In case you thought that there was some sort of victory afoot at Harvard University for conservatives/meritocrats/sane humans‚ let me disabuse you of that notion and warn you that the fight on that front has only just begun. RELATED: Claudine Gay: Another DEI Success Story With the resignation of Claudine Gay as that university’s president in the wake of the major plagiarism scandal that brewed up after she failed to offer the faintest opprobrium of the genocidal pro-Hamas agitators plying their trade on her campus in a congressional hearing‚ what you should have now is a national discussion of what exactly constitutes scholarship at our overpriced‚ over-politicized‚ overdiversified‚ and overfed institutions of higher learning. And‚ also‚ what can be done to restore some semblance of quality and honesty to our corrupted educational centers now that we know that even the supposed crème de la crème is utterly degenerate and covered with the stench of academic fraud and DEI. But it’s rapidly becoming clear that’s not the direction this conversation is going in. For example‚ there was this breathtaking joke of a “news article” run by the Associated Press in the wake of Gay’s resignation: American higher education has long viewed plagiarism as a cardinal sin. Accusations of academic dishonesty have ruined the careers of faculty and undergraduates alike. The latest target is Harvard President Claudine Gay‚ who resigned Tuesday. In her case‚ the outrage came not from her academic peers but her political foes‚ led by conservatives who put her career under intense scrutiny. Reviews by Harvard found multiple shortcomings in Gay’s academic citations‚ including several instances of “ duplicative language.” The university concluded the errors “were not considered intentional or reckless” and didn’t rise to misconduct. But the allegations continued‚ with new ones as recently as Monday. Gay wasn’t a “target.” She was a plagiarizer who was caught out when people were interested in scrutinizing her after she refused to say that genocidal anti-Semitism is beneath the Harvard standard of public conduct. It’s not as though it were difficult to uncover the dozens of incidents when she stole someone else’s work and called it her own; plagiarism soils practically every scholarly work she’s ever put her name to. And then‚ this: Conservatives zeroed in on Gay amid backlash over her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus. Her detractors charged that Gay — who has a Ph.D. in government‚ was a professor at Harvard and Stanford and headed Harvard’s largest division before being promoted — got the top job in large part because she is a Black woman. Well‚ of course‚ that’s how she got the job. Does anybody think a white dude who committed more than 40 incidents of plagiarism as he built a curriculum vitae could have possibly made it to the presidency of Harvard? And if you do think that‚ then why do we even care about Harvard at all‚ since it’s obviously on the academic level of a dumpy community college where even the top brass is a collection of frauds who get where they are based on their position on the intersectional totem pole‚ or whatever other identity-politics faux-criteria are in fashion? (READ MORE: Here’s the Perfect Solution‚ Harvard) But wait‚ we’re not done: Christopher Rufo‚ a conservative activist who helped orchestrate the effort against Gay‚ celebrated her departure as a win in his campaign against elite institutions of higher education. On X‚ formerly Twitter‚ he wrote “SCALPED‚” as if Gay was a trophy of violence‚ invoking a gruesome practice taken up by white colonists who sought to eradicate Native Americans and also used by some tribes against their enemies. Ahhh‚ yes. Conservatives pounce‚ says the AP‚ in yet another exposition of the new narrative that holding certain favored groups and individuals accountable for misconduct is somehow a partisan affair rather than speaking truth to power‚ which we were told was heroic and virtuous. And then there’s the gratuitous idiocy of “white guys inventing scalping and poor Native Americans paying the price‚” which couldn’t sum up the asinine beliefs elites in this country hold any better. The two so-called journalists responsible for this partial-birth abortion of a news story are Collin Binkley and Moriah Balingit. They’re a pair of typical establishment hacks‚ with Binkley one who works the “education” beat for the Associated Press — which is to say they’re propagandists who spew out the party line of the hard Left hegemons in control of those corrupted institutions. So it’s not surprising that a piece about Gay’s forced resignation amid revelations that she’s an utter and complete fraud‚ an empress with no clothes who rose as she did through the opposite of the meritocracy that this country was founded on and desperately wishes to return to‚ turns into an attack on Christopher Rufo. But that’s what you’re going to get. Here’s another one of our favorite DEI darlings‚ the ridiculous Ibram X. Kendi — who spews anti-white racism and literal Jim Crow segregationist cant from a reverse perspective and is nonetheless lauded rather than hooted down for the sheer stupidity of his arguments — on the martyrdom of Claudine Gay: That’s how anti-Black racist attacks have been justified. The seemingly legitimate reason‚ in this latest case at Harvard‚ is primarily academic misconduct or plagiarism. The question to assess whether this was a racist attack isn’t whether Dr. Gay engaged in any misconduct. 2/4 — Ibram X. Kendi (@ibramxk) January 2‚ 2024 It isn’t hard to figure out why the racist mob is cheering right now and saying “go woke go broke” and President Gay wasn’t qualified and the “tide is turning against woke and DEI” and “this is the beginning of the end of woke.” 4/4 — Ibram X. Kendi (@ibramxk) January 2‚ 2024 Got that? If you aren’t willing to excuse Claudine Gay for her serial sins of academic fraud‚ then you’re a racist‚ because honkies have been getting away with the same thing again and again. Honkies …. getting away with it …. hmmmm: Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne will resign effective Aug. 31 [2023]‚ according to communications released by the University Wednesday morning. He will also retract or issue lengthy corrections to five widely cited papers for which he was principal author after a Stanford-sponsored investigation found “manipulation of research data.” According to Jerry Yang‚ chair of the Stanford Board of Trustees‚ Tessier-Lavigne will step down “in light of the report and its impact on his ability to lead Stanford.” Former Dean of Humanities Richard Saller will serve as interim president. In a separate statement‚ Tessier-Lavigne defended his reputation but acknowledged that issues with his research‚ first raised in a [Stanford] Daily investigation last autumn‚ meant that Stanford requires a president “whose leadership is not hampered by such discussions.” “At various times when concerns with Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s papers emerged—in 2001‚ the early 2010s‚ 2015-2016‚ and March 2021—Dr. Tessier-Lavigne failed to decisively and forthrightly correct mistakes in the scientific record‚” Stanford’s report said‚ identifying a number of apparent manipulations in Tessier-Lavigne’s neuroscientific research. You almost certainly never heard of Marc Tessier-Lavigne‚ he/him‚ a person of pallor packed off to career purgatory‚ because nobody was upset over a privileged cracker with a funny‚ froggy‚ hyphenated name getting what was coming to him. And maybe‚ given that Ibram X. Kendi‚ as a maven of DEI culture‚ can’t be expected to actually know a damn thing about that on which he rants‚ it’s not a surprise that Kendi overlooked Tessier-Lavigne’s denouement at Stanford. There’s something bigger going on here‚ which we’ll get to in just a second. But please understand that Claudine Gay isn’t being persecuted‚ burned at the stake‚ or even denied entry to Harvard’s Faculty Club. Far from it: Disgraced Harvard President Claudine Gay‚ who resigned on Tuesday following antisemitism scandals‚ disastrous congressional testimony‚ and scores of plagiarism allegations‚ will stay on the Ivy League university’s faculty as a professor with a salary of at least $900‚000. The outgoing Harvard president‚ who was previously a political science professor and later a dean‚ will stay at the university‚ where she [will] be given a faculty position. Gay will likely be making nearly $900‚000 a year at the Ivy League institution‚ despite being forced to resign from the school’s presidency after scores of plagiarism allegations against her were filed in official academic complaints at Harvard‚ according to multiple reports. That’s not bad comp for a martyr‚ frankly. Lots of us might line up to suffer so much at the hands of right-wing “scalpers” like Rufo. What matters here isn’t that Harvard’s prestige lies in ruins. We ought to be long past giving a hoot about that puffed-up whitened sepulcher of a college‚ much less clamoring to hire the indoctrinated marks it spews out. What’s more important is what it tells us about that hard Left elite who have such a stranglehold on so many of our institutions. I noted this in a political context in yesterday’s column‚ which is that these people — whether they’re Obama Democrats‚ DEI kakistocrats in academia‚ Hollywood radicals‚ “shareholder capitalists‚” or any other of the countless manifestations of the Marxist anti-American Coptotermes formosanus infesting our culture‚ politics‚ and economics — do not quit. (READ THE PIECE: Beware the Wounded Animal in 2024) They don’t accept the loss of their power or influence. They certainly don’t accept accountability for even the grandest of their failings. Instead‚ they escalate. That AP story‚ Kendi’s rantings‚ and all of the countless other leftist rants defending Gay from the “racists” who would have her career in the dumpster over her manifest lack of merit are an escalation. They’re now a demand for free license for people in protected classes to engage in academic fraud. They’re telling you that the institutions they control are no longer subject to scrutiny for the quality of their personnel or product. That those institutions may be completely politicized and made utterly devoid of value with no consequences to their saboteurs — because‚ at the end of that process‚ 2 plus 2 will equal 5‚ or whatever other number they choose. Reject this and they will demand your cancellation. As a “racist‚” a “homophobe‚” or some other horrible thing. If you consider where this path leads‚ you’ll soon realize what an utter house of cards this all is‚ and how the game begins to change when you have the courage to laugh in an Ibram X. Kendi’s face when he calls you names. And that will be a good day. But it won’t be the last‚ because they do not quit. And neither must you. READ MORE from Scott McKay: Five Quick Things: Blue Cities Drown in Joe Biden’s Flood Barack’s Lieutenant: The Racism‚ Revenge‚ and Ruin of Claudine Gay The post The Fake Martyrdom of Claudine Gay appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

SACRAMENTO — A front-page Washington Post investigation provides‚ as reporter Kyle Swenson promotes it in an X post‚ “an inside look at a well-funded effort on the political right to target‚ vilify‚ and defund a key piece of the social safety net‚ the ‘housing first’ approach to homelessness.” The article zeroes in on Missouri legislation that bans funding that approach‚ which it describes as a widely supported measure “that prioritizes a stable home before other services.” On today’s @washingtonpost A1‚ you’ll find my latest story: an inside look at a well-funded effort on the political right to target‚ vilify‚ and defund a key piece of the social safety net‚ the “housing first” approach to homelessness 1/x pic.twitter.com/oGMPU6PxrQ — Kyle Swenson (@kyletalking) January 2‚ 2024 Obviously‚ that goal sounds laudable. Getting a person into a stable home certainly sounds reasonable‚ but the concept is far more ideologically rooted than this benign description would suggest. If I were Swenson’s editor‚ I would have recommended a deep dive into how it’s played out in jurisdictions — the state of California and city of San Francisco spring to mind — that have embraced it the most. Those jurisdictions have made the least progress in dealing with the crisis. There’s a connection. (READ MORE from Steven Greenhut: Latest Evidence of a Death Spiral in Newsom’s California) Originally‚ the Housing First concept was designed to find immediate housing for people — specifically‚ mothers with kids — who faced some temporary event that put them on the streets. Thanks to ideologues‚ it has morphed into official California housing policy‚ as explained on a state website: “[A]nyone experiencing homelessness should be connected to a permanent home as quickly as possible‚ and programs should remove barriers to accessing the housing‚ like requirements for sobriety or absence of criminal history.” In other words‚ the state’s policy is to provide a permanent home for any homeless person and not require anything in return (mental health treatment‚ drug-addiction counseling‚ etc.). As the former head of a nonprofit homeless center once told me‚ that often means people dying alone of drug overdoses in their apartment. It also has led to wild occurrences at state homeless residences — fights and drug dealing and various crimes. As top California homeless officials wrote in a 2019 CalMatters column: Under housing first‚ men‚ women and their children are treated identically. They are provided housing as the solution to their homelessness. A house does address the symptoms of homelessness‚ but it does not address what led them there‚ including the childhood trauma that many struggling with homelessness have faced. Exactly. In other words‚ Housing First treats homelessness purely as a housing issue‚ even though surveys show the vast majority of homeless people have drug‚ alcoholism‚ and mental health issues. The other painfully obvious problem is that states and localities simply cannot afford to build all the permanent housing they would need to house every unhoused person. It ultimately means the right to a free apartment‚ which would lure many people who aren’t currently living on the streets. California in particular can’t do anything at a reasonable cost. Here’s just one example‚ from the Los Angeles Times in 2022: “More than half a dozen affordable housing projects in California are costing more than $1 million per apartment to build‚ a record-breaking sum that makes it harder to house the growing numbers of low-income Californians who need help paying rent.” With all the state’s land-use regulations‚ union work requirements‚ and bureaucratic waste‚ it’s not only overly costly but also absurdly time-consuming to build these projects. The numbers offer the proof. A recent Mercury News article summarized it as follows: “Despite billions spent‚ new data shows almost a third of the nation’s homeless now live in California. The state’s homeless population increased by 6%. Why is the crisis still getting worse?” Perhaps the answer is obvious — because California has embraced a Housing First policy that is destined to fail. The state continues to ramp up homeless spending‚ which is a problem‚ as the state faces an unprecedented $68 billion budget deficit. Cities such as San Francisco spend huge portions of their budget on the issue‚ yet the numbers and the dismal street scenes have gotten worse. I don’t doubt that governments must spend money on the issue given that it’s a legitimate public-policy concern‚ but spending more on failed policies doesn’t work. Note that homelessness has soared most since the state’s official adoption of Housing First in 2016. According to the book No Way Home‚ a study in Ottawa‚ Ontario‚ found: To the shock of the researchers‚ after 24 months‚ the non-intervention control group reported better results regarding substance abuse‚ mental health‚ quality of life‚ family relations and mortality than the Housing First group. In other words‚ doing nothing resulted in superior human outcomes than providing Housing First with wraparound services. Homelessness is indeed partly a housing problem‚ one that is magnified by California’s absurdly high housing and rent prices. In communities with more reasonable prices‚ it’s easier to find housing for those living on the margins. The state’s high prices are in turn driven by our regulatory barriers. The state is reducing some regulations‚ at least in a targeted way (for high-density and affordable-housing projects in urban areas). But that situation is unlikely to get fixed anytime soon‚ so policy makers need to deal with short-term reality. One reasonable approach: build temporary housing and large shelters that provide a panoply of services. Public money could be far more effectively spent. I’ve written about San Antonio‚ Texas’ success at reducing its downtown homeless population in such a way. But that conflicts with the Housing First model. The more spent on the latter‚ the less money that’s available to spend on projects that provide homeless people with the help they need. And while the conservative laws the Post details might in some cases make things worse‚ it’s absurd to focus attention on these tangential issues. Homelessness is growing most in progressive states and cities that have embraced the policies those conservative states are trying to undo. But‚ of course‚ we know that in the mainstream media‚ progressives rarely get blamed for their failures. There has to be a right-wing root to the problem. Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org. The post <;i>;Washington Post<;/i>; Blames Conservatives for ‘Housing First’ Disaster appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

In theory‚ playing an immersive video game sounds fun‚ maybe even a little exhilarating. That’s the kind of entertainment people want in the metaverse — but it isn’t all fun and games. Police in the United Kingdom are currently investigating the case of a 16-year-old girl whose avatar was sexually assaulted by a gang of male avatars while in an unidentified metaverse. The girl was not physically injured‚ according to the New York Post‚ but she did suffer psychological trauma. That should not come as a surprise — after all‚ her innocence was violated whether or not anything she experienced physical harm. (READ MORE: Confronting the ‘Artificial Intelligence’ Backward-Looking Bureaucracy Trap) While this is the first time a case like this has come under investigation‚ it’s certainly not the first instance of virtual violence on these platforms. A 21-year-old researcher studying users’ behavior was sexually assaulted in the virtual landscape within her first hour on the platform‚ and just last year‚ Nina Patel‚ a psychologist‚ reported on X that she had been sexually assaulted in a metaverse within 60 seconds of joining the virtual landscape for the first time. Just Like the Real World Patel‚ who has spent the last six years studying metaverses‚ recently wrote about that experience for the Telegraph‚ arguing that it was just as psychologically traumatic as a physical experience would have been: My heart was racing and a sense of panic bubbled up inside‚ just as it would if the attack had occurred in the physical world. I entered fight-or-flight mode. Even though I was physically in my living room in London‚ wearing a headset and experiencing this all in virtual reality‚ my response was similar to if I’d been attacked in the street. The problem is that virtual reality experiences are immersive. Meta‚ and companies like it‚ have one job: Make the experience as realistic as possible. And so they have. While it’s true that users could simply take off their headset and end the experience‚ it’s just as true that that’s likely not the first thought that comes to mind when in flight-or-fight mode. (READ MORE from Aubrey Gulick: If You Could Talk to the Dead‚ Would You?) “I know it is easy to dismiss this as being not real‚ but the whole point of these virtual environments is they are incredibly immersive‚” U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly told LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast. “And we’re talking about a child here‚ and a child has gone through sexual trauma…. It will have had a very significant psychological effect and we should be very‚ very careful about being dismissive of this.” The companies creating virtual realities are trying to address the issue. In Meta’s case‚ it has built a “Personal Boundary” feature that keeps other users a good distance away from your avatar — a solution that solves the virtual rape problem but doesn’t address other forms of inappropriate behavior that have become common on the platform. For instance‚ sexual perverts can (and do) groom children in a metaverse‚ and plenty of people have received explicit messages from fellow users. Does the Law Apply to the Metaverse? Given that this 16-year-old’s case is the first of its kind in the U.K.‚ police aren’t even sure they can prosecute the perpetrators‚ according to the New York Post. Both the U.K. and the U.S. have laws on sexual content on virtual platforms. In California‚ for instance‚ sexual messages that put another user “in reasonable fear for his or her safety” and that are sent by a user who intends to “imminently [cause] that other person unwanted physical contact‚ injury‚ or harassment” are punishable offenses. (READ MORE from Aubrey Gulick: The Dark Side of AI: Generating Child Porn) Of course‚ making any kind of sexual advances toward a child on the internet is also a crime in both the U.S. and the U.K. — particularly forms of online grooming. According to the Sylff Association‚ “knowingly seducing or enticing a minor to engage in unlawful sexual conduct can be punished” under Florida law; “[a]pproaching children online with intent to meet them or to engage in sexual conduct is considered a more serious crime because such acts put children at the real risk of sexual exploitation.” But the question legal experts are going to have to answer is whether that law applies to instances of sexual predators who are treating their victims’ avatars like virtual porn but don’t have any intention of tracking them down in the physical world. The question parents should be asking themselves — namely‚ whether to allow their children to play games in the metaverse — should be a lot easier to answer: No. The post A Girl Was Sexually Assaulted in the Metaverse. Does It Count? appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Writing in the Diplomat‚ R. Evan Ellis‚ U.S. Army War College professor of Latin America research‚ warns about “China’s Growing Strategic Position in Nicaragua.” The Nicaraguan regime headed by Daniel Ortega is expanding trade with China and inviting more Chinese infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Nicaragua has also abandoned recognition of Taiwan coincident with China’s expanded commercial‚ political‚ and military position in Nicaragua. The Ortega regime back in the 1970s and 1980s aligned itself with Moscow in Cold War I‚ only to lose power due to diplomatic‚ political‚ and military pressure applied by the Reagan administration. Now‚ Ortega has aligned Nicaragua with Beijing in Cold War II. READ MORE from Francis P. Sempa: China’s Defense Minister Is Now an Admiral. What Does That Mean for Taiwan? Ellis notes that China’s engagement with Nicaragua follows its expanded relationships with other anti-American regimes in the Western Hemisphere‚ including the Maduro government in Venezuela‚ the Morales regime in Bolivia‚ the Correa government in Ecuador‚ and Cuba’s communist regime. Other Latin American countries that participate in China’s BRI are Columbia‚ Peru‚ Argentina‚ and Uruguay. Here as elsewhere‚ China’s BRI will not bring economic prosperity to those countries but will instead‚ according to Ellis‚ “help to sustain the regime[s] in power by providing not only resources‚ but corruption opportunities through non-transparent transactions with China-based entities.” It will also‚ as elsewhere‚ give China leverage to achieve Beijing’s strategic goals in the region. At first glance‚ projects that involve the building and improvement of highways‚ ports‚ airports‚ railways‚ electricity transmission‚ and digital platforms can appear innocuous to U.S. interests. But‚ as Ellis notes‚ “China’s footprint in Nicaragua is expanding beyond commercial matters” to “security cooperation.” Ortega has appointed a brigadier general to serve as Nicaragua’s military attache to China‚ which indicates “a high level of priority to China-Nicaragua military cooperation.” As the Reagan administration understood in the 1980s‚ Nicaragua is positioned in Central America “to host threats to the U.S.” That is why Reagan armed the Contras to help undermine Sandinista rule in the 1980s. Ellis warns that in the event of a U.S.–China war in the Indo-Pacific‚ “Nicaragua’s security relationships with Cuba‚ Russia‚ and Iran could also present opportunities for Beijing to coordinate operations with those actors against the U.S. from Nicaraguan soil.” In August of 2023‚ the journal Modern Diplomacy reported that China is using the BRI to counter and perhaps supersede U.S. hegemony in Latin America‚ including establishing a presence at both ends of the Panama Canal and developing an alternate Central America canal through Columbia or Nicaragua. China’s expanding footprint in Latin America may sound the final death knell of the Monroe Doctrine. One wonders what James Monroe and John Quincy Adams would think about China’s strategic encroachments in the Western Hemisphere in the 21st century. In 1823‚ they drafted and announced a geopolitical doctrine that guided U.S. foreign policy in the face of overseas challengers for nearly two centuries. It is a doctrine that the Reagan administration repeatedly invoked during Soviet-linked challenges in El Salvador‚ Cuba‚ Grenada‚ and Nicaragua in the 1980s. And‚ as Colin Dueck has pointed out at the American Enterprise Institute‚ it is a doctrine that has been virtually ignored by the Biden administration‚ just as it was ignored by the Clinton and Obama administrations. Indeed‚ then–Secretary of State John Kerry proudly announced in 2013 that “the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.” The Biden administration‚ Dueck notes‚ “gives little sign of either grasping or counteracting the sweep of [China’s] influence throughout Latin America.” He accuses the administration of “genuflecting to anti-American sensibilities” and failing to prevent Beijing “from advancing its own designs on the region.” Ironically‚ as Beijing works to undermine the U.S. Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere‚ it pursues its own version of the Monroe Doctrine in the South China Sea‚ claiming that body of water a Chinese lake and claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. And Beijing surely realizes‚ even if the Biden administration does not‚ that the death knell of the U.S. Monroe Doctrine will help China succeed in enforcing its version of the doctrine in the western Pacific. That is how geopolitics works. The post Back to the Future With Nicaragua appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

I got my first job as a journalist at The American Spectator in the late 1980s. My first boss was R. Emmett Tyrrell‚ Jr. I wasn’t even close to being a journalist. RELATED: ‘I’ve Had a Wonderful Time’: Tyrrell’s Latest Book Isn’t a Sob Story I drove Bob around in his diesel Mercedes‚ fetched him lunch‚ and delivered his columns to the Washington Post. Those duties are not relevant‚ but I mention them for others who end up in jobs that call for running errands for others: It’s the price you pay to get close to the people who interest you. What made Bob different — and‚ therefore‚ a lot like me — was a reluctance to join anything. To be apart from the game‚ and mess with it from outside‚ or above. My goal has always been to join things so that I can change them‚ not the reverse. I didn’t become a Republican so that I would learn the secrets of khaki and cigars. I became a Republican so that they would discover the Clash and National Lampoon. The goal in life is not simply to find comforting tribes but to take that tribe you like and get it to assimilate to you. I’ve spent 35 years doing just that. Bob was one of the first to do the very same thing. For that reason‚ he’s been lauded and maligned. It’s always a good sign when you get both. He wasn’t a typical right-winger. He heard his own song in this head — and it told him to zig when everyone else would zag. I think it probably didn’t help him as much as it would if it were simply conforming — but that’s never the point. His biting humor and his commentary’s audacious silliness dared others to do the same. The message: to take risks based in the joy of surprise and the wisdom the surprise brings you. The goal: to have fun and speak truth; to be a “merry prankster” with receipts — or‚ in my case‚ a “merry troll.” I never had any interest in anyone who worked within a system. Everyone who I learned from did the opposite. Some of them don’t get the credit they deserve. Bob is one of them. Editor’s Note: The American Spectator’s editor-in-chief‚ R. Emmett Tyrrell‚ Jr.‚ recently released his long-awaited memoirs‚ which detail the past 50 years of this magazine’s run. Order your copy of How Do We Get Out of Here?: Half a Century of Laughter and Mayhem at The American Spectator — From Bobby Kennedy to Donald J. Trump here today! The post Greg Gutfeld on R. Emmett Tyrrell‚ Jr.: Be an Outsider appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

As a new year dawns‚ it’s customary to reflect on the past and set resolutions for the future. This year‚ let’s resolve to greet three widespread claims with healthy doses of skepticism. The first dubious claim is that income inequality in the United States has inexorably risen since the 1960s. It’s a scary narrative heavily bolstered by the work of three French economists: Thomas Piketty‚ Emmanuel Saez‚ and Gabriel Zucman. According to these researchers‚ the situation was fueled mostly by tax cuts for top income earners during the Reagan administration. Their proposed remedy‚ not surprisingly‚ is a sky-high‚ French-like level of taxation. READ MORE: Congress Should Apologize to Drunken Sailors As appealing as that may be to the many fans of soak-the-rich policies‚ I advise against condemning the rich to the tax guillotine quite yet. We should also hold off on trying to tackle the alleged problem with more welfare spending. In the last few years‚ a series of peer-reviewed studies from very respectable economists have shown that the three Frenchmen’s claims of rising income inequality suffer from fatal flaws. For instance‚ some researchers argue that the rise in inequality is not as pronounced as suggested‚ pointing to better data sources or interpretations. Others highlight methodological issues‚ such as the questionable treatment of tax data and government transfers in calculating incomes. Basically‚ the incessant narrative of ever-widening income inequality requires‚ at a minimum‚ serious skepticism. That leaves the case for further income redistribution weak‚ even if one admits that welfare spending has increased the income of some poverty-stricken Americans. Unfortunately‚ it’s done so at the cost of economy-wide productivity and sometimes to the detriment of welfare recipients themselves. Short of adopting this more accurate and comprehensive picture of American wealth distribution and economic mobility‚ I hope we will at least hear more tempered claims from the Left that the world is going to hell. The second claim warranting skepticism is the one about how years of unchecked globalization have eroded America’s industrial foundation. Not only do we Americans still produce an enormous economic output‚ but the U.S. also continues to be a dominant force in manufacturing. A recent paper by the Cato Institute’s Colin Grabow even reports that American manufacturing surpasses the output of Japan‚ Germany‚ and South Korea combined. We are the world’s second-largest manufacturing economy‚ and‚ better yet‚ we are a global frontrunner in critical sectors such as automotive and aerospace. Further‚ I hope people finally come to understand that the fact that manufacturing now employs fewer workers and contributes less to gross domestic product than in previous decades doesn’t require a change in policy. As Grabow shows‚ the same thing is happening across all developed countries — and not predominantly due to globalization. It’s more a result of advances in productivity (as workers use more machines and computers‚ they produce more output) and a change in consumer preferences toward services rather than goods. Besides‚ while fewer people are employed in manufacturing‚ those who continue to work there enjoy better and safer work conditions. They also command higher wages. If you’re unconvinced of these points‚ go visit a modern steel mill. Finally‚ I wish politicians and pundits — and more of us citizens — would become a lot more skeptical about the idea that government is the solution to all problems. At the very least‚ I hope they consider the sheer scale of today’s government. Despite all the enormous spending and extensive regulating‚ dissatisfaction among the public persists‚ and‚ in many cases‚ problems seem to be worsening. Correlation isn’t causation‚ but this observation alone should puzzle those who believe that simply expanding government is a solution. In truth‚ government spending is not inherently efficient or effective. It often leads to a misallocation of resources‚ bureaucratic inefficiencies‚ and unintended consequences that exacerbate the problems government aims to solve. And when government fails‚ its mistakes are hard to correct. It’s a sharp contrast with the dynamic and adaptive nature of free markets. The collective decisions of millions of individuals freely spending and investing their own money are incredibly effective at allocating resources‚ responding to consumer needs and driving innovation. And when the market fails‚ people with their own money on the line don’t hesitate to change course. As we step into 2024‚ it’s crucial to adopt a better and informed perspective toward these and other prevalent claims. The narrative of ever-increasing income inequality‚ the supposed erosion of America’s industrial base due to globalization‚ and the belief in government as a panacea are all areas ripe for reevaluation. Veronique de Rugy is the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. To find out more about Veronique de Rugy and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists‚ visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The post Three Economic Myths to Put to Rest This Year appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

What Ordinary Americans Want