RealClearMarkets Articles

Speaking recently at a reception after Nvidia’s Global Technology Conference in Washington, DC, Jensen Huang energetically made a case for economic interconnectedness with China. U.S. universities loom large in Huang’s optimistic plan to continue attracting China’s best and brightest. In the words of Huang, “They’re just Chinese. They want to come here to develop.” Exactly. The exciting news, news that is positive from an economic growth and world peace standpoint, is that Huang’s infectious excitement about what the U.S. can be seems to be rubbing...

California Governor (and potential 2028 presidential candidate) Gavin Newsom recently vetoed a bill, SB-771, which would hold social media companies liable for violating California’s civil rights law if they “recklessly aided and abetted” the posting of hate speech. “Recklessly” replaces the California civil rights law’s current requirement that someone “knowingly” aided and abetted a violation of the law. The reason for this change is it is almost impossible to prove that a social media company knowingly aided and abetted a...

Brussels bureaucrats never seem to pass up to an opportunity to micromanage every market they can get their hands on. And having regulated its own tech sector into insignificance, American tech firms are the new object of their bureaucratic excess. The catalogue of the European Union (EU)’s misguided regulatory endeavors includes, inter alia, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Digital Services Act, and the AI Act. These measures disproportionately disadvantage American innovators, who, unlike their continental counterparts, enjoy the liberty necessary to innovate—to...

The November reading of 43.9 marks a steep 9% monthly decline and a widening gap between investors and non-investors. Consumer sentiment weakened in November, as the RealClearMarkets/TIPP Economic Optimism Index, the first monthly read on U.S. consumer confidence, declined from 48.3 in October to 43.9, a sharp 4.4-point (9.1%) drop. This marks the third consecutive month the index has remained below the neutral 50 benchmark, signaling continued pessimism. November’s Economic Optimism Index reading of 43.9 is 10.7% below its 298-month historical average of 49.2. Explore the data in...

When the current federal government shutdown began a month ago, the media warned of financial market mayhem due to decreased government spending. Things could still go south, but so far we’ve actually seen the opposite: The stock market has continued to break records. If the federal government were truly central to day-to-day economic life, this should have sent investors running — but it didn’t. Investors delivered a resounding verdict on non-essential government operations: They are of little importance to the real economy.  For all the noise about...

Soaring government debt is in the U.S.’s future, and at borrowing costs that will continue to decline. See the excellent Holman Jenkins at the Wall Street Journal if you’re doubtful. Arguably the most influential business and economics writer in the world, in his most recent column Jenkins wrote that “Tax reform is in the industrial world’s future one way or another to deal with its debts.” Jenkins would prefer a carbon tax to raise revenue meant to allegedly shrink the debt. What’s notable isn’t the carbon tax Jenkins prefers, it’s that he...

New legislation in Congress vows to protect Main Street, but the specifics suggest something else entirely. The proposal, called the Main Street Depositor Protection Act, would raise the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s limit on certain accounts from $250,000 to as high as $10 million. It’s being sold as protection for small businesses and community banks, but upon closer inspection it’s little more than a safety net for the biggest bank accounts held by the top one percent of the top one percent.  Deposit insurance was designed to protect average...

While the canard that many mergers fail to provide a return to shareholders does not appear to be supported by the data, mergers still occur that appear to be motivated by little more than a CEO’s desire to boost his company’s revenue--along with his compensation base--rather than long-run profits.  Today’s investors--and corporate board members--are more sophisticated and demanding than in the past, and no longer meekly go along with a CEO’s grand plans unless they are supported by a compelling rationale and substantial evidence that they will produce...

When U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins recently suggested eliminating shareholder proposals in order to “depoliticize” corporate governance, he shocked the business community. The idea sounds tidy—remove the political noise, and companies can return to focusing on profits. But ending shareholder proposals would almost certainly have the opposite effect. It would further entrench corporate politicization rather than reduce it. To understand why, consider what shareholder proposals are. Under existing SEC rules, shareholders who meet...

When Texans head to the polls in November, they’ll find a slate of pro-taxpayer constitutional amendments designed to keep the Lone Star State a magnet for  investment and  growth. Unfortunately for taxpayers, that’s where the good news ends. Across counties large and small, voters will decide on more than 250 measures to collectively raise hundreds of millions in tax revenues or authorize tens of billions in new government debt. Everything is bigger in Texas, but that shouldn’t include the tax bill. Our research finds at least 50 counties have measures on the...

Remember Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life? I love that guy. In fact, I have a portrait of him hanging over the fireplace in my study. He uttered one of the great lines in cinematic history—one that will ring true throughout the ages. In scolding George Bailey for his propensity to dole out favors to undeserving bank customers, Mr. Potter said, “And what does that get us? A discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class.” Bravo, Mr. Potter. All last week the Washington blowhards told us that 42 million Americans were going to STARVE TO DEATH if...

In the last year cryptocurrencies have gone from a niche financial tool used by a small cohort of sophisticated investors to mainstream acceptability. 55 million Americans, one in every 5, have had some sort of experience with cryptocurrency, and that number appears set to increase with the passage of the Genius Act, which is intended to create a legal framework for the use of stablecoins across the economy.  Stablecoins are the less-exciting cousin of speculative cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Dogecoin. While the latter ones can rise and fall--and often do, sometimes wildly--with...

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the sweeping tariffs imposed by President Trump over the past nine months. In recent years, the conservative justices on the Court have placed increased weight on a “history and tradition” standard when deciding individual rights cases. If these originalist justices apply that same line of thinking to statutory interpretation in the tariffs case, the Trump administration is in a lot of trouble. Tariffs are a tax on foreign goods. As you may recall from high school, “taxation without...

Since wireless telephony was only in its infancy by the 1980s, and since broad internet usage was realistically decades away, nearly all work took place at a physical location. “Chained to the desk” is a relevant description of how things used to be since being away from one’s desk often meant being away from work altogether. Contrast the above with the present. To vivify the difference between then and now, compare a modern school with one from the past. To visit one in 2025 (at school dropoff, pickup, or events during the day) is to see how the internet, and the...

The online recruitment company Monster recently conducted a survey of more than a thousand employees and found that 80% described their work environment as toxic. Before offering advice to leaders who want to prevent this in their own organizations, a few important caveats are worth mentioning. First, it would help to know what percentage of those surveyed are truly solid, hard-working employees. This matters because organizations shouldn’t overreact to feedback from people who are cynical, lack hustle, or simply don’t occupy a role best suited for them. Sometimes, the worst...

One reason libertarians don’t trust the government is because so many well-intentioned government programs end up either making things worse for the supposed beneficiaries, enriching wealthy and powerful special interests, or both. One example of this is the Section 340B prescription drug pricing program. Created in 1992, Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act requires drug manufacturers to provide discounts on outpatient drugs purchased by “qualified entities” such as federally qualified health centers and disproportionate share hospitals (DSH)....

From Washington to Beijing, governments are rediscovering industrial policy. But no matter how much a nation subsidizes, plans, or protects, its success still depends on the same forces that have governed markets for centuries: supply, demand, and competition. Industrial policy can shape who steps into the ring, but once there, the fight is market-driven. This reality has an unavoidable implication for national policy: no nation can thrive in a market it refuses to emulate; beyond its borders, there is no government setting prices or protecting favorites, only market forces that reward true...

The Merval, Argentina’s benchmark equity index, soared 22 percent the day after the recent vote. Markets had been pricing in big electoral gains for the Peronist parties, only for Javier Milei’s market liberal Liberty Advances party to reveal unexpected strength. The market surge in Argentina is a reminder that equities don’t just rally, nor do they correct or “crash.” They don’t because equity markets are relentlessly pricing knowns. It’s a reminder of what can’t be said enough: big market moves in either direction are an effect of new...

In May, President Trump signed an executive order imposing Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) price caps on pharmaceuticals. While the problems of price caps like MFN pricing have been explored at length, the order had an upside in that it also included a provision to facilitate the direct sale of prescriptions to patients for manufacturers that meet the price cap. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales can help lower prices for patients. Since the executive order, President Trump has announced TrumpRX.gov, which—beginning in 2026—is intended to facilitate DTC sale of...