The Middle East and its oil were never as strategically vital to the United States as our security bureaucracies and media claimed...

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September 24, 2019 | Weekly Newsletter

Don’t Sweat the Saudi Oil Disruption ([link removed])
By Ivan Eland (The American Conservative, 9/17/19)
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The Middle East and its oil were never as strategically vital to the United States as our security bureaucracies and media claimed. One reason is that price hikes caused by OPEC’s oil embargos in the 1970s—or last week’s drone attacks on Saudi oil refineries—create strong incentives for oil producers to increase their production, thus reducing oil prices in the long term to market levels. But even if oil prices stay elevated for a while, industrialized economies have shown resiliency in the face of such spikes. READ MORE » ([link removed])

[link removed] No War for Oil U.S. Dependency and the Middle East ([link removed])
By Ivan Eland
How To Help the Poor Without Subsidizing the Rich ([link removed])
By John C. Goodman (Forbes, 9/5/19)
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Created by a mere 8 pages in the 2017 tax reform law, Opportunity Zones were supposed to benefit the poor but instead mainly spur high-end gentrification and disproportionately benefit hedge funds, real estate developers, and wealth investors. Rather than carving out a geographical area for deregulation, policymakers should help low-income families by deregulating the services they needed, such as transportation, medical care, and housing. READ MORE » ([link removed])
Federalism Can Solve the Abortion Fight ([link removed])
By William J. Watkins, Jr. (The Hill, 9/3/19)
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Strong feelings are to be expected when one side sees abortion as a fundamental right and the other as murder. But under a proper understanding of our Constitution, one does not have to understand what makes an opponent tick or agree with his favored legislative approach on abortion or any other issue. READ MORE » ([link removed])

[link removed] Crossroads for Liberty Recovering the Anti-Federalist Values of America’s First Constitution ([link removed])
By William J. Watkins Jr.
Intellectual Gerrymandering: ‘E Unum Pluribus’ on Campus ([link removed])
By Richard K. Vedder (Forbes, 9/3/19)
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Higher education has seen the infusion of identity politics into academic curricula and campus life. Unlike legitimate academic fields that study aspects of specific populations—such as Latin American economic history or Nigerian literature—the new intellectual gerrymandering is more based on ideology, not a dispassionate evaluation of a core body of knowledge or a rigorous effort to expand the frontiers of knowledge. READ MORE » ([link removed])

[link removed] Restoring the Promise Higher Education in America ([link removed])
By Richard K. Vedder
Price Gouging Laws Are Knowledge Embargoes That Should Be Repealed ([link removed])
By Art Carden (Forbes, 8/31/19)
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As Hurricane Dorian approached Florida last month, state officials issued rules that made it harder for people to get the supplies they most urgently needed. Although price gouging laws might at first glance seem helpful by preventing unscrupulous people from taking advantage of others in a time of need, such laws discourage the provision of badly needed goods by snuffing out the price signals that encourage suppliers to deliver scarce resources to the marketplace and discourage consumers from wasting them. READ MORE » ([link removed])

[link removed] Choice Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action ([link removed])
By Robert P. Murphy
The Beacon: New Blog Posts
* Government Virtue-Signaling Severely Misallocates Resources ([link removed]) , by Mary L. G. Theroux
* Incumbent Advantage ([link removed]) , by Randall G. Holcombe
* The Return of Quantitative Easing ([link removed]) , by Craig Eyermann
* Outgoing University of California President Janet Napolitano Was More Politician than Educator ([link removed]) , by K. Lloyd Billingsley
* Hustlers Explores Seedy Side of Strip-Club Economics ([link removed]) , by Samuel R. Staley
* Attack on Saudi Oil Facilities: This Isn’t Our Fight ([link removed]) , by Randall G. Holcombe
* Thoughts on Housing Affordability and Homelessness in California ([link removed]) , by Adam Summers
* Our Constitutional Republic ([link removed]) , by Randall G. Holcombe
* Federal Emergency Bureaucracy Displays More Corruption Inherent in the System ([link removed]) , by K. Lloyd Billingsley
* Africans on the Move: Impressions versus Facts ([link removed]) , by Alvaro Vargas Llosa

Catalyst: New Articles
* Small Business Optimism Is Sky-High. Here’s Why That Matters. ([link removed]) , by Luka Ladan
* Thoughts on Housing Affordability and Homelessness in California ([link removed]) , by Adam B. Summers
* Majors Matter ([link removed]) , by Richard Vedder
* We Already Have Government-Run Healthcare in US: Just Ask Native Americans ([link removed]) , by Ross Marchand
* Rent Control: A Bad Idea Has Spread Again ([link removed]) , by Scott Beyer
* Colleges Don’t Want ‘Free College’ ([link removed]) , by Richard Vedder


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