The best that can be said of the Federal Reserve's meeting earlier this week, argues Desmond Lachman, "is that the Fed is no longer in total inflation denial." Despite assurances that inflation would only marginally exceed the Fed's 2 percent target, over the past 12 months, consumer price inflation rose to its highest level in 12 years. While the Fed's governors signaled interest rates will likely increase a year sooner than expected, Lachman warns the Federal Reserve is still taking the path of least resistance.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Phil Gramm and Mike Solon challenge the conclusions of a "blockbuster" ProPublica story claiming the wealthiest Americans pay only a sliver of their fortunes in taxes each year. "Nobody pays federal wealth taxes in America," Gramm and Solon write, and there is a good reason for that: "For most Americans, a wealth tax, whether they have wealth or not, would mean fewer jobs, lower wages and less opportunity for human flourishing."

In a new report, Jay Cost writes that in a diverse country such as the United States, the best way to generate loyalty to the government is by offering meaningful participation in the political process. This requires a base level of consensus. Analyzing three examples from early American history, Cost argues that while consensus building has fallen out of favor in modern American politics, a government built on consensus has decisive advantages — and it may prove impossible to sustain our system of government over the long term without it.

Finally, in Vienna this week, President Joe Biden met Vladimir Putin with hopes of cultivating a "stable and predictable" relationship with Russia. While some believe Putin would also benefit from greater amiability with Washington, Hal Brands writes there is little chance that will happen. Instead, Biden's approach may backfire. "When Washington signals that it needs predictability in the relationship," argues Brands, "it tempts Putin to show how easily he can deny that predictability until it meets Moscow's terms."