The Democratic Party’s platform draft for Financial Services states that “[t]o restore economic fairness, Democrats will fight against the greed and recklessness of Wall Street.” Despite these goals, the proscribed policies in the Democrat’s platform will have unintended consequences that will harm consumers, and make the biggest banks bigger and smaller banks disappear. In short, … Continue reading
In the wake of the recent fatal Tesla Model S autopilot crash, media and public attitudes toward self-driving car technology have cooled. For some, the vision of a utopian future with zero automobile fatalities has come crashing down, replaced with the stark reality that the technology is not yet perfect. Still, pessimists should note that … Continue reading
Americans are unhappy with their choices in the upcoming Presidential election. Hillary Clinton, whose net favorability rating is -15.4,[i] is the least popular presidential candidate in the last 10 elections cycles save one:[ii] her opponent Donald Trump.[iii] Seeing this, some media outlets have speculated[iv] that this could be the election cycle in which we see … Continue reading
In an interview at this year’s Code Conference, Elon Musk made bold claims about the future of human space exploration and colonization. He set an aggressive schedule for Mars colonization, saying humans will arrive on Mars in 2025. The tech billionaire is clearly thinking far further into the future than that though, as demonstrated … Continue reading
The phenomenon of “Midnight Regulations” — the high volume of rules issued as a lame duck President’s term winds down — has been well documented by the American Action Forum, as have Congressional attempts to curb the Midnight trend. Building on that analysis, we decided to investigate the effect of a 1996 law that was … Continue reading
Last week, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote an op-ed titled, “A Victory for the American People Against the Export-Import Bank.” The “victory” being Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) blocking a vote on the nomination of J. Mark McWatters to the export credit agency’s board. By blocking the nomination from a Senate vote, Sen. … Continue reading
A source of frustration for policy makers is that effective policy and feasible policy do not always neatly intersect. Of course the political climate determines the reforms that receive serious attention, but some proposals fail even without ideological opposition. One roadblock for evidence-backed proposals that policy makers must navigate is the “wrong pocket problem”. The … Continue reading
On June 15, the House Budget Committee gathered to discuss the need for fiscal goals to “drive discipline and accountability”, in the words of Chairman Tom Price. The hearing comes at a time of a skyrocketing Public Debt of $19 trillion, a sluggish economic recovery and another recession looming around the corner. The U.S. has sustained … Continue reading
In May 2015, it was discovered that a patient in the U.S. had contracted a strain of bacteria that was resistant to the strongest of antibiotics, a characteristic known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This condition can result in previously harmless and treatable infections becoming deadly “superbugs.” Reactions to this announcement ranged from paranoid to nonchalant, … Continue reading
Since the Individual Mandate statute of the Affordable Care Act was enacted in January 2014, every American is accountable for an Individual Shared Responsibility* payment every year. Meaning, if you do not have health insurance, you will face penalties. While you may not see an actual summons, or pay a fine, the federal government enforces … Continue reading
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