman is necessary.

5) In-N-Out Burger Is Movin' Out of California

For over 75 years, the In-N-Out Burger chain has been an iconic symbol of California's culture and lifestyle and a hamburger joint that customers would stand in lines outside the door for the shakes, fries and burgers.

It's yet another sign of California's demise that CEO and owner Lynsi Snyder says she is personally moving her family to Tennessee as she establishes a new corporate headquarters in a pro-business state with no state income tax.  She also says rising crime and other social influences no longer make California as appealing.

"Raising a family is not easy here," Snyder told the "Relatable" podcast. "Doing business is not easy here."

She recounted how in 2020 and 2021 the state's COVID restrictions shut down some of its San Francisco stores while other cities created "endless hoops we are having to jump through....maybe we should have just pushed back even harder on some of that stuff and dealt with all of the legal backlash.'"

This is only the latest example of how progressive governance - high minimum wages, soak-the-rich taxation, excessive business regulation, and climate change hysteria - send businesses packing.

Sad that the future once happened in California.

6) Anyone Want To Guess Who Blinks First?

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