Uncategorized | True North

Javier Milei Delivers Argentina’s First Surplus in Over a Decade — and US Media Is Silent

Argentines witnessed something amazing earlier this month: the government’s first budget surplus in nearly a dozen years. The Economy Ministry announced the figures Friday, Feb. 23, and the government was $589 million in the black. Argentina’s surplus comes on the heels of ambitious cuts in federal spending pushed by newly-elected President Javier Milei that included...

By Jonathan Miltimore

Why Business Failures Are Good for the Economy

Many believe that a company going out of business is bad for the economy. But business failure is actually a good thing. Let’s say there are two pizza places across the street from each other. One is way more popular than the other, and eventually, the less busy restaurant has to close. Obviously, this is...

By Axel Weber

Is the US Dollar ‘Finished’?

In August 2005, a little-known financial analyst named Richard Bove issued an eight-page report for Punk, Ziegel, and Company, a boutique investment bank based in New York City. The report, titled “This Powder Keg Is Going to Blow,” noted that federal mortgage policies, including agencies like the Federal Housing Administration that “guaranteed the banks against...

By Jonathan Miltimore

‘This is the unholy intersection of Hollywood and politics’

Elected officials feel they need to show they’re doing something about jobs, and what could be a bigger spectacle than a Hollywood crew shooting a new film in their state? There has been a proliferation of states offering to pay large parts of a film production’s expenses with taxpayer dollars. And there is also an...

By James M. Hohman

The Mirage That’s Driving Mass Transit Expansion

If you build mass transit, they will come. That “Field of Dreams” thinking is one of the operating assumptions behind the unprecedented federal and state spending spree on public transportation. The Biden administration is doling out as much as $108 billion on mass transit, while states are planning enormous new projects of all kinds. As...

By James M. Hohman

The Economics of Taylor Swift’s Trip to Super Bowl LVIII

Understanding economics helps us make choices in our everyday lives — and the same is true for famous superstars! Even if one’s pocketbooks are deep like Taylor Swift’s, she still deals with scarcity and the opportunity cost of her time. What does opportunity cost have to do with which of her two private jets Taylor...

By Signè DeWind

A Tale of Two Economies

Is this the best economy or the worst economy? It depends on who you ask. Many people say that the US economy is doing great. We have had record stock prices, modest GDP growth, low unemployment, and falling inflation. Current economic forecasts have grown more positive and consumer sentiment has improved. Even real wages, which...

By Paul Mueller

Development of Robot Lawnmowers Will Be Delayed Thanks to New Antitrust Ruling

A merger between Amazon and robotic vacuum producer, iRobot, was terminated recently after the European Commission failed to approve the deal. Immediately following the deal’s termination, iRobot announced it would be laying off roughly 31 percent of its workforce and ending research into new household products. The European Commission’s reasoning for rejecting the merger is...

By Isaac Schick

How will a Michigan homeschool registry make students safer?

Democratic political leaders are using a tragic event — which may have little or nothing to do with homeschooling — to call for more regulations of families teaching their own children. They claim that forcing homeschool parents to register with the state will protect kids, but no one has explained how that would work. Two...

By Jarrett Skorup

New Study Calls into Question the Theory of Rising Inequality

If a thesis is repeated hundreds of times, many people believe it; if it is repeated millions of times, hardly anyone doubts it. The United States in particular is repeatedly cited as an example of how the “gap between rich and poor” is constantly widening. But two experts from the Office of Tax Analysis at...

By Rainer Zitelmann

Interest on the National Debt—Who Does It Go To?

To start off “Ask an Economist” for the year, I have a question from Stan K. about the national debt. I’m happy to report that after asking for questions in early January, I have received the most ever. I look forward to working through all I can. Here is Stan’s question: Peter, I often bemoan...

By Peter Jacobsen

The Housing Crisis Explained—with Mini Fridges

In a household of four guys, fridge space is what you might call prime real estate. I know this because I happen to live in one such household. For months, we tried sharing the one fridge in the house. It was not pleasant. We had to have regular negotiations about how to allocate the limited...

By Patrick Carroll

Michigan students need options

More than 60 students, educators and policymakers from across Michigan braved winter weather last week to celebrate National School Choice Week at the state Capitol. This annual event to raise awareness about the many education options in the Great Lakes State was sponsored by the Mackinac Center, Parent Advocates for Choice in Education, the Great...

By Dr. Molly Macek

Time for the Fed to Ease Up

After a scare with January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) release, economists and market watchers are breathing a sigh of relief following the latest Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCEPI) data. Both headline and core inflation (excluding food and energy prices) inflation were 0.2 percent in December. Year-over-year, the figures were 2.6 percent and 2.9 percent,...

By Alexander William Salter