WASHINGTON — The April jobs report found the U.S. economy added 175,000 new positions, but it fell below expectations. Unemployment nudged up to 3.9 percent last month, which at least keeps unemployment below 4 percent for 27 months in a…
This week, Congress moved closer to passing four separate bills with $95 billion in funding for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific allies, and the domestic submarine industrial base. This funding has been debated for months, with much of it intended for wars…
Environmentalists in the U.S. and Europe are now shining the spotlight on what we eat, as they once did on what we drive. Is a new meat tax on the horizon? Will farmers be required to offset their carbon footprint?…
This month, The Hill reports, Joe Biden will travel to East Palestine, Ohio, site of a train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals into the community and forcing evacuations. Biden’s visit comes “roughly one year” after the February 3, 2023 incident. As…
As the festive season approaches, with its twinkling lights and merry carols, the item topping my Christmas wish list is fiscal responsibility from Congress and the administration. If this sounds like an economist conflating policy with goodwill, remember this: In…
SACRAMENTO — With federal spending topping $6 trillion and the national debt approaching an impossible-to-fathom $34 trillion, it might seem petty to pick on a relatively small federal program designed to help the nation’s farmers insure their crops against natural…
In a world where economic decisions are mostly driven by short-term goals and political pressures, the need for a long-term, evidence-based approach is more pressing than at any time in memory. Enter the Copenhagen Consensus — a beacon of analytical…
Some policy experts who, over the last few decades, saw little need for serious fiscal austerity because the government could borrow at low interest rates are now changing their tune. Their argument is that with rates now rising and the…
Countless financial soothsayers and Wall Street wizards were once members of a curious cult. Their doctrine? The unshakable belief that interest rates had managed to find something resembling the fabled Fountain of Youth, leaving their numbers eternally low and never…
