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Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetGeorge Will hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree to hear a case that will allow it to overturn the egregious 2005 Kelo ruling. Two slices: In Kelo, the court further diluted the concept of “public use,” making it mean “public benefit.” The court upheld (5-4) the New London (Connecticut) Development Corp.’s condemnation of […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 124 of Johan Norberg’s excellent 2023 book, The Capitalist Manifesto: Sven Norfeldt, one of Sweden’s most successful entrepreneurs, once described the market to me as a minefield. Over there, on the other side, there is new knowledge, capacities, products and services that could enrich the whole of society. But our path […]
The Spectacular Economic Ignorance of Peter Navarro - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a letter to the New York Times. Editor: Encountering, in David Leonhardt’s report, a summary of Peter Navarro’s attempted justifications of Trump’s tariffs makes the head spin (“A Disagreement on Tariffs,” February 18). Navarro’s arguments are so illogical, self-contradictory, and economically ignorant that they’d be merely laughable were he not an advisor to the […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetThomas Friedman – no doctrinaire free trader – warns wisely against Trump’s incoherent tariff ‘policy.’ Four slices: The scariest thing about what President Trump is doing with his tariffs-for-all strategy, I believe, is that he has no clue what he is doing — or how the world economy operates, for that matter. He’s just making […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 378 of Joel Mokyr’s superb 2009 book, The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850: The Hobbesian view that insisted that order can only be achieved through firm third-party enforcement may well be true for many societies, but it appears that for Britain in the century following Hobbes’ death (1679) […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 315 of Thomas Sowell’s 2002 collection, Controversial Essays: One of the scariest things about our times is how easy it is to scare people and start a political stampede. There are people who could be upset if they were told that half of all Americans earn less than the median income […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetPhil Magness, in an interview, explains some of the many problems with Trump’s protectionist ‘policies.’ A slice: Tariffs have caused rapid market swings, which could negatively impact investors. “In addition to the deadweight economic losses caused by higher prices, Trump’s tariff policies have already provoked retaliation from abroad against American-produced goods. The erratic nature of […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetSteven Kamin decries the harmful economic uncertainty being generated by Trump’s trade ‘policies.’ Kyle Handley is understandably unimpressed with Robert Lighthizer’s recent attempt, in the pages of the New York Times, to defend Trump’s indefensible protectionism. Three slices: One of Lighthizer’s central arguments is that the US has “transferred” $20 trillion of its wealth to […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetIt’s unclear if Charles Mann – fresh from a wedding-rehearsal dinner in the Pacific Northwest – fully grasps the role of market forces in making modern life possible, but it’s quite clear that he astutely and properly understands that ordinary people today live lives that are materially far richer than were the lives of even […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 91 of Johan Norberg’s excellent 2023 book, The Capitalist Manifesto (footnote deleted; link added): More jobs were lost in the Rust Belt in the northeastern United States between 1950 and 1980 … than in the decades that followed. DBx: So, before the age of so-called “hyperglobalization” – before the alleged takeover […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetHal Scott argues that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can and should be dissolved. A slice: President Trump’s decision on Saturday to fire Rohit Chopra as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is welcome if slightly belated. Since Mr. Trump’s election, Mr. Chopra has been on an antimarket rampage, seeking to tie the new […]
Open Letter to Jeff Ferry - Cafe Hayek
TweetMr. Jeff Ferry Chief Economist emeritus Coalition for a Prosperous America Jeff: I enjoyed our recent joint appearance on Perspectives Matter. Coincidentally, a friend just shared with me a piece you wrote last February titled “Tariffs Have Strengthened the U.S. Economy.” You’ll not be surprised that I disagree with the bulk of it. For example, […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 68 of George Selgin’s brilliant forthcoming (in April) book, False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933-1947 (original emphasis; links added): There are few more successful examples in history of the propaganda technique known as the “big lie” than the charge that Herbert Hoover was a “do nothing” […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 551 of Robert Higgs’s excellent 2010 paper about the 2008 financial crisis. This paper, published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, is titled “Cumulating Policy Consequences, Frightened Overreactions, and the Current Surge of Government’s Size.” Many of the government’s crisis actions seem aimed not at doing what makes […]
Bonus Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from this recent Facebook post by GMU Econ alum Jon Murphy: Is Trump a unique threat to democracy, some evil genius, some master political schemer? Possible, but unlikely. What’s more likely is he is just like every other politican right now: a man way out of his depth with a vague understanding of […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetEric Boehm reports on the launch of Trump’s latest moronic and destructive trade war. Two slices: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a Friday press conference that the Trump administration was prepared to impose a new 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, along with a 10 percent tariff on […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetWall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel introduces us to the arrogant busybodies who support RFK, Jr. Two slices: “We have to tell people how to lead better lives.” Politicians have a duty to protect citizens from greedy industries, to stop corporations from poisoning our food, to steer us away from bad choices. America has a […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 351 of Deirdre McCloskey’s September 2nd, 2016, essay in the New York Times as this essay is reprinted in Historical Impromptus, a 2020 collection of some of Deirdre’s work on economic history: We can improve the conditions of the working class. Raising low productivity by enabling human creativity is what has […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetScott Lincicome and Alfredo Carrillo Obregon offer “seven charts showing how Canada/Mexico tariffs would harm the US auto industry (and American car buyers).” Two slices: President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all goods imported into the United States from Canada and Mexico, with the levies coming as soon as […]
Gramm's and Summers's Open Letter in Opposition to Trump's Tariffs - Cafe Hayek
TweetPhil Gramm and Larry Summers have penned an open letter – published just now in the Wall Street Journal – in opposition to Trump’s proposed tariffs. Economists are invited to sign this letter, as I and many other economists have already have done – and as I encourage you also to do, if you are […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from pages 334-335 of the “Random Thoughts” section of Thomas Sowell’s 2010 book, Dismantling America: Stepping beyond your competence can be like stepping off a cliff. Too many people with brilliance and talent within some field do not realize how ignorant – or, worse yet, misinformed – they are when talking like philosopher-kings […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 107 of Thomas Sowell’s 2023 book, Social Justice Fallacies (original emphasis): The advantages that some people have, in a given endeavor, are not just disadvantages to everyone else. These advantages also benefit all the people who pay for the product or service provided by that endeavor. It is not a zero-sum […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetDavid Henderson and Phil Magness warn: “Don’t substitute tariffs for income taxes: you’ll get both.” A slice: Current income tax revenues are about $2.5 trillion per year. Goods imports are just over $3 trillion per year. So replacing individual income taxes would imply an 83 percent tariff rate. But that’s true only if raising tariff […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from pages 336-337 of Deirdre McCloskey’s 2016 review of Joel Mokyr’s 2016 book, A Culture of Growth, as this review is reprinted in Historical Impromptus, a 2020 collection of some of Deirdre’s work on economic history: Adam Smith in 1776 spoke warmly of “allowing every man to pursue his own interest in his […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetGMU Econ alum Dominic Pino tells why he’s not so impressed with Trump’s ‘win’ over Colombia. Two slices: The U.S. has a trade agreement with Colombia, signed in 2006. This agreement was one in a wave of similar agreements between the U.S. and countries in South and Central America. Since the end of the Bush […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetAndy Kessler is right: “Trump’s tariffs are a wealth killer.” Three slices: “We will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” President Trump declared in his inauguration speech. Adam Smith is turning in his grave. Tariffs destroy wealth. No matter, Mr. Trump said he may slap 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting […]
Trump Has No Comparative Advantage at Understanding Trade - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a letter to a new visitor to the Cafe: Mr. M__: You write that “economists’ textbook fiction for validating free trade is defeated by the facts and logic of President Trump when, talking to the Davos group, he said about Canada that ‘we don’t need them to make our cars, we make a lot […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from pages 81-82 of Anne Krueger’s 2020 book, International Trade: What Everyone Needs to Know: There is no reason why trade between any pair of countries should balance. A doctor has a trade deficit with his grocer, his gas station, and many more, but bilateral surpluses with his patients. It is ridiculous to […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 488 of Gordon Wood’s splendid 2009 volume, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815: They often seemed more interested in what their benevolence could do for their own feelings than for what it could do for the objects of their compassion. Share Tweet Share Email Print
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetWall Street Journal columnist Holman Jenkins warns of the economic damage destined to be done to Americans by Trump’s tariffs. A slice: For somebody who supposedly loves America’s businesspeople, in particular its manufacturers, Donald Trump gives them lots of headaches. His tariff threats are forcing companies to stock up on inventory and inputs against future […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from pages 48-49 of the great economic historian T.S. Ashton’s 1951 paper “The Treatment of Capitalism by Historians,” which is chapter 1 of the 1954 volume edited by F.A. Hayek, Capitalism and the Historians (footnote deleted): In the years that followed the long [Napoleonic] war, then, the builders had the task of making […]
"Buy American" Rules Hurt Americans - Cafe Hayek
TweetK.T. is a regular Cafe Hayek patron who lives in New York state. He sent an email to me today, the bulk of which I share here with his kind permission. For the last few weeks I have heard stories about the ‘salt shortage’ that is impacting local governments’ efforts to keep ice off our […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetGMU Econ alum Dominic Pino reveals “the arrogance of protectionism.” Three slices: Benjamin Wallace-Wells has written a piece about Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative during Donald Trump’s first term, for the New Yorker. It wonders why Lighthizer, one of the most prominent protectionists in America, is not part of the administration. One of his […]
One Reason I Enjoy Drinking - Cafe Hayek
TweetI can’t count the number of times that I’ve had the following conversation with a protectionist: Me: I favor a policy of unilateral free trade, which requires no trade agreements with other governments. Protectionist: That’s nuts! Why should we lower our tariffs when other governments don’t lower theirs? That would be unilateral economic disarmament! Me […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetAs does Arnold Kling, the Wall Street Journal‘s Editorial Board calls for the U.S. government to put prudent conditions on any aide that it extends to California in the wake of the L.A. wildfires. Two slices: Democrats want a blank check, and they’re comparing the fires to hurricanes. The fires are horrific and the damage […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 224 of Milton & Rose Friedman’s great 1980 book, Free To Choose: What about the claim that consumers can be led by the nose by advertising? Our answer is that they can’t – as numerous expensive advertising fiascoes testify. One of the greatest duds of all time was the Edsel automobile, […]
Don't Tell Trump! - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a letter to Yahoo!News. (I thank Dan Polsby for alerting me to this news report.) Editor: You report that “Saudi Arabia plans $600 billion in new US investment” (January 22). Don’t tell President Trump! If the Saudis follow through, one result will be that the U.S. trade deficit will be larger by $600 billion […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetThe Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal rightly praises Mike Pence for his criticism of the Hong Kong government’s imprisonment of the the great Jimmy Lai. A slice: Last week we broke the news that while speaking before a closed-door UBS business conference in Hong Kong, Mike Pence said there is “no more compelling […]