Author: John Seiler

A couple of days ago I briefly tuned in to Mark Levin’s radio show. He was talking about Trump and trade, making the “comparative advantage” point you might remember from Econ. 101.  That if each country makes what it can most cheaply, such as America designing iPhones and China assembling them (my examples, not his), then everybody comes off better.  But if we impose tariffs, then prices go up for everybody, most hurting the poor when they go to buy stuff. So Trump’s attacks on Ford for moving a plant to Mexico, which on April 5 he called an “absolute...

I try to find the amusing in politics, and there was a lot of unintentional humor in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s March 23 speech before interns on Capitol Hill on the state of American politics. As commentators have noted, although not mentioning Donald Trump by name, the blathering was directly aimed at the real estate baron. Salon asked, “Can he really endorse Trump after a speech like this?” Of course he can, assuming the rt. hon. gentleman doesn’t join other Establishment pols in swiping the Republican nomination for himself or another hack. This is politics; there’s no honor. Ryan well...