The Fed and politicians in Congress caused the affordability crisis. Now politicians want to compound the error by fixing prices, increasing subsidies, and instituting new mandates. This isn’t a sustainable route to lowering living costs. It’s a recipe for more chaos.
The rich pay the highest tax rates in the United States. The top 10% of income earners pay more than 60% of all federal taxes and 72% of income taxes, Cato’s Adam Michel and Santiago Forster explain.
https://ow.ly/lR0q50YHimC
US aluminum tariffs were supposed to boost security. Instead, they raised prices, hurt manufacturers, and pushed reliable Canadian producers away. With US smelters still closing and the Iran war denting supplies, the US is more vulnerable—not less. A policy own goal.
https://ow.ly/ao9B50YIbOp
Hungary tried national conservatism. The result: a lagging economy, rampant corruption, and a declining birth rate. Voters just delivered the verdict. Cato’s Johan Norberg explains what it means—and why it matters far beyond Hungary.
Supporters said the Inflation Reduction Act would make Medicare drugs more affordable. Instead, CBO just raised its 10-year Medicare Part D spending projection by $600 billion. Cato scholar Michael F. Cannon explains why government cost controls keep backfiring.
https://ow.ly/utWt50YHhUY
America’s electric power grid can’t keep up with demand. A new idea—Consumer-Regulated Electricity—would allow private, permissionless grids to expand energy faster and more efficiently, says Cato’s Travis Fisher.
Join Randy Barnett for a discussion of his new memoir, Felony Review: Tales of True Crime and Corruption in Chicago, a gripping account of his years as a young prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
Register: https://ow.ly/Q3ti50YHcu9
More than half of federal revenue comes from income taxes, but the vast majority of Americans pay more payroll tax than income tax.
Cato’s Adam Michel and Santiago Forster explain taxes in five charts:
https://ow.ly/UKMy50YHiki
Congress has just days to reauthorize FISA Section 702 — while the very oversight meant to prevent warrantless surveillance abuse has been systematically gutted. Cato Senior Fellow Patrick Eddington explains why a "clean" reauthorization is anything but.
https://ow.ly/geTW50YHi6e
President Trump’s executive order challenges 150 years of birthright citizenship law, hinging on four words in the 14th Amendment. Cato's Thomas Berry, Dan Greenberg, and David J. Bier unpack the constitutional stakes and what the justices signaled at oral arguments.
https://ow.ly/3G8n50YH8a7
One graph tells the story: satellite internet use in Argentina surged the moment the government lifted its ban. One deregulation. Millions connected. That's what getting government out of the way looks like.
https://ow.ly/LN0q50YHizO
The NYT reports that powerful synthetic drugs produced in small labs are becoming a major force in today's illegal drug market. The lesson is simple: prohibition doesn’t stop drugs—it makes them stronger, riskier, and more deadly, says Cato’s Jeffrey A. Singer.
https://ow.ly/M6kY50YHar3
The new Section 122 tariffs are just as illegal as the previous ones, and for many of the same reasons, explains Cato’s @thomasberry.bsky.social.
www.cato.org/blog/new-tar...
Autism diagnoses are rising—but much of it may be overdiagnosis. A broken Medicaid system rewards more labels and more therapy, driving billions in waste, fraud, and care that doesn’t always help the kids who need it most, report Cato’s Adam Omary and Jeffrey A. Singer.
https://ow.ly/kyCu50YEvGm
Ludwig von Mises, one of the 20th century’s foremost champions of free markets, saw clearly that socialism isn’t merely inefficient—it’s inherently destructive. Decades of failed central planning have made his case undeniable.
Virginia's hemp crackdown won't make consumers safer. It'll just make their choices more dangerous. That's not public safety — it's prohibition with a new name, explains Cato’s Dr. Jeffrey Singer.
https://ow.ly/QMKG50YHhMT
An Arizona mom grew a 7-student pandemic microschool into 8 K–8 sites, plus virtual and high school programs—about 10 students each.
The model is expanding access and creating jobs but also drawing legal pushback from local public schools. Learn more from Colleen Hroncich.
https://ow.ly/SrGK50YEAqY
The Cato Institute and Professor Ilya Somin have filed an amicus brief in the US Court of International Trade arguing that Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 cannot lawfully be used to impose tariffs under current circumstances.
https://ow.ly/5nmP50YHf6h
The FBI is reportedly labeling frequent FOIA requesters as “vexsome,” creating a de facto blacklist. That’s a clear violation of the letter and spirit of the FOIA statute that federal courts and Congress should punish, says Cato’s Patrick G. Eddington.
https://ow.ly/hfAu50YGJ5x
Senator Warren is targeting MrBeast over his new finance app, but this isn’t about protecting kids—it’s about policing innovation. Jimmy Donaldson built his brand on helping people, and youth banking tools already exist. Washington shouldn’t scare off new competition.
https://ow.ly/OtQP50YGGv9
Section 122 is inapplicable and inappropriate for the types of tariffs the administration is imposing, says Rep. Jimmy Panetta at a Cato Institute event.
Watch the full event here: https://ow.ly/VMEG50YG04a
Senator Warren's childcare bill doesn't make care cheaper—it makes taxpayers cover yet higher costs. Deregulation, not subsidies, would expand supply and bring prices down, explain Cato’s Ryan Bourne and Nathan Miller.
https://ow.ly/CEiX50YFOuC
The DOJ declared the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional, meaning a president can treat official records as personal property and destroy them. This amounts to a radical reduction in legal accountability, argues Cato’s Patrick G. Eddington.
https://ow.ly/ft3j50YFPX6
With South Carolina’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund, parents can customize their kids’ education. There are similar programs in 16 other states. This isn’t a loophole—it’s the program working as designed, says Cato’s Colleen Hroncich.
https://ow.ly/gIIw50YEA6R
The answer to Washington’s affordability crisis isn’t more government intervention—it's less. The better path is sound money and more economic freedom to supply everything from housing and childcare to energy and food.
Hungary has been a “laboratory” for illiberal nationalism under Viktor Orbán, Cato’s Johan Norberg explains. After 16 years: weaker checks and balances, a steep press-freedom slide, and a poorer, less free country—hardly the promised model.
Learn more:
https://ow.ly/3eZp50YGGFh
FCC Chairman Carr's pressure on CNN—whatever you think of their war reporting—is the latest alarming example of government officials trying to shape news coverage, says Brent Skorup. The real fix: strip the FCC of the vague authority that makes these threats possible.
https://ow.ly/Tf9i50YGKVZ
Trump's new "simplified" metal tariffs actually raise costs for most importers. A lower rate on a much bigger tax base means higher duties — it's a tariff hike dressed up as reform, says Cato’s Clark Packard.
https://ow.ly/8N0R50YFOn7
Now is the moment to have a real conversation about tariffs—and for Congress to reclaim its authority, says Rep. Jimmy Panetta at a Cato Institute event.
Watch the full event here: https://ow.ly/2jUy50YFX7x
JD Vance visited Hungary to champion PM Viktor Orbán as a defender of Western civilization. Cato's Ryan Bourne talks with Johan Norberg about Orbán's real record: eroded checks and balances, crony capitalism, and social policies that fell short of his ambitions.
Link: https://ow.ly/mFBm50YGGPh
