Freedom Four

A Friday Hodgepodge

1. "I'm Argentinian, and Milei's Victory Is Welcome News," by Agustina Vergara Cid (Orange County Register):

I don't think people originally elected Milei because they suddenly embraced free markets, but because the alternative was leading Argentina down Venezuela's path, and the electorate reacted to that. He was the leader most drastically opposed to the status quo.

While his overwhelming victory in the midterms is still largely due to the rejection of Peronism, a new and important factor is that Milei has shown people that freedom works. After decades of being told that economic freedom would ruin them, people have experienced first-hand that that is not the case. People have seen the economy stabilize, investors eye Argentina again, and can operate in a much steadier economic environment. They've also welcomed Milei's crackdown on crime.

760 words/3 minutes

2. "The President Has No 'Foreign Policy' Discretion to Impose Sweeping Global Tariffs," by Ben Bayer (Orange County Register):

Whatever the trade restrictions in wars that were part of the president's genuine foreign policy power, they applied only to trade with belligerent or occupied nations and only for the duration of the war. Contrast that with Trump's tariffs: in the name of "foreign policy," President Trump is, in effect, declaring economic "war" against the entire world, enemies and allies alike. But a real American foreign policy does recognize allies, like the United Kingdom and Canada.

The idea that the president is due some deference to manage his sweeping global tariffs in the name of "foreign policy" is a complete sham.

The IEEPA simply cannot give the president the power to impose a new global tariff scheme. Congress alone has the constitutional power to tax and to regulate foreign commerce, and it cannot delegate this power to the president in such unlimited fashion.

900 words/3 minutes

3. "LTE: How American Capitalism Can Be Great Again," (PDF) by Onkar Ghate (Wall Street Journal):

The signers of the Declaration of Independence weren't akin to today's progressives searching for their next handout or today's conservatives devoted to faith, family and tradition. They were radicals, steeped in Enlightenment thought. It's called the American experiment because they were consciously inventing something new.

Much as they sought to separate church from state, they wanted to separate economy from state too. The new American government stripped the state of much of its power to enforce ideological orthodoxy or suppress dissenting views. Likewise, it was stripped of much of its power to pick economic winners and losers...

260 words/1 minute

4. "What Trump Is Doing Is Not 'State Capitalism,' It's Just Statism," by Agustina Vergara Cid (Orange County Register):

Building on precedent, the Trump administration is making it even more transparent that the federal government has massive power over businesses, and this is antithetical to capitalism. In the mixed economy we're in (a mix of control and freedom), the Trump administration is rapidly taking us closer to more controls (statism), not freedom (capitalism).

Those of us who defend capitalism should reject terms like "state capitalism" and not fall for this conceptual trap. When the statist approach inevitably fails (including by further restricting the freedom of Americans) capitalism should not be blamed for it, including because we'll get even more controls if that happens.

760 words/3 minutes

-- CAV