The Senate has rejected Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)’s proposal to repeal Obamacare without a replacement, 55-45. Of the eight potential moderate Republican opponents I highlighted in June, five voted against repeal (Capito, Collins, Heller, Portman, and Murkowski), along with two whose opposition to repeal was not known at the time (McCain and Alexander). But the Republicans have not quite given up–they plan to attempt “skinny repeal,” in which only the individual and employer mandates would be repealed. But while this may sound appealing (nobody likes mandates), it’s much worse than it appears.
When it Comes to Sanctions, Both Democrats and Trump are Inconsistent
Toward the end of his presidency, Barack Obama began relaxing economic sanctions on Cuba. The argument was simple–the sanctions had been in place half a century, but there was no hard evidence that they were affecting Cuban policy or seriously encouraging regime change. It seemed to many that the sanctions just made ordinary Cubans worse off and enabled the Castro regime to blame America for economic setbacks. Why not flood Cuba with American goods and American culture instead, and try to win the Cuban people over with goodies? The Trump administration never liked this idea, and it immediately set about reinstating the barriers. But now many of the same people who enthusiastically supported Obama’s efforts to change policy on Cuba–including many Senate Democrats–are calling for Trump to perpetuate and intensify sanctions against Russia, and Trump is reluctant to go along. This is intellectually inconsistent–on both sides. It reveals that when it comes to sanctions, both the Democrats and Trump are more interested in scoring political points at home than they are in having a coherent foreign policy.
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The Rise of the “Hillary or Bust” Voter
Remember “Bernie or Bust”? Some Bernie Sanders supporters were very cross when Sanders did not win the Democratic Party nomination. They believed he should have won, both because he deserved to win and because some of them believed the DNC stole it from him. They were unwilling to support Clinton in the general election, and Clinton supporters let them have it. How could these Bernie supporters stand idly by and allow Donald Trump to become president? Don’t they care about poor and working people, about the middle class, about people of color, about women, about LGBTs? How could they betray the groups they’re meant to care about like that? Sarah Silverman told them they were “being ridiculous”:
But the tables have turned. Today we see a new breed of Democrat–the “Hillary or Bust” voter.
Arguments Against Minimum Wage Increases are Weaker Than Many People Think
Today I’d like to talk about the recent University of Washington study on the effects of the minimum wage increase in Seattle. The study claims to show that the increase in the wage from $11 an hour to $13 resulted in lower wages and job losses for workers at the bottom of the wage distribution. But this study–and the arguments surrounding it–kinda miss the point.
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Why Trump Cannot Bring Jobs Back With Tax Cuts
When I talk to President Trump’s supporters about how they anticipate the president will bring back lost manufacturing jobs, I tend to hear the same argument over and over. It goes something like this:
- Trump will cut corporate tax and other taxes that primarily hit investors.
- Firms and investment will return from abroad to take advantage of the low tax rates.
It is possible to demonstrate that this is false. Here’s how to do it.
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Benjamin Studebaker 