ArcaMax

President Donald Trump is once again floating the idea of firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, ostensibly in objection to excessively high interest rates. But this debate is not about monetary policy. It's a power play aimed at subordinating America's central bank to the fiscal needs of the executive branch and Congress. In other ...Read more

The "Big Beautiful Bill" did a lot of things, not all of them good. One positive step was to repeal many of the Inflation Reduction Act's green energy subsidies. It's a little disappointing that Congress didn't repeal all of them, as President Donald Trump promised during the campaign. Yet it's also somewhat amazing to witness a genuine ...Read more

In a Congress addicted to bad ideas and bloated spending -- something we saw again last week -- it's rare to find a tax policy with broad, bipartisan support that also happens to be good policy. Health savings accounts are one of those rare gems. They promote individual responsibility, reduce health care costs and enjoy overwhelming support ...Read more

Here we go again. This week, the Senate unveiled, honed and passed its version of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," and it's a fiscal monstrosity. What was already an oversized mess in the House has been supersized into a $4 trillion ode to unseriousness.

This isn't tax reform. It's a bipartisan pinata stuffed with pork, gimmicks and -- of ...Read more

Considering recent news, you may have missed that the 2025 trustees reports for Social Security and Medicare are out. Once again, they confirm what we've known for decades: Both programs are barreling straight toward insolvency. The Social Security retirement trust fund and Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund are each on pace to run dry by ...Read more

If you think federal regulators care about data-driven, evidence-based policymaking, a case currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will leave you scratching your head.

The case involves a terrible Biden administration regulation driven by Big Labor. In defending this regulation, which mandates that crews on freight ...Read more

President Donald Trump and many of his allies in Congress are making grand claims about the economic growth they say will result from the recently proposed "One Big Beautiful Bill." Trump has accused critics of not understanding the budget proposal, "especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming." A closer examination of the economic ...Read more

When Donald Trump first campaigned in 2015, he capitalized on a potent narrative: that China's rise gutted American manufacturing, leaving countless blue-collar communities devastated. Known now as the "China shock," that idea paved the way for a dramatic resurgence in protectionism, culminating in sweeping tariffs including Trump's ...Read more

The movie "The Big Short" -- dramatizing the reckless behavior in the banking and mortgage industries that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis -- captures much of Wall Street's misconduct but overlooks a central player in the collapse: the federal government, specifically through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

These two government-created ...Read more

America's debt-addicted government just lost its triple-A credit rating from Moody's, as it previously had from fellow rating agencies S&P and Fitch. Many in Washington shrugged the move off as minor or as unfair treatment of the Trump administration. The truth is more sobering: a flashing red signal that the United States is no longer seen as...Read more

If you voted for Donald Trump last November because you believed he'd increase economic freedom, it's safe to say you were fooled. Following a reckless tariff barrage, the White House and its allies are preparing a new wave of tax-code gimmickry that has more in common with progressive social engineering than pro-growth reform. And don't ...Read more

President Donald Trump's 2026 "skinny budget" is out, and at first glance it gives small-government advocates reason to cheer. It proposes deep cuts to domestic agencies, calls for eliminating redundant programs and gestures toward reviving federalism by shifting power and responsibility back to the states. It promises to slash overreaching "...Read more

When Donald Trump reentered office in 2025, he inherited a strong economy partly fueled by the possibility of lower taxes on capital, fewer overbearing regulations, energy abundance and the rise of AI. Instead of stewarding that prosperity and optimism, Trump quickly upended it through a reckless love affair with tariffs and a flair for ...Read more