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From the people’s business to family business

Donald Trump’s defenders have taken great offense to suspicions by Democrats and others that the Trump family and its close circle are doing insider trading to profit from market convulsions. There’s no “proof,” they say. It’s true that there’s been no proof so far, but there’s surely enough smoke to warrant an investigation. Problem is, the Trump administration has fired the investigators or replaced them with people who won’t investigate. To quote a Wall Street Journal headline, “Trump Administration Retreats from White-Collar Criminal Enforcement.” Whence comes ...

Anti-DEI policies take power away from local schools

During her confirmation hearing to become education secretary, Linda McMahon promised she would work to “send education back to the states.” Already, she is doing the opposite. Last week, McMahon’s department issued an ultimatum to state education officials: Certify within 10 days that their school districts have eliminated all diversity, equity and inclusion programs or lose education funding from Washington. This is a straightforward assault on the federalist nature of the U.S. education system. McMahon’s threat attempts to create an atmosphere of fear within local schools. ...

Assault on DEI an affront to US history

With the erasure of 10% of Americans’ retirement savings in 48 hours last week, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1968, was entirely eclipsed. President Donald Trump, the self-professed hero of ordinary Americans, marked the evaporation of ordinary Americans’ retirement plans with his customary empathy, heading to Mar-a-Lago to golf. He likely doesn’t know Marie Antoinette from Marie Osmond, but he did a fine job channeling the former’s derisive dismissal of the suffering of the little people, “Let them eat cake.” On Saturday he put ...

Keeping tax cuts, rebooting tax code

Republicans claim they are slashing government, but they’re about to explode the budget deficit to extend President Donald Trump’s tax cuts — which would balloon interest payments on the national debt, already one of the largest expenses in the federal budget. That’s no way to slash the size of government. They could offset the lost revenue from tax cuts by reducing spending and entitlements, but that would require hard political choices. Instead, Senate Republicans are attempting to resort to budget gimmicks. Pretending the 2017 tax cuts were always going to be extended makes ...

Grocery prices will go up

We don’t grow much coffee within the United States. Only Hawaii and Puerto Rico are really capable of it and even if we started up tomorrow, American consumers demand so much that we would still need to import it. Tariffs will cause the price of coffee to go up. Profit margins are so low in the coffee business, most of the 10% tariff will go to price increases. We don’t produce bananas in the United States because our climate is not sufficient to grow bananas. They must still be imported. Tariffs will cause the price to go up. Cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, most red peppers, ...

No innocent bystanders now

I went down to the demonstration at the Washington Monument, surrounded by a multitude with signs, chants and oh so many causes under the bleak spring sky. In this setting I had a sudden epiphany: Protests are not only to send a message to the ruler golfing in Florida. No, the point of gathering is to know there are others with you, like you, to create cohesion among the thousands who chose the right to peaceably assemble. All over this land, in 50 states, American people were taking to jamming the streets. Cities, of course, like Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Milwaukee had ...