Free Republic

In an election year, candidates from both sides will generally declare that we need more domestic manufacturing, and they promise to make it happen. Different sides will propose different ways to accomplish it. Republicans will call for lower tax rates and lighter regulations; Democrats will call for open borders and higher punitive tariffs. Each side hates the other’s methods; nothing gets done. Does this really matter? There are economists, investment advisors, even politicians out there, who will say it doesn’t matter. They will say we need business, of course; but as long as there are transactions happening, that’s economic growth....

In 61 years on this earth, I have never needed an oscillating multitool until now. But I’m working on a project that requires one (for cutting away a couple inches of baseboard on either side of a door, to accommodate door replacement and new casing). So, I headed to our local Walmart. I will probably only use it for this project and never need it again, so I didn’t need to spend much. I found four options: a $20 multitool, a $35 model, a $45 model, and a $70 model. Different brands, different power levels, probably different quality levels, but...

“Money is Fungible.” We may disagree about all sorts of things in economics, but not this one. It’s one of the fundamentals. If you have a thousand dollars, you can buy something that costs $1000, or you can buy a hundred things that cost $10 each, or a thousand things that cost $1 each — or you can put your $1000 together with other money you already have, to buy something that costs more. This is so obvious it doesn’t seem worth bothering to mention, right? But it is necessary to delve into this issue, much more seriously than we...

In a lesson for the ages about political grandstanding, Rep. John Garamendi said, "Nine multinational ocean shipping companies formed three consortiums to raise prices on American businesses and consumers by over 1,000% on goods coming from Asia," as he and other members of the Swamp proudly passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, which former NIT-League president Ed Emmett has rightly called "a cure that's worse than the disease." Never mind that the containership lines have actually operated these alliances, known as Vessel Sharing Agreements, for over a generation, strictly for the benefit of the consumer. The accusatory term...

As the Trump administration has focused heavily on trade this year, it has been instructive to note the weight that has been placed on intellectual property, in both the negotiations and the results. The new USMCA treaty – the intended replacement for NAFTA – includes a whole chapter on intellectual property (IP). 2018’s wave after wave of punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, too, have been imposed in an effort to stem not only the loss of American jobs to China, but the loss of American how-to as well. Even the new layers of 10% and 25% additional tariffs on raw...

International trade has always been in the news. Business reporters talk about a trade deficit, politicians wail about jobs being exported overseas, and every so often, the government signs a new free trade agreement or trade promotion agreement (they are different things) with one or two or a hundred faraway countries. But despite all this, international trade policy has not been at the forefront of the news cycle in a generation; not since the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement was voided 25 years ago, to be replaced by NAFTA, a three-party FTA between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Thanks to...

But this one led to over a ton of coke and was 800 yards longFederal officials announced today (April 20) that they made arrests related to what is believed to be the longest cross-border drug transportation tunnel (800 yards in length), stretching from a house in Tijuana to a commercial lot in an Otay Mesa industrial park. Following an investigation that began on April 12, authorities seized 2242 pounds of cocaine and more than 14,000 pounds of marijuana. The cocaine stash is believed to be the largest ever seized from a tunnel. Six men (believed to be of Mexican descent,...

Arnold Klann had spent two decades on his planet-friendly enterprise: making transportation fuel from plant waste. But two years ago, the CEO and President of Irvine-based BlueFire Renewables recalled, “We were thinking of shutting down the business.” Grants from the U.S. Department of Energy had dried up, as private banks, tightening credit in the wake of the financial crisis, refused to match government funds. Now, it seems, China is coming to the rescue. BlueFire announced Thursday that The Export-Import Bank of China has issued a letter of intent to provide a $270 million loan to build BlueFire’s first commercial plant,...

The following recalls have been announced: —About 16,400 Imaginarium multisided activity centers and Jungle activity centers, made in China and imported by Toys "R" Us Inc., because small parts on the toys can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children. The company has received 12 reports of small parts detaching from the activity centers. No injuries have been reported. The multisided activity center, with the item No. 69042, has moveable block letters, a clock face, sliding shapes and gears. The Jungle activity center, with the item No. 69083, has peg jumping monkeys, sliding fish, abacus beads and bead mazes....

Mao Tse-tung may be dead, but the survival of his legacy remains important to the "pragmatic" rulers of China. This presumably is why they banned the June issue of our sister publication, The Far Eastern Economic Review, for carrying a review of a book that reveals the extent of Mao's crimes during his 1949-1976 rule. "Mao: The Untold Story" is by Jung Chang, author of "Wild Swans," the 1990s best seller that introduced readers world-wide to the horrors of Mao's 1967-76 Cultural Revolution. Her new book is co-written with her husband, the historian Jon Halliday. It was reviewed for the...

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U.S. Aug import prices rose 0.2 pct Thursday September 11, 8:33 am ET WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Labor Department report of U.S. import and export price changes by percent (unadjusted). . Aug July Aug03/02 ALL IMPORTS 0.2 0.5 2.1 Petroleum 3.9 4.5 13.6 Nonpetroleum -0.2 unch 0.8 Food, Feed, Drink -0.4 0.9 4.4 Industrial Supplies 1.3 1.8 9.3 Capital Goods -0.1 -0.1 -1.4 Motor Vehicles,Parts 0.1 -0.1 0.5 Consumer Goods ExAutos -0.2 unch -0.3 . Aug July Aug03/02 ALL EXPORTS -0.1 -0.1 0.9 Agricultural -1.5 unch 3.0 Non-Agricultural unch unch 0.8 Food, Feed, Drink -1.7 -0.4 2.7 Industrial...