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Why Neither Party Focuses on the Key Economic Issue: Enterprise Capabilities

The partisan rancor in Washington is worse than any time in the last century. But surprisingly when it comes to economic policy, both parties share a common view: policy neednā€™t be concerned about enterprise capabilities.

Another Kind of Redistribution: The Case for a Job Guarantee Program

Recent posts from Sam Hammond , Ed Dolan, and Oren Cass, have opened a very thoughtful debate on the role of redistribution in a future economic agenda. They rightly observe the corrosive effects of mindlessly expanding reĀ­distributive policies without addressing many of the flaws in our current system that give rise to the need for such redistribution in the first place.

Rebuilding American Industry: Devil Is in the Details

David Goldman features his Moving the Chains symposium essay, “The Reshoring Imperative,” with new commentary directed at Joe Biden’s “Buy American” campaign.

Beware ā€œSocial Insuranceā€ Salesmen

Redistribution is a vital topic for conservatives as we question stale orthodoxies and reexamine how first principles can help to address modern challenges. In this respect I agree entirely with Read more…

On Buy American: Trump Should Listen to Steve Bannon, Not Steve Moore

A 2020 presidential contender unveiled a 700 billion dollar ā€˜Buy Americanā€™ plan today to rebuild Americaā€™s manufacturing sector devastated by the coronavirus.

The Corporate Obligations Debate

Patrick Deneen and Andy Puzder debate the obligations of business.

Obligations, Yes, But Secondary Ones

How should businesses balance shareholder interests with obligations to their workers, communities, and nation?

Corporations in the Community of Communities

How should businesses balance shareholder interests with obligations to their workers, communities, and nation?

Social Insurance and Dependency on Government

In a recent essay for The American Conservative, Oren Cass criticizes a viewpoint, which he attributes to the Niskanen Center, among others on the center-right, that places a central emphasis on free markets and economic growth even when doing so ā€œnecessitate[s] a much larger safety net, widespread government dependence, and the loss of a baseline expectation that people everywhere can become productive contributors to their communities and form stable families capable of self-reliance.ā€

How We Do the Work Is As Important As Where We Do It

Repatriating supply chains to home shores has become an increasingly fashionable topic in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of the rationale is to ensure that adequate redundancy and resiliency are built into our economies, even at the cost of ā€œjust in timeā€ inventory accumulation practices (which have prioritized short term profitability at a cost of the kinds of supply shocks we are experiencing today).

On the Astonishing Success of Tucker Carlson

Last week, I joined Steve Deaceā€™s BlazeTV podcast to discuss the astonishing success of Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and the forward-looking implications of that success for both conservative media and American conservatism itself.

Foundations for American Renewal

A long-standing intellectual tradition offers not only a comprehensive critique of market fundamentalism and consumerism, but also a constructive path forward.

Social Conservatism and the “Small Government” Straightjacket

“We are conservatives, and conservatives believe in supporting families directly.”

agricultural automation
All Productivity is Good: Even Automation

One of the few times when I have found myself in agreement with Paul Krugman is when he famously wrote, ā€œProductivity isnā€™t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything.ā€ Yet, today, this statement is not only passĆ©, but downright suspect, at least among many U.S. elites. For in a world characterized by neo-Luddite fear of new technologies and outlandish claims that technology will destroy most of our jobs, public and elite opinion has shifted to a view that ā€œproductivity is almost nothing, especially if any worker loses their job from it.ā€

The “Enormous Social Value” of Private-Equity Fees

The Wall Street Journalā€™s defense of private equity (ā€œPopulists Donā€™t Know Much About Private Equityā€) is an impressionist masterpiece of market fundamentalism, relying on the unexamined assumption that fees paid to private-equity partners represent “social value.” One can simply step back and gawk in amazement, but true appreciation requires poring over each brushstroke.

Rethinking Welfare Capitalism

Since the neoliberal era began in the 1970s, many public policy thinkers have assumed that America’s employment-based benefit system of welfare capitalism is doomed to extinction by the growth in freelance or gig workers. To replace employer benefits, the left tends to support welfare statism and the right tends to support welfare individualism, in the form of portable, individualized tax credits or savings accounts.

Is Hamilton a ā€œBootstrapsā€ Story?

As we tend to do with momentous occasions, I clearly remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard the first lines of Lin-Manuel Mirandaā€™s Hamilton. It Read more…

U.S. Capitol Building at Dusk.
Steps in the Right Direction: Two Proposals for Funding U.S. Semiconductor Foundries

There are many reasons to be pessimistic about the future of this country at the moment, and most of them are hard to ignore. But there are also new glimmers of hope appearing in important areas, even if they donā€™t get much media attention.

Facing the Woke Hyperpower

Just a few years ago, it was possible for nationalist Americans to warn foreign enemies like North Korea that the US was a “hyperpower.” A few decades ago, however, the label was a term of abuse.

Populists Donā€™t Know Much About Private Equity

Responding to the Coin-Flip Capitalism project, University of Chicago Professors M. Todd Henderson and Steven Kaplan say to leave investors out of it: the fees to fund managers prove the social value.

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