trade
How will free-trade fare under the Trump administration? Trade thoughts and opinion about negotiations, embargo, what works and what doesn't..
Europe Risks Sabotaging Prosperity With China Trade Curbs . AI-Generated.
As Brussels explores increasingly stringent trade measures against China, a critical question arises: are European policymakers safeguarding the continent's economic interests, or potentially placing its future prosperity in jeopardy?
By The Ireland Sino Institute2 days ago in The Swamp
When a Society Stops Replacing Itself: The Consequences of Declining Birthrates and the Path Toward Recovery. AI-Generated.
Introduction: The Consequences of a Changing Population In Part One, we examined the changes that reshaped American family formation across more than sixty years. From the expansion of contraception and changing marriage laws to rising living expenses, declining religious participation, increasing chronic illness, digital socialization, changing relationships between men and women, and the growing complexity of raising children, numerous developments have contributed to the conditions surrounding modern reproduction.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast3 days ago in The Swamp
The Declining Birthrate: How Six Decades of Change Reshaped Marriage, Family, and Reproduction. AI-Generated.
Introduction: Understanding How We Got Here For much of American history, marriage and raising children represented an expected progression into adulthood. Young men and women generally married earlier, began having children earlier, and formed families within communities where religious institutions, extended relatives, neighbors, and established social expectations reinforced family life. The Baby Boom, extending from approximately 1946 through 1964, represented the culmination of a period in which relatively early marriage and larger families were common features of American society.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast3 days ago in The Swamp
The Case for a New Plaza Accord
By Elliott J. Schuchardt For decades, American policymakers and economists have treated a strong U.S. dollar as an unassailable metric of national economic health. The prevailing orthodoxy asserts that a powerful currency reflects a robust economy, suppresses domestic inflation, and cements the United States at the center of global finance. However, this perspective overlooks a structural distortion that has slowly hollowed out our industrial core. The U.S. dollar is profoundly overvalued, and this artificial appreciation acts as a permanent tax on domestic manufacturing, exports, and long-term economic stability. To restore competitiveness, revitalize local production, and correct massive global trade imbalances, the United States must actively pursue a strategy to devalue its currency.
By Elliott J. Schuchardt7 days ago in The Swamp
The Perils of Entanglement
For decades, United States foreign policy in East Asia has been anchored to an increasingly hazardous premise: that Washington must guarantee the security of Taiwan against the People’s Republic of China (PRC). On the surface, the United States claims to support an East-Asian democracy against mainland China. The reality is not so benign. For the past 75 years, the United States has needlessly interfered in the Chinese civil war. As global dynamics shift and the risk of conflict escalates, Washington must reassess its commitment to Taiwan. To avoid a potentially dangerous confrontation, the United States must cease its military and political backing of Taiwan.
By Elliott J. Schuchardt25 days ago in The Swamp
When Companies Get Bigger, Customers Get Smaller
“ Hello, my name is Peggy ” Whoever developed the character of “Peggy the Customer Service Representative” really had their finger on the pulse of the American consumer. The move to offshore call centers may have saved corporations tons of money, but customers often paid a steep price with their frustration. If it wasn't bad enough that certain operators were difficult to understand, they often lacked the training or authority to fix the problems customers called about. There was also the unsettling question of whether the personal information being traded during these phone calls was safe, or whether a boiler room operation next door might have been using that sensitive data for nefarious means.
By Carl J. Petersenabout a month ago in The Swamp
The Missing Argument in the Stay-at-Home Parent Subsidy Debate
Preface: Video Context: Video Credit: Timcast / Tim Pool This article is a response to a recent Timcast segment discussing the proposed policy that would allow qualifying married couples with a stay-at-home parent to receive childcare subsidies of roughly $9,000 per child per year. The video frames the central debate around whether this amounts to additional welfare or whether it simply redirects money government is already spending on childcare toward parents who choose to provide that care themselves. Around 9:32–10:20 , Tim argues that the welfare expenditure already exists and that the important change is where the incentive points: instead of subsidizing families specifically when parents work and children are cared for elsewhere, the same funding could begin supporting married parents who raise their children at home.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcastabout a month ago in The Swamp
A Better Buyout: Paying Married Parents to Buy Back Their Time
A Different Kind of Buyout I previously proposed what I called a Family Support Buyout: give families the option to voluntarily exchange a large portion of the government benefits and services already being spent on their behalf for one predictable, untaxed monthly payment they control themselves. Instead of administering SNAP, childcare subsidies, housing assistance, refundable credits, cash assistance, and other ordinary supports through separate bureaucracies, government could calculate the avoidable cost of those programs and offer families perhaps 65, 70, or 75 percent of that value directly. The family would relinquish the benefits being replaced, taxpayers would retain the remaining savings, and the household would gain dramatically greater control over how its resources are allocated. Medical coverage, disability services, catastrophic healthcare, and other specialized needs could remain separate because those costs are less suitable for a simple cash conversion. The central idea was straightforward: if government is already spending $100 supporting a family, perhaps both taxpayers and the family can benefit if the family receives $70 directly instead.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcastabout a month ago in The Swamp
THE GREAT AMERICAN FUNHOUSE: How We Traded the New Deal for a Corporate Lease and Called It Freedom
Gather ’round, citizens, grab your participation trophies, and strap yourselves tightly into the Tilt-A-Whirl because the ride is completely unbolted from the concrete.
By Meko James 2 months ago in The Swamp
