Justin Logan Today, Cato released a new Policy Analysis by Scott Semet on the enduring consequences of cutting off Europe (and the world) from Russian natural gas. Last year, Europeans were very anxious about the winter of 2022–23; thankfully, the combination of an extremely mild winter on
Jordan Cohen and Dominik Lett President Joe Biden has requested $40.1 billion in emergency supplemental spending—$24.1 billion of which would go to Ukraine. For months, Congress has eyed a Ukraine supplemental bill to evade spending limits. Meanwhile, several House members are wary of going beyond the spending
While FedNow seems benign, there is the larger problem of the entire banking system itself being built on a foundation of sand. FedNow can only make that problem worse. Original Article: "FedNow Isn't a CBDC, but It Is Dangerous"
China's authoritarian gerontocracy has built a Doom Loop with Chinese characteristics, with over half the economy now crashing. Chinese exports are now plunging at the fastest pace since the covid lockdowns: Exports fell 14.5% on the year, driven by a 21% drop in exports to Europe and
It feels like a silly thing to say, but board games are not real life. Playing a few rounds of Operation does not make you a surgeon. Unlike in Battleship, real-world battleships do not sit still on a ten-by-ten grid. Similarly, Monopoly does not correlate to
Banker and financial expert Caitlin Long believes that fractional reserve banking is closer than ever to collapse, and she has a 100 percent reserve banking solution in progress. Original Article: "Can Fractional Reserve Banking Survive the Twenty-First Century?"
David J. Bier You traveled a thousand miles and spent thousands of dollars to reach the United States. The immigration rulebook (sometimes called “the law”) says that if you made it, you could apply for asylum and that officials “shall” process you. But guess what? In this
Scott Lincicome According to various news outlets, the Chinese government has recently stopped publishing information on youth unemployment, deflation, and other statistics that paint a gloomy picture of China’s economy, while also instructing economists in China to “avoid speaking negatively about topics ranging from fears of capital
The price of a McDonald’s hamburger in the United States has inflated 3.75 percent annually over the last seventy years. McDonald’s has grown from a tiny hamburger stand in Des Plaines, Illinois, to the second largest fast-food chain on earth. Scale economies alone (never mind
The East German secret police, the Stasi, developed the art of mass surveillance using pre-digital methods. Modern tech now makes the job a lot easier. Original Article: "How East Germany's Stasi Perfected Mass Surveillance"