Entries by Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)

Biden: The ‘Capitalist’ Who Isn’t

Does anyone really think that Joe Biden, who is not a capitalist but a lifelong politician, knows “the right way to invest” $6 trillion? On May 27, during a speech in Ohio, President Joe Biden told listeners, “I’m a capitalist,” but “the basic bargain in this country has been broken.” “Since 1979,” he said, “productivity has […]

‘Shrinkflation’: The Latest Consequence of Reckless Federal Spending, Explained

Companies are adapting to a surge in their expenses in a crafty way. We already know that top inflation metrics have recently surged, and executives at companies like Costco are warning that price hikes are hurting their customers. Now, there’s a new inflation consequence hitting consumers: “Shrinkflation.” I’d never heard the term before today, but new reporting from the Washington Post explains […]

Oops: Study Finds Biden’s $2+ Trillion ‘Jobs Plan’ Would Actually Reduce Overall Employment

President Biden has touted his proposed $2+ trillion in “infrastructure” spending, which also includes all sorts of unrelated partisan waste, as first and foremost, a jobs-creation bill. It’s right in the name: the “American Jobs Plan.” Biden himself calls it a “once-in-a-generation investment in America itself,” and has claimed that it would “create up to 16 million good-paying jobs.” But […]

Why the Hammer and Sickle Should Be Treated Like the Swastika

Why do we treat two equally bloody ideologies in such starkly different ways? If someone were to ask you to think of either extreme of the political spectrum, odds are you would immediately picture a swastika at one end and a hammer and sickle at the other. Regardless of your views on the left-right paradigm […]

New National ‘Report Card’ Shows Public Schools Are Failing in One Huge Way

Students often face punishment from parents when they get a bad report card. But what happens when our school system gets one? The latest national “report card” is out, and it shows that our schools are failing Americans when it comes to science education. These most recent data come from the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress […]

Here Are the 10 States Where You’ll Pay the Highest Lifetime Taxes

In the mood for a depressing statistic? A new report from the financial services firm Self concludes that the average American will pay an astounding $525,037 in taxes over their lifetime—roughly 34 percent of their lifetime earnings. But the numbers aren’t uniform across the country; they vary wildly from state to state. Based on taxes on earnings, […]

Lockdown-Weary New Yorkers Fled to One Key Free State in Droves, New Figures Show

When the COVID-19 crisis came to our shores, some states chose to embrace harsh lockdowns and heavy-handed government restrictions while others prioritized personal freedom and economic vitality. Thanks to this natural experiment, Americans got to vote with their feet on what worked best—and new data show that lockdown-weary New Yorkers fled to one key free […]

How Andrew Cuomo Pocketed $5 Million Off the COVID Crisis

New York State has suffered one of the worst COVID outcomes in the country, with roughly 53,000 officially recorded deaths, thousands of businesses shuttered, and millions newly unemployed. But new reporting reveals that Governor Andrew Cuomo pocketed more than $5 million during this time of crisis. “New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s publisher is scheduled to pay […]

The Government’s War on Pipelines Made Us Vulnerable to Attacks on Our Infrastructure

The recent fuel disruptions show the danger in the government’s long war on oil pipelines. Vickie Phillips received an unpleasant surprise when she stopped in for a fill-up at the Pop Shoppe in Greensboro, North Carolina on Monday. There was no fuel. “I can’t believe that we’re here and can’t even get gas,” Phillips told a […]

Florida Legislature Passes Bill to Regulate Social Media Corporations—But Excludes One Key Company

One of the most powerful companies in America was able to wriggle an exemption from Florida’s proposed law targeting social media companies. The Florida state legislature recently passed—by overwhelming majorities in both of their Republican-controlled chambers—a new law that imposes fines on social media corporations for deplatforming political candidates. Governor Ron DeSantis called for the […]

America’s Most Libertarian State Is…?

A new report reveals the best and worst states for economic and personal freedom. I wrote a couple of days ago about America’s best and worst cities for pro-market policy, and I noted that there are several rankings of economic liberty for states and nations. But what if you want to know the place with the most overall freedom? […]

Why George Orwell’s Warning on ‘Self-Censorship’ Is More Relevant Than Ever

Just as George Orwell warned, governments don’t have to be the censors for free speech and free expression to be fatally stifled. Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril. Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes against the narrative. Rule Three: Never believe an editor or publisher who urges you to […]

The US Government’s Debt-to-GDP Ratio Is Worse Than Greece’s Before the 2008 Crash [And It’s About to Get Worse]

The US is in uncharted debt territory. That should worry us. President Biden on Wednesday pitched a new plan to Americans before a joint session of Congress: more spending. The just-released $1.8 trillion plan, presented just weeks after Biden signed a $1.9 trillion in COVID relief spending into law, includes “free” community college as well as […]

Stalin was a ‘Cancel Culture’ Pioneer: The Inside Story on How He Cancelled ‘Hamlet’

 William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is considered by some to be the single greatest story ever written. Hamlet has it all: ghosts, sword fights, suicide, revenge, lust, murder, philosophy, faith, manipulation, and a climactic bloodbath worthy of a Tarantino film. It’s a masterpiece of both high art and sensationalism, the only play I’ve seen performed live three times. […]

Why Indiana’s ‘Red Flag’ Law Failed to Stop the FedEx Shooting

The failure of Indiana’s gun law to prevent the FedEx shooting reveals the inherent problems with red flag laws. Last week 19-year-old Brandon Hole did the unthinkable. He stormed into an Indianapolis FedEx facility with a Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic rifle and killed eight people. He then took his own life. CNN recently pointed out that Indiana is one of […]

Biden Administration Prioritizes “Wokeism,” Critical Race Theory In Schools

There is no constitutional role for the federal government in education. The Biden administration is taking new steps to promote Critical Race Theory and The New York Times’s controversial 1619 Project in US education programs. In a proposed federal rule issued on Monday, the US Department of Education indicated that it will be using taxpayer funds to […]

Why America’s Founders Didn’t Want a Democracy

In his book “Liberty in Peril,” Randall Holcombe challenges the presumption that liberty and democracy are complementary. When I took history and government in school, many critical issues were misrepresented, given short shrift, or even ignored entirely. And those lacunae undermined my ability to adequately understand many things. Randall Holcombe’s new book, Liberty in Peril: Democracy […]

Public Kindergarten Enrollment is Plummeting—Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing

Children not enrolled in public kindergarten are not ‘missing.’ Their parents know exactly where they are. Public school enrollment has consistently declined across most states this academic year, and there are new signs that the trend will continue this fall. On Thursday, New York City’s education department reported that kindergarten applications for the 2021/2022 school year dropped 12 percent, […]

How Corporate America Got Woke: A Review of ‘The Dictatorship of Woke Capital’

In his new book “The Dictatorship of Woke Capital,” Steve Soukup’s explores the rise of progressivism as a cultural force and explains why corporations increasingly are taking sides in politics. How did corporate America, long considered one of the most conservative American institutions, become a lead protagonist in a culture war over all manner of […]

4 Reasons Gun Control Can’t Solve America’s Violence Problem

These 4 underlying sociological problems, not guns, are the key drivers of American violence. The gun-control paradigm—the idea that the solution to American violence is more laws restricting guns—is unhelpful. Gun control doesn’t work. Indeed, any statistical connection between gun policy and violence is tenuous. But even if gun control was effective, it would still be flawed. […]