TikTok and the “New News” Media
Paul MatzkoTake a second and think about how you heard about the recent train derailment in Ohio, which created a giant cloud of toxic chemicals and forced a mass evacuation. It’s the plot ofWhite Noise come to life.If you ’re reading this, then odds are you first heard about the crash online. But if you’re one of the dwindling number of people who rely on local newspapers and tv station for news, then you’ll likely have seen stories that mostly just repeat official statements from the authorities.“If you are in this red zone that is on the map, and you refuse to evacuate, you are risking death,”said PA Go...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 10, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Paul Matzko Source Type: blogs
Friday Feature: Prichard Preparatory School
Colleen HroncichIn 2005, Alabama pastor Dr. Ruby Eldridge founded Pure Word Academy (now Prichard Preparatory School) so children in her church could receive a high ‐quality education that would help them escape poverty. “Miss Ruby,” as she was known, wanted to give parents an affordable option for a college ‐prep school that was on par with what wealthier families could access.Today, the school is led by Portia Green, who joined the community as a parent in 2011, served as a teacher and administrator, and was named principal in 2020. Portia says she “fell in love with the school, its mi...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 10, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Colleen Hroncich Source Type: blogs
On Adaptation
Erec SmithIn my “Communication in Professional Cultures” course, I tell my students that adaptation, the ability to readjust one’s disposition based on unforeseen situational changes, is one of—if notthe—most important skills one could have in a pluralistic, civil democracy. This country’s diversity of standpoints, values, interests, and conditions will, naturally, create a diversity of situations. Though these situations can overlap in a variety of ways, they offer enough distinction to warran t the efficacy of adaptation. The ability to roll with the punches, as it were, seems to be an obvious necessity in th...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 9, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Erec Smith Source Type: blogs
2022 U.S.-China Trade Data Shows No Signs of Widespread Decoupling
Clark Packard and Alfredo Carrillo ObregonEarlier this week, the Census Bureau released its official 2022 trade data. As our Cato colleague Scott Lincicomenoted, the overall data continues to undercut the popular narrative pushed by politicians and pundits about the demise of globalization. On a more granular level, the data are revealing for U.S.-China trade watchers.First, for all of the talk about “strategic decoupling,” trade ties remain strong between the United States and China. Over the last five years, policymakers in Washington and Beijing have erected large trade barriers between the two countries: tariffs ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 9, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Clark Packard, Alfredo Carrillo Obregon Source Type: blogs
Senators Bennet and Collins Have Their Hearts in the Right Place, But Their Eyes on the Wrong Target
Jeffrey A. SingerSenator Susan Collins (R ‑ME) wrote anop ‐ed for Seacoastonline this week expressing her concerns about skyrocketing drug overdose deaths. According to the most recentdata from the National Center for Health Statistics, 90 percent of opioid ‐related overdose deaths involve illicit fentanyl, and 15 percent involve diverted prescription pain pills. In her column, Senator Collins expressed pride in a proposal aimed at reducing overdoses that she co‐sponsored with Senator Michael Bennet (D‑CO). Unfortunately, while the legisla tion was well‐intended, it placed too much emphasis on educ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 9, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Employee Compensation Rose Just 3% in the Fourth Quarter
Alan ReynoldsThe fourth quarter ’s 3% year‐to‐year increase in hourly wages and benefits was lower than the 3.7% average increase since 1987, and even lower than the 3.1% norm during the horrific 2008 recession. That casts considerable doubt on the notion that inviting another inverted yield curve recession is a const ructive way to bring inflation down. Patience is working fine.Federal Reserve officials have been downplaying the 2.1% PCE inflation rate of the past six months by (1) expressing concern about select pieces of that average, and (2) suggesting that a generous seasonal adjustment (to statisticall...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 8, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Alan Reynolds Source Type: blogs
Stock Buybacks: Misunderstanding Fuels Bad Tax Policy
Adam N. MichelTuesday night President Bidenproposed a fourfold increase to the recently passed 1% tax on stock buybacks. The existing excise tax went into effect barely a month ago and taxpayers are still facing uncertainty over how the existing tax will be implemented.The original buyback excise tax was included in theInflation Reduction Act of 2022, went into effect at the beginning of 2023, and is estimated toraise about $74 billion over ten years. The tax is still being implemented by the IRS and a recent Congressional Research Servicereport notes that “a number of repurchase issues still need clarific...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 8, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Adam N. Michel Source Type: blogs
Debt, Deficits, and Default in President Biden ’s State of the Union
Romina BocciaPresident Biden devoted quite a few lines in hisState of the Union address to making various claims about deficits, debt, and the debt limit. President ’s Biden’s statements are indented below, my reactions follow.“In the last two years, my administration cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion — the largest deficit reduction in American history.”This claim is untrue. Deficits declined due to COVID-19 emergency spending waning, not because “the administration cut the deficit.” President Biden is claiming victory over deficits when his administration’s policies significantly increased de...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 8, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Romina Boccia Source Type: blogs
The Jones Act Exacerbates Northeast Traffic Woes
Colin GrabowThe Northeast United States is choking on traffic. According to data analysis firm INRIX, the regionis home to six of the ten most congested roads in the United States as well as two of the five most congested citiesin the world (New York City and Boston). That ’s an obvious problem for motorists trying to get to work (or anywhere else) as well as truckers hauling freight through the region. But this raises a question: why not instead move freight using more efficient, moreenvironmentally ‐friendly ships plying the coastal waters that parallel I ‑95? The answer is largely found in the protectionistJon...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 8, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Colin Grabow Source Type: blogs
Biden ’s Billionaire Tax
Chris EdwardsIn his state of the union address last night, President Bidensaid, “We have to reward work, not just wealth. Pass my proposal for the billionaire minimum tax … no billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a schoolteacher or a firefighter.”Actually, we should reward work and wealth by not overtaxing them. Wealth is just savings, which supports workers by providing resources for businesses investment. Jeff Bezos ’ wealth of $125 billion is not gold bars under his mattress, but rather mainly capital in Amazon which supports opportunities for more than a million workers. Without such wealth or...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 8, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Checking in on the Death of Globalization ™
Scott LincicomeThe U.S. trade data for calendar year 2022,released today by the Census Bureau,againshow that the much ‐ballyhooed Death of Globalization has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, inflation‐adjusted U.S. trade in goods — imports and exports — set records last year:The nominal value of U.S. trade in goods and services (not adjusted for inflation) also set records, as total trade almost reached$7 trillion:And trade as a share of the U.S. economy (GDP), while not hitting an all‐time high, has now rebounded to pre‐pandemic levels:Of course, past performance doesn ’t necessarily guarantee...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 7, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Scott Lincicome Source Type: blogs
The New Deal and Recovery, Part 23: The Great Rapprochement
George SelginWhat finally brought the Great Depression to an end? We ' ve seen that, whatever it was, it took place not during the 30s but sometime between then and the end of World War II, when a remarkable postwar revival occurred instead of the renewed depression many feared. We ' ve also seen that, while postwar fiscal and monetary policies weren ' t austere to the point of preventing that revival, they alone can ' t explain it, because they can ' t explain the reawakening of private business investment from its decade-and-a-half-long slumber.Animal SpiritsTo get to the bottom of that reawakening, we must first recall ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 7, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: George Selgin Source Type: blogs
President Biden ’s Anti‐Growth Agenda
David BoazE. J. Dionne writes in the Washington Post that President Biden will focus his State of the Union speech on “how to make the economy grow for everyone.” That’s a good topic. Unfortunately, Dionne ’s column illustrates that Biden’s policies will not do that.Dionne mentions “policies that see robust government investments, worker rights and a green tech economy as the path to a new American century. ” And he recommends further initiatives such as “paid leave, universal pre‑K and child care, health coverage expansions, a beefed ‐up child tax credit, and steps to make housin...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 7, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: David Boaz Source Type: blogs
A Human Rights Victory in India, but with Great Difficulty
Swaminathan S. Anklesaria AiyarIf you are a Muslim in India participating in a student agitation, you can be locked up for years without being convicted. Sharjeel Imam and seven other students were arrested in 2019 under anti ‐terrorism laws for supposed violence in an agitation against a new citizenship law discriminating against Muslims. After almost four years of incarceration, they have been discharged at a pre ‐trial stage by the Delhi High Court. The judge castigated the police chargesheets saying “prosecutions cannot be launched on the basis of conjectures and surmises and chargesheet...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 7, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar Source Type: blogs
Should Governments Criminalize Fraud?
Jeffrey MironAt first blush, the question might seem bizarre. Surely even the purest libertarian opposes private deceptions that, in effect, steal money from others? The Libertarian Partyplatform explicitly endorses government prohibitions of fraud.Yet this is one case where libertarians have perhaps accepted too large a role for government. In Libertarian Land, government does not criminalize fraud; government ’s only role in reducing fraud consists of enforcing contracts.Read the resthere. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 6, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey Miron Source Type: blogs