Category Archives: Uncategorized

Trump’s tariffs didn’t spur economic growth but did encourage trade between spurned U.S. partners. By Phil Gramm and Donald J. Boudreaux April 1, 2026 4:24 pm ET A year ago Thursday, President Trump raised the average effective tariff rate to 22.5%, and proclaimed April 2 “Liberation Day,” which would “forever be...

Trump and the SEC affirm fiduciary duty, benefiting even shareholders with nonfinancial objectives. By Phil Gramm and Jeb Hensarling March 16, 2026 5:26 pm ET President Trump recently signed an executive order that aims to end a 20-year experiment in backdoor socialism usurping private wealth to serve special interests. It affirms...

Without tariffs, the first year of the president’s first term saw a healthier economy than 2025. February 9, 2026 at 7:00 a.m. EST By Phil Gramm and Donald J. Boudreaux Phil Gramm, a former U.S. Senator from Texas and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is a nonresident senior fellow at the...

By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon Feb. 5, 2026 1:07 pm ET A consensus has formed that while artificial intelligence may create new and better jobs, its threat to current job holders requires massive new government training programs, unemployment assistance, income supplement programs and even a guaranteed minimum income. Missing from...

A bipartisan proposal to write checks the government can’t cash. By Jeb Hensarling and Michael Solon Jan. 7, 2026 6:12 pm ET Government insurance programs are often tied to budget-busting bailouts and economic crises. But political pressures are again driving their expansion—and when these programs fail, taxpayers are left with the...

The government gives tens of thousands of dollars in benefits to the poor, which it doesn’t count as income. By Phil Gramm and John Early Dec. 17, 2025 3:37 pm ET Something is profoundly wrong with the U.S. welfare system—a problem that runs far deeper and is more dangerous than the...

Other nations are busy expanding commercial ties, as the U.S. economy is increasingly isolated. By Phil Gramm and Donald J. Boudreaux Dec. 8, 2025 3:49 pm ET The 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs helped bring about a global depression. Nothing of the sort has happened in the wake of President Trump’s “Liberation Day”...

The growth of industry disrupted old economic patterns but produced undreamed-of wealth. By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon Nov. 2, 2025 4:05 pm ET Most speculation about artificial intelligence has focused on its potential to kill jobs and on the policies that government might implement to control AI and cushion workers...

By Michael Solon Published Oct. 29, 2025, 11:20 a.m. ET Redistricting fervor is gripping our states’ capitals, as red states and blue states one-up each other in a mid-decade battle to redraw congressional lines. When red Texas and Missouri unveiled redistricting plans in recent months, blue states retaliated. Californians are voting on Proposition 50, a measure...

If Democrats get their way, pandemic spending will become permanent and bankruptcy will get closer. By Michael Solon Oct. 5, 2025 4:17 pm ET For Democrats in Washington, the pencils all lack erasers and none of the calculators have a minus button. It’s always addition, never subtraction. The Biden-Schumer-Pelosi spending surge...