Policy and Government

FEE tells us how a 14 year old created a candy empire.

In the Washington Examiner, Bruce Yandle tells presidential hopefuls to focus on economic growth.

Reason reports Trump’s tariffs hurt American businesses.

Supply-Side Blog editor-in-chief Ralph Benko, writing at Newsmax in his capacity as chairman of the Capitalist League, says Happy New Year in 2020: New Decade, Cusp of A Golden Age.

Happy New Year, and decade.

If war does not interrupt the trend, welcome the continued dawning of a golden age.

At the end of 2019 I wrote here that things aren’t nearly as bad as the ratings-or-vote-driven hysterical pronouncements say. A recent column by Matt Ridley in The UK Spectator pointed out that We’ve just had the best decade in human history. Seriously.

Others made a comparable point and yet the claim is so contrary to the dominant doom and gloom story that it begs for a closer look.

First, though, why are the vast majority of our celebrities crying doom?

One of the most candid political confessions ever was by then-U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. At the apex of his career he confessed to journalist Gail Sheehy, writing for Vanity Fair, “I think you can write a psychological profile of me that says I found a way to immerse my insecurities in a cause large enough to justify whatever I wanted it to.”

Postulating, “a cause large enough to justify whatever I wanted it to” provides enormous privilege: power, glory, and semi-impunity.

To read the full column click here.

Monetary

On Real Clear Markets, John Tamny takes Ben Bernanke to the woodshed.

Tax

The WSJ reports high-tax states are losing money and seats in Congress.

Spending

The World Bank warns of global debt build-up.