What’s New on AEI
Fed risks roiling global markets
| Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum
Fed Chair Powell must find a sustainable way to raise interest rates to prevent President Donald Trump’s expansive budget policy from causing the US economy to overheat.
CBO forecast leaves no room for wishful thinking
Recently, a group of distinguished economists tried to make the case that the nation’s fiscal problems should not be blamed on the growth of entitlement spending.
Social security is becoming more generous, not less
The good news is that we don’t actually have to cut Social Security benefits from their current levels to make fiscal progress.
Back to tax reform: What the polls say now
| Forbes
Is the new tax law becoming more popular? And what might that mean for the midterm elections? We reviewed the polling evidence.
Straight up conversation: Grom Social founder Zach Marks
Today, I chat with Grom Social founder Zach Marks about the idea behind his kid-friendly social media platform and the importance of online responsibility.
Facebook’s convenient desire to be regulated
In the future, much of our speech will be policed by our robot overlords. Political leaders will need to get involved in the regulation and administration of how these AI systems will work. And which company will have the loudest voice in the drafting of these new rules? If history is any guide, the obvious answer is . . . Facebook.
Is it time to break up Big Tech? A long-read Q&A with Michael Strain
| AEIdeas
“Big Tech” may be monopolistic, but by the standards of consumer welfare, it is one of the best things to happen to the American economy in decades. Hence the quandary.
Republicans and Democrats just did something big together
Thanks to a bipartisan effort, the world’s largest online child sex bazaar is shuttered, many of its executives are under indictment, and sex trafficking victims can finally get justice in court.
The future of corporate taxation in a digital world
| AEIdeas
The European Commission recently proposed two directives to address the challenges of taxing the digital economy. How will these proposals work?
Remembering Bob Malott
| AEIdeas
Bob was a generous and steadfast supporter of AEI, dedicated to the Institute’s mission of maintaining free markets and upholding a strong national defense. The Robert H. Malott Library at AEI’s headquarters serves as a reminder of his legacy and enduring impact.
Facebook hearing shows need to update Internet policy so that all play by the same rules
| Forbes
The Facebook revelations create an opportunity to rethink internet polices for today’s world. It’s time for Congress to step up to the task.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson should put a ring on it — for his kids’ sake
Although cohabiting Hollywood couples present an unusually glamorous model of unmarried family life, their path into family formation is not as unusual as it once would have been.
$15 an hour for Mexican workers? ‘Export protectionism’ lives!
| AEIdeas
The Trump administration has blundered further into populism with a union-endorsed proposal to tie NAFTA rules of origin provisions to wage rates in Mexico.
How to measure the digital economy — and close the massive information gap
| AEIdeas
New research indicates that the digital economy may be larger and growing faster than previously thought.
‘The gender gage rap is real!’
When I arrived at Lewis & Clark Law School to give a talk, a security officer asked if I had a gun. She’d heard rumors on social media. I didn’t, but my friend Andy Ngo, a Portland State grad student, was armed with an iPhone.
Xi’s ‘putinization’ of China is a massive wake-up for America
| The Hill
Xi’s latest move to do away with Presidential term limits should be seen as the “Putinization” of China, or the centralization of power under a cult leader due to fragile domestic stagnation.
Raising the bar(bell): successes and shortcomings of Trump’s 2019 defense budget
| AEIdeas
Beyond the sticker shock of the $686 billion investment for the Pentagon in 2019 is an ugly reality of neglect.
Eschewing euphemisms frames the immigration issue Trump’s way
He (or she) who frames the issue tends to determine the outcome of the election. That’s an old political consultant’s rule, and its application has never been more apt than in the Senate Democrats’ failed government shutdown over immigration policy.
From the archives: Fed chair nominee Powell on housing finance reform
| AEIdeas
Federal Reserve Governor Jay Powell, just nominated by President Trump to be the next Fed Chairman, came to AEI this past July to stress that reform of the housing finance system is long past due.