News Story of the Day: is the Federal Reserve done with raising interest rates? Unlikely, but one central bank head thinks it’s time the Fed took a break.
Speaking at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce on Friday, St. Louis Fed Bank President James Bullard explained that the central bank should stop with the rate hikes, arguing that they have already met a “neutral” level that was unnecessary to stimulate the economy.
He also argued that rate hikes could negatively affect business investment, reverse gains in the labor market, and lower inflation.
Chart of the Day: the U.S. is producing natural gas at record levels. Between January 1980 and February 2018, the U.S. has gone from producing 70 million cubic feet to about 100 million cubic feet. That’s incredible – but China has warned that it, too, will soon experience high output levels.
Illustration of the Day: the case for government is often expressed this way: without the state who will provide such and such service.
Quote of the Day: will McCain-style conservatism live on? That’s what Reason’s Matt Welch asks in his latest column:
McCain’s conservatism has rarely been populist. His father and grandfather were celebrated Navy admirals, his mother and second wife were heiresses, and his private sector career lasted all of 18 months. He kept the conservative grassroots at arm’s length, except when he felt threatened enough to pander to them. (See his 2010 campaign ad, “Complete the danged fence.”)
Still, in most pursuits, and through his waning days, the senator has imbued his actions and words with a haughty yet self-effacing sense of patriotism and honor, most clearly on display these days with his repudiation of the “half-baked, spurious nationalism” of President Trump’s politics.
All the same, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that McCain and his Republican cohort—Sen. Bob Corker, former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Lindsay Graham—helped midwife the conservative politics they now so clearly loathe. The twin follies of promiscuous war and unbridled GOP growth of government, lashed to sporadic and transparently insincere nods toward populism, has turned a generation of voters against the Republican establishment. It remains to be seen if the rejection will be permanent.
Goldwater conservatism has mostly been chased off—fellow Arizonan Jeff Flake, arguably the most Goldwaterite member of the Senate, is quitting rather than fighting the Trump wave. If McCain conservatism is going to last longer than its namesake, it will have to confront the errors that made Trump possible.
Tweet of the Day: is racism still alive? According to legendary economist Thomas Sowell, it’s on life-support but it’s still being perpetuated not by racists but by those who need an excuse.
“Racism is not dead. But it is on life-support, kept alive mainly by the people who use it for an excuse or to keep minority communities fearful or resentful enough to turn out as a voting bloc on election day.” pic.twitter.com/vkP4lmObbU
— Thomas Sowell (@ThomasSowell) May 11, 2018
Video of the Day: this was under the radar, but Stefan Molyneux and Steven Crowder had a fascinating debate on abortion. It was a great discussion:
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