Free Republic

Donald Trump has been savaged by economists and media aligned with establishment candidates for tough positions on trade—including a 45 percent tariff on imports to force China to the negotiating table. Actually, he's got it right. Establishment Democrats and Republicans embrace free trade because it puts free markets first with benefits any decently trained economist should extoll. Unfortunately, trade with China and many nations is hardly market-driven. It hurts U.S. growth and victimizes America's families. Obama's six-year expansion has averaged 2.2 percent annual economic growth and added 13.6 million jobs. Coming off a similar bout with double-digit unemployment, Reagan delivered...

With both Barack Obama's supporters and the media looking forward to the new administration's policies being similar to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's policies during the 1930s depression, it may be useful to look at just what those policies were and-- more important-- what their consequences were. The prevailing view in many quarters is that the stock market crash of 1929 was a failure of the free market that led to massive unemployment in the 1930s-- and that it was intervention of Roosevelt's New Deal policies that rescued the economy. It is such a good story that it seems a pity...

Myths of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff The Fifth Chapter of How Americans Can Buy American - 2nd Editionby Roger Simmermaker To be able to accurately explain the affects of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, it is necessary first to rid ourselves of popular myths so that we can start with a clean slate and derive conclusions from fact rather than fantasy. I will list some common myths here, and then disprove them using facts according to history. The myths that prevail, even today, some 72 years after the tariff bill was signed by President Herbert Hoover, are as follows: 1. The...

<p>Peace, in setting presidential reputations, far outranks its brother prosperity. I didn't realize how completely war and peace define our presidents until I was asked to think about their economic leadership.</p> <p>Our OpinionJournal.com1 and the Federalist Society sponsored a new rating of the presidents, and in June an expanded print version will be published in collaboration with Simon & Schuster. I was asked to join William Bennett, Richard Brookhiser, Robert Dallek and others in contributing. Asked about leadership on economic policy, I couldn't find much.</p>