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#StateCapacity – So much of good government involves basic competence. For example, not doing this: before the government issues children new Social Security numbers, it doesn’t check whether that number has previously been linked to identity-related fraud. This can occur, because many criminals use randomly-generated SSNs. “When this occurs, a child may begin life with a wage history, bad credit, income tax liabilities and an arrest record,” according to new testimony delivered to the House Subcommittee on Immigration. Oops. (Via Shoshana Weissmann)
#Labor – How should we provide benefits to gig workers?, asks the Brookings Institution. It’s an important question…unless we decide gig work should be illegal.
#Housing – Recently, Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise, sought approval from its oversight agency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), to purchase and guarantee second mortgages in the United States. Mises Institute thinks this is a very bad idea.
#Housing – One of the more worrying political developments in recent years at the local level has been the left’s promotion of so-called squatters’ rights. Caitlyn McKenney of the Discovery Institute’s Center on Wealth and Poverty explains why that is a terrible idea, and won’t help fix homelessness as advocates claim.
#TaxPolicy – Taxing unrealized capital gains is a terrible, terrible idea. National Review published an editorial reiterating this.
#DeepState – DHS set up a unit specifically charged with going after Trump supporters, according to new documents released by America First Legal. Chilling.
#LGBT #K12 – A California bill could ban schools from having policies requiring teachers to inform parents about children’s gender confusions. First in California, then in the nation? The left’s obsession with the idea that teachers must be allowed to have conversations about sex with children in total secrecy is one of their most bizarre and worrisome political efforts.
#K12 – Speaking of far-left indoctrination and schools, Scott Yenor at City Journal has an important look at radical education schools in Florida.
#BigTech #FreeSpeech – Important thread from Rep. Jim Jordan: all the books that Amazon censored under pressure from the Biden White House.
#Life – Important piece from Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erin Hawley on the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the FDA to remove safeguards on dangerous abortion drugs.
#Economics – Interesting new NBER paper; it’s worth quoting the abstract in full: “We analyze the impact of fiscal and monetary stimulus in an economy with mortgage debt, where inflation redistributes from savers to borrowers. We show theoretically that fiscal transfers without future tax increases cause a surge in inflation, increasing consumption demand and house prices. The power of fiscal stimulus grows when borrowers are more indebted. We then show quantitatively that transfers followed by easy monetary policy cause a surge in inflation which helps explain features of the post-Covid boom, including a boom in output and house prices. This boom comes with a longer-term contraction, since redistribution reduces borrower labor supply.”
#Constitution – Acton Institute’s Richard Reinsch reviews Yuval Levin’s new book.
#Reform – Speaking of new books by think tank scholars, you can now pre-order Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ new intringuingly-titled book: Dawn’s Early Light: Burning Down Washington to Save America, with a foreword by Senator J.D. Vance.
Chart of the Day
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