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Biden’s Wrecking Ball for Financial Privacy
powered by Surfing Waves The Biden administration is seeking to compel banks to report to the IRS any bank account with more than $600 in transactions per year. This proposal is a linchpin of Biden’s American Families Plan, and will supposedly help generate almost $500 billion in federal revenue over the next decade. But previous catch-all financial reporting requirements have helped spur national disasters, complete with pervasive federal looting. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) denounced the Biden proposal…
The Kennedy Autopsy Selected for Amazon’s Prime Reading Program
powered by Surfing Waves Last month, Amazon sent us an email asking if we would consider permitting FFF’s book The Kennedy Autopsy , which I authored, to be considered for Amazon’s Prime Reading program. According to the email, “Prime Reading promotes authors and their books to Amazon’s most engaged customers. We have a limited number of spots available in the program and we’re delighted to offer you the opportunity to increase visibility for your title(s).” Of course, we agreed, and we were recently advised tha…
Economics and the Picture Show
powered by Surfing Waves What can culture tell us about economics? Two films help tell the story. The first, Sabrina (1954), starring Humphrey Bogart encapsulates an idealized view of Americana emerging from the Second World War. The second is steeped in the 1980s, offering a new take on Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” mentality delivered by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). In the Bogart film, things are cut and dry (or black and white, like the film). The exchange of goods and…
A Tale of Two Letters
powered by Surfing Waves Almost since the start of the pandemic, anti-lockdowners have called for the Covid equivalent of The Wire or The Grapes of Wrath , i.e., an epic fictional account that helps people to feel what has been done to them. Maps , graphs, and game theory are great but only go so far. People need art, poetry, or a compelling story to share that which would otherwise remain ineffable . A new book called The Great Covid Panic: What Happened, Why, and What to Do Next by Gigi Foster, …
4 Ways Americans Are Fighting Back Against Anti-Science COVID Restrictions
powered by Surfing Waves In the US, it would be easy to believe the vast majority of people are in lockstep with the government’s pandemic policies. Networks are aflush with headlines claiming their polls show a majority of Americans support policies like masks and vaccine mandates, and detractors are painted as fringe. Every good politico knows that, with the right framing, you can get a poll to say anything you want it to. But aside from the unreliable nature of the polls and headlines dominating our airwave…
Rare Instance of a Professional Athlete Hospitalized for Coronavirus
powered by Surfing Waves Many politicians, including United States President Joe Biden , like to drone on about how everybody should take experimental coronavirus vaccine shots. Yet, even if we suppose the shots provide much help against coronavirus, many people are at so little risk from coronavirus that it seems very foolhardy for them to risk the side effects of the shots. Two groups with apparently among the lowest risks of death or major sickness from coronavirus are children and professional athletes . …
California Recall Election Signals Growing Trouble for Democrats in 2022
powered by Surfing Waves The exit polls from California confirm the trend we’ve seen in American politics for a number of years: the Democrat party represents the interests and values of the elites and not the middle-class. By Catherine Mortensen Last Tuesday’s special election to determine the fate of California Governor Gavin Newsom appeared to be a victory for Democrats on the surface. But the Market Research Foundation , a free-market think tank, found that exit polling contains three substantial warnings …
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