Policy and Government
The New Yorker extols The Ghost of Jack Kemp
I was struck by his good spirits and his almost touching enthusiasm for the ideas he was exploring and expounding, such as a belief that the United States should return to the gold standard. One late fall day, we met for lunch on Capitol Hill and, after he explained why gold reserves should again be linked to the dollar, I asked him why the dollar had to be backed by gold. Couldn’t it just as well be tied to pork bellies? Rather than being annoyed that I was teasing him, Kemp grinned happily, leaned across the table, and said, “If you can see that, you’re almost there!”
At Time, Rick Berman says Trump needs to clarify his position on the debt, and highlight the unintended consequences of raising the minimum wage.
Monetary
On CNBC, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher says persistently low interest rates are doing a lot of damage to the financial sector.
At Conservative Review, Benjamin Weingarten eviscerates Donald Trump’s recent comments on the debt and monetary policy.
“How would he go about raising the funds to buy back said debt? He did not say. What would be the consequences of printing money, whether in order to conduct debt buybacks or merely service existing debt obligations? He did not say either.
But while many guffaw at Trump’s remarks, lost on the American public is that constantly debauching our currency has been the rule, not the exception in America for decades. The official untethering of the dollar from gold in 1971 under President Richard Nixon has given the Federal Reserve the freedom to massively increase the money supply over the last 45 years.”
At Barrons, William Pesek writes Trump is trolling America’s bankers.
From Yahoo, Narayana Kocherlakota believes the Fed made the poor poorer, but not for the reasons some may think.
Tax
Donald Trump says his tax cut proposal Is just a negotiating position, he’s not actually a fan of tax cuts for the rich…
At Politico, Shane Goldmacher reports that Donald Trump has launched a tax plan rewrite.
Regulatory
The Mercatus Center explains how to unleash prosperity through regulatory reform.
In the Washington Times, Eric Grover writes Congress needs to reassert its authority over the regulatory process.
Photo Credit: Ray Gronberg