RealClearMarkets Articles

Senate bill would add at least $3.3 trillion to the national debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That was the headline in the New York Times as the Senate debated Donald Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, an obese and odious tome at 1000 pages. The numbers associated with the deficit and debt have gotten so large that the headline, despite being multi-trillions of dollars, is just a small fraction of the debt we’ll incur over the next decade. The $3.3 trillion is the amount the bill increases the debt, above and beyond the $21 trillion that was already in the pipeline...

A show about a charismatic chef? Who would watch that? Those are two questions formerly asked by studio executives far more than most will ever realize. Evidence supporting the above claim can be found in how often often the highest of high-end chefs refer to themselves as "cooks." Let’s just say that the self-deprecation isn’t just a vehicle to get laughs. It’s much more notably a comment on how things used to be. In the past, chefs were not chefs. They were cooks, and they were cooks because people who served others from a kitchen were formerly thought to have relatively...

West Virginia must be rich, right? All that federal money that flows there year after year. Hopefully readers see the obvious flaw, or contradiction.  Government spending saps economic growth, by its very description. Precisely because it signals the central planning of market goods, services and labor by politicians, it’s economically harmful. Only an economist could believe otherwise.  Which requires us to start with first principles of economics that have seemingly been forgotten in the present debate about state and local tax deductions (SALT). Say repeatedly what...

Donald Trump has launched a fresh attack on Elon Musk, along with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump declared it “the monster” that “that might have to go back and eat Elon.” On his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump continued his attack: “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.”  Trump acts like an...

Millions of Americans look forward to shopping events that save them money such as Cyber Monday, Black Friday and Prime Days. But there is something else consumers should watch for, and something far less pleasant: the possibility of union “strikes” designed to disrupt the biggest sales events of the year. The Teamsters (IBT) have a well-documented history of escalating pressure and publicity during these consumer events, announcing “strikes” at key warehouse locations. If that sounds familiar, it should. In 2023, the Teamsters threatened to shut down UPS –...

In the crowded landscape of London-listed investment trusts, few have faced as sustained a campaign of activist pressure as Third Point Investors Limited (TPIL). It’s a case study in the difference between chasing short-term gains and building long-term value. Asset Value Investors (AVI) and its lead agitator, Tom Treanor, have pursued TPIL for over six years, demanding liquidation or discount‑narrowing mechanisms. Their goal is transparent: To force liquidation or tenders for quick gains.  But hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb and the TPIL board have offered a far more...

America’s farmers and ranchers don’t just feed and fuel our nation — they keep our economy strong, our exports competitive, and our national security intact. From cotton and wheat to corn, soy, tobacco, and beef, U.S. producers power America’s agricultural trade. But now, deep in the fine print of the massive tax and energy package on Capitol Hill, Washington insiders are quietly targeting a policy that helps some American farmers compete in the global marketplace.   As a former member of the House Agriculture Committee, including as its chair of Operations...

With the Senate joining the House in passing the “Big Beautiful Bill” this weekend, the two chambers will now need to enter a conference committee to debate the differences between their two versions and agree upon final text. They should use this opportunity to revise the legislation’s misguided housing subsidy. For millions of Americans, especially younger families, renters, and first-time homebuyers, the past four years have been a harsh lesson in the failures of housing policy. Under the Biden administration, prices skyrocketed. The median U.S. home price has jumped from...

Google—which began as a Stanford University science project and grew into one of the world’s most successful companies—is the type of “only in America” success that politicians should celebrate. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the Biden Administration chose to drag Google into court for allegedly violating antitrust laws. The government’s case was just an attempt to punish Google for the “crime” of creating a browser that most internet users prefer to the alternatives, and using that success to gain even more market share. In other words:...

If Zohran Mamdani could “ruin” New York City, then it wouldn’t be worth saving. And New York City doesn’t require saving, except to the willfully blind. What you’re about to read isn’t a defense of Mamdani, or his government grocery store policies, wage floors, and soak-the-rich socialism. Not at all. At the same time it’s a comment that New Yorkers aren’t remotely socialist. Even the socialists in New York City aren’t socialist. A visit to New York City will mug even the most ardent of New York haters with this reality. New York is truly...

The Senate has passed the President’s tax and budget bill and sent it back to the House for final approval. Not every member of the House is happy with the Senate bill, and a number are threatening to vote against it.  It’s not perfect, but the House should take the win, pass the bill, and send it to the President for his signature.The bill before the House is a monumental achievement, the product of months of work and innumerable compromises to meet the competing needs and demands of every Republican in the House and Senate. Like every major tax bill, the final bill has its...

While most attention in Washington has focused on headline tax relief provisions in the "big, beautiful" reconciliation package — like eliminating taxes on tips, bonuses, and overtime — there’s another reform quietly making its way through the Senate that could have a major impact on working seniors. It fixes a little-known but longstanding flaw in federal tax law that has penalized low-income retirees who stay in the workforce: the automatic link between Social Security and Medicare Part A, which blocks seniors from contributing to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Once an...

It is a well-documented fact that coal production – and usage – has been declining for decades in the United States, and for good reason. The Washington Examiner recently reported on a paper titled Coal Cost Crossover, which found the cost of operating coal power plants continues to rise, to the point that it is actually driving inflation across the U.S. economy. Despite this, Texas and ten other GOP attorneys general have filed a lawsuit claiming something different: that three large asset managers have “colluded” to manipulate energy markets...

“You can spin your political base, but you cannot spin the economy or the bond market. Those two are unforgiving – and eventually voters might be too.” Those are the words of Manhattan Institute scholar Jessica Riedl in a recent Washington Post opinion piece. Riedl was critiquing Republican spin related to their tax bill. As she has long seen it, Republicans overstate how much tax revenue their bills will yield, and that troubles the deficit and debt worrier in Riedl. Without defending the happy talking nature of a GOP that naively finds economic growth in a tax bill largely...

Consumer sentiment dipped slightly in July, as the RealClearMarkets/TIPP Economic Optimism Index edged down from 49.2 in June to 48.6—a 1.2% decline. After peaking at a 40-month high of 54.0 in December, the index eased to 51.9 in January and 52.0 in February before slipping below the crucial 50.0 benchmark in March. July’s reading marks the fifth straight month in pessimistic territory. Since President Trump’s re-election in November 2024, the index had remained in optimistic territory until February. The Economic Optimism Index’s July reading of 48.6 is 1.1% below...

The Republican majority in Congress aims to deliver the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) to President Trump’s desk that cuts taxes, spurs economic growth, and empowers American families with greater healthcare flexibility. However, specific provisions targeting the individual insurance marketplace risk introducing counterproductive regulatory burdens that could unintentionally undermine consumer choice, driving up costs and destabilizing a market that has recently made meaningful progress toward affordability and competition. Although procedural maneuvers in the Senate resulting from...

America is the wealthiest nation on earth, with financial markets that are the envy of the world. Those markets have contributed to America’s rise for the past 250 years. Yet, many single-minded critics continue to paint these markets negatively. Pop culture, for instance, from 1987’s Wall Street to 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street, often portrays those who work in finance as an incorrigible group of elite fraudsters. Norbert J. Michel and Jennifer Schulp, finance experts at the Cato Institute, demonstrate that such cynical views of America’s financial markets are...

While many have heard the phrase, “Go Woke, Go Broke,” some may be unaware that a corporation can potentially be too woke for government work. Specifically, as noted in an analysis by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, “the government is likely to begin … requiring contractors … to ‘certify that [they do] not operate any programs promoting DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.’” The Trump administration is also no fan of ESG (environmental, social, and...

The DOJ’s ongoing crusade against Google has reached previously unthinkable levels of unseriousness. As the trial against the search giant wrapped up last week, the government’s case against Google centered on agreements they made with a variety of tech companies to make them the default search engine. In charging the company with stifling competition, the DOJ is alleging that these agreements crowd out alternative search options that consumers would otherwise use. What they’re really doing, though, is putting the open internet we’ve come to use daily at...