1) Happy Schumer Shutdown Day

Well, so much for the Democrats being the party of good government.

Yesterday, Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats rolled the dice and filibustered a clean short-term CR, thus triggering a shutdown of non-essential federal government operations.

The cloture vote to break the filibuster got 55 votes, with Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Angus King of Maine (who calls himself an independent) the only defectors from the Schumer line. (Rand Paul was the only Republican who joined the filibuster, because he opposes extending spending at current levels without cuts.)

Schumer’s goal is to repeal all of the spending reforms in the Big Beautiful Tax Law (Medicaid work requirements, anti-fraud protections, limiting benefits for illegal aliens, etc) and extend COVID-emergency supersized subsidies to health insurance companies. It's about a $1.5 trillion soending hole Schumer wants to add to the debt. Federal spending on health care is what is already massively driving up out debt.

Republicans have the moral and fiscal high ground here and they shouldn’t budge.

2) EJ Antoni Withdraws From BLS Chief

It’s really the country’s loss.

EJ is one of the best young superstar economists in Washington. He is just what the increasingly unreliable and inaccurate Bureau of Labor Statistics needed after four Biden years of wildly off-target jobs estimates. The Biden number-counters overestimate the jobs created by more than 2 million, which is larger than the entire labor force of North and South Dakota combined.

The attacks from the left weren’t ever really about Antoni, but a way to sling arrows at Trump. EJ was caught in the political crossfire. Until now, no one ever paid attention to who headed the BLS.

The most detestable attacks came from so-called conservatives.  Daniel Bunn of the Tax Foundation and Kyle Pomerleau of the American Enterprise - two mediocre scholars to put it charitably - accused EJ of having a secret plan to raise taxes (sic) in the pages of the WSJ. This played right into the hands of his enemies on the left.

It was an especially outrageous libel because THEY were the ones who were caught red handed of lying. Even then, they refused to retract their story. Real class acts these two!

Jessica Riedl, a Manhattan Institute fellow, described Antoni's publications as “probably the most error-filled of any think tank economist," but couldn't point to any "errors." Shameful.

Jealousy makes people say and do stupid things. EJ is ubiquitous in the media while his sour critics at AEI, Tax Foundation and Manhattan Institute wallow in their ivory tower obscurity. Maybe their goal was to make friends with the left - and they may well have succeeded, for what sleeping with the enemy is worth.

The whole sordid episode reminds us of the old saying inside the Beltway: If You Want a Friend in Washington, Get a Dog.

The good news is EJ will be back in the saddle at Heritage as the chief economist and a senior fellow at UP contributing regularly to the HOTLINE.  The country’s loss is our gain.

3) Will Wall Street Say Good Bye To New York?

We've been arguing for a long time that New York’s days as the financial capital of the world are numbered. New York has the highest taxes on investment income and the most onerous financial regulations in the country.

We just didn't think the exodus would happen so quickly. But this headline from the WSJ confirms we were right:

As the WSJ notes, this is yet another clear example of a Dallas-based company "taking aim at New York's [former] dominance."

Financiers and banks have been gradually pulling investment capital out of New York for financial companies, but now it's a stampede. JPMorgan Chase, for instance, now has more employees in Texas than in New York.

Why? The climate change extremism, the high taxes, the noose of regulation, and now the prospects of a Socialist Mayor means Wall Street soon may have repelled the very capitalist spirit that made New York great in the first place.

The only question is whether the new Wall Street will be located in Dallas or Miami - where the state and city income taxes are zero.

4) Gavin Newsom to Silicon Valley Tech Companies: You Didn't Build That

Meanwhile, on the left coast, California Governor Gavin Newsom, is taking credit for California's tech boom. Last week, he told the Clinton Global Initiative:

"We created the market. There is no Elon Musk, there's no Tesla without California's regulatory framework, period, full stop. It wouldn't exist. It was because of the regulations."

Newsom is riffing off of Barack Obama’s famous lecture to business leaders:

"Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

Silicon Valley is still clearly the tech capital of the world, thanks in part to its proximity to Stanford. And it has the geographical advantage of beautiful weather, beaches and mountains. But just as New York is losing its financial sector, California’s tech sector is slowly headed south.

Our prediction is that if California doesn’t change, its lead in tech will be gone within 10 years.

5) The Least Essential Government Employee in Washington

From Iowa Senator Joni Ernst:

"On behalf of all Americans-- for his rudderless leadership, his petty partisanship, and his silly shut down shenanigans - the recipient of the non-essential government employee of the year for 2025 is Senator Chuck Schumer."

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