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- Embedded in America
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- Subscribe to Times Examiner Weekly Briefings
- The Iranian Dilemma
- Flat Earth, Round Earth, and the Bible’s Forgotten Clue
- Property Rights vs. Property Rights? Greenville County Weighs Short-Term Rental Rules
- More Quotes on the Civil War
- Greenland Defense and Arctic Economic Development
- Immigration Enforcement
Who's Afraid of a Trillionaire?
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- By Stephen Moore
Early this year, we learned that Elon Musk may become the first trillionaire in world history.
My friends on the left of the political spectrum have been fuming about this story as the ultimate example of the rich getting richer and the poor getting crumbs.
When I appeared on "Real Time with Bill Maher" not long ago, Bill questioned me about the prospect of Musk becoming a trillionaire. "Isn't that excessive?" he asked.
The Five Things You Must Know About Energy Policy
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- By Stephen Moore
Given the energy disruptions in the Middle East and the topsy-turvy fluctuation in the price of crude oil in recent weeks, here are a few facts about the energy scene.
First, "drill, baby, drill" is working. America today is producing more oil and gas than ever. Over the past six years, we've produced more than any other nation, including Saudi Arabia. The best way to inoculate ourselves from foreign supply disruptions is to generate every barrel of oil we can here at home. And we have many decades of abundant supply given ever-improving shale drilling techniques.
Don't Let Congress Ruin College Sports
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- By Stephen Moore
Should the revenues made by big-time college athletics be "shared" by all the schools? Do we want "revenue-sharing" socialism to come to college football and basketball? Many in Congress are answering yes to that question.
The NCAA isn't the massive moneymaker the NFL and NBA are, but in many ways the product is more exciting than the boring professional leagues. That's especially true in this month of March, when the hoops madness begins.
Government Subsidies Killed the EV Industry
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- By Stephen Moore
Here's a depressing but all too predictable headline from The Wall Street Journal last week: "Detroit's EV Pullback Is Costing $50 Billion."
Yikes. That's a lot of money for the American auto industry to lose. Once again, we have confirmation of an iron law of economics: If you want to kill an industry, subsidize it.
The best recent example of this rule is the green energy industry (solar and wind power), which has been heavily boosted with taxpayer dollars for almost 50 years now and is still an inconsequential form of overall energy supply. Dozens of promising firms like Solyndra collected billions of taxpayer dollars and were supposed to be the energy companies of the future. Now they lie in rest in the business-bust cemetery.
Was Climate Change the Greatest Financial Scandal in History?
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- By Stephen Moore
Environmental scholar Bjorn Lomborg recently calculated that across the globe, governments have spent at least $16 trillion feeding the climate change industrial complex.
And for what?
Arguably, not a single life has been or will be saved by this shameful and colossal misallocation of human resources. The war on safe and abundant fossil fuels has cost countless lives in poor countries and made those countries poorer by blocking affordable energy.
Since the global warming crusade started some 30 years ago, the temperature of the planet has not been altered by one-tenth of a degree -- as even the alarmists will admit.
Stop Pretending That Colleges Are Nonprofit Institutions
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- By Stephen Moore
Here's a recent story from the Chicago Tribune that jumped off the page when I read it. Northwestern University is finishing up the construction of a new $800 million football stadium. This is supposedly a nonprofit "educational" entity.
Uh-huh.
Northwestern -- an "institution of higher learning" located outside of Chicago -- is flush with cash. It has an endowment of nearly $15 billion, and the tax-free donations keep flowing in.
Almost all the $800 million -- which rivals the cost of professional sports arenas with luxury skyboxes and opulent decor -- for the lavish Taj Mahal football stadium on the shores of Lake Michigan was donated to the school with tax-deductible dollars. About half the money came from multibillionaire Pat Ryan. No word yet as to whether the Northwestern stadium will come with hot tubs in the end zones.
The Economists Got 2025 All Wrong
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- By Stephen Moore
Well, Donald Trump has done it again!
He stumped the chumps. The "chumps" in this case were the "blue-chip" academic and financial economists whose consensus forecast this time last year was of high inflation and low economic growth. Wrong on both counts.
As you've probably heard, the GDP growth for Q3 came in at a red-hot 4.3%, following 3.5% for the second quarter. Some 90% of professional economists got it wrong -- all underestimating the strength of the Trump economy. QED: These weren't random errors. These were "hate Trump" errors.
They also predicted inflation of above 3% for 2025. It's going to come in at closer to 2.7%, with the last two months trending down to the Fed inflation target of 2%.
It's a Wonderful President
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- By Stephen Moore
I've been shocked that Americans are in such a grumpy mood as reflected in all the public opinion polls.
What a paradox: At the same time, we have peace and prosperity, including more income, more wealth, more of almost everything that we want to buy (yes, except for housing), Americans seem to think we have an "affordability crisis." In 2025 the median household income in the United States has risen to more than $86,000 a year -- an all-time high.
Every income group and every ethnic group is richer today than ever before. Hispanics now have a median household income above $70,000, which would make them rich in most countries where they or their parents came from.
Why Johnny Can't Read
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- By Stephen Moore
Reading and math scores are abysmal across the country, as national testing results keep documenting. Illiteracy rates are rising: The number of 16- to 24-year-olds reading at the lowest literacy levels increased from 16% in 2017 to 25% in 2023, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
In some inner-city schools, less than half of kids are reading or doing math at grade-level proficiency. Many high school grads can't read their diplomas.
As an economist, I would submit that this is our greatest crisis. It puts the future of American prosperity in grave danger. Also, the learning gap widens income and wealth disparities.
If Young People Want More Affordability, They Should Get Jobs
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- By Stephen Moore
Polls show that the age group of Americans most worried about "affordability" are the 20- and 30-somethings. That's young millennials and Gen Z.
Why are they so financially stressed out? One reason things seem so unaffordable to young people is that too many aren't working hard -- they are hardly working.
The latest Labor Department data indicate that fewer and fewer males between the ages 16 and 24 are in the labor force. It used to be that more than 70% had a job; now less than 60% do.
Labor force participation for men even into their 30s is at or near an all-time low. Men without jobs is a prescription for social chaos.
Want Lower Prices? More 'Affordability'? Move to a Red State.
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- By Stephen Moore
The buzzword of the month is "affordability," and based on the election results from New York, New Jersey and Virginia, voters think that's declining. Democrats think they've found a winning issue here to win back the hearts and minds of voters after the Trump sweep last year.
It's true that people are angry about prices. Steaks and hamburgers are more expensive than ever. So are coffee and rents and medical care. Many Americans are about to see a 10%-20% increase in their health care premiums starting in January.
The Case Against Jerome Powell
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- By Stephen Moore
It's hard to believe that a couple years ago Time magazine considered naming Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell as their Person of the Year. He may well have won, if it hadn't been for someone named Taylor Swift.
Powell has been idolized by the Left for one reason: He's been a thorn in the side of President Donald Trump for years. If Trump says "ying," Powell says "yang."
Last week Powell finally lowered the federal funds rate, and better late than never. But his speech to the media was a tirade against Trumponomics. He was filled with doom and gloom in his statement, telling global investors that the economy is growing at only 1.6% so far this year and is expected to grow 1.6% next year.
Europe Is Dying -- Are We Next?
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- By Stephen Moore
Let's start with a very simple truism: You can't have prosperity without people.
Human beings are the most valuable resource, because it is human ingenuity that creates, captures and cultivates all other resources. We as human beings are the custodians and protectors of the planet, not the destroyers of the planet (as the radical environmentalists would have you believe). The richer and more technologically advanced we become, the more likely we are to avert a catastrophic event like a giant meteor crashing into the planet and destroying all life.
Which brings us to a potentially ruinous trend: Many countries are literally running out of people.
'Drill, Baby, Drill' Is Working
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- By Stephen Moore
Well, so much for the vaunted renewable energy "transition" to save the planet. This was always a fable. We get 80% of our energy from fossil fuels, and with Donald Trump now in the White House, that ratio is rising, not falling.
A Reuters headline from recent days tells the real story: "US crude production to hit record 13.41 million (barrels per day) in 2025 before falling."
The data from the International Energy Agency tells the same story about clean natural gas: We're producing more of it than ever before. Why shouldn't we? The U.S. has greater access to clean, cheap, reliable and made-in-America natural gas than any other nation. Natural gas is far cheaper and less land-intensive than ugly wind and solar farms that industrialize America's natural landscape beauty.
As Many as 1 Million Kids Will Have School Choice This Year
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- By Stephen Moore
This is the dawning of the age of school choice.
The school bells will start ringing in the days and weeks ahead, but a record number of kids -- especially children from low-income families -- will be opting out of the traditional public schools. This year as many as 1 million kids will participate in public school alternatives, including voucher programs, tuition tax credits, scholarship programs or charter schools.
That's a good thing, right? After all, to paraphrase the famous axiom: When schools compete, kids win.
Desperately Seeking a Pro-Growth Democrat
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- By Stephen Moore
The most recent Wall Street Journal political poll shows that Democrats have swerved into a deep ditch.
Only three of 10 voters have a positive opinion of the Democratic Party, and that is the lowest this number has been for Democrats since Bill Clinton's first term in office. Republicans aren't very popular either -- but they have a big lead over the donkeys.
I'm not a cheerleader for the Republicans, and it's clear the GOP is not the solution to all our nation's problems. Republicans have been coconspirators in the runaway spending and debt crisis in Washington.
Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at Freedom Works. He is also author of the new book: "Govzilla: How The Relentless Growth of Government Is Devouring Our Economy." To find out more about Stephen Moore and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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