Month: May 2025

Mel Gibson Got His Gun Rights Back, but Millions of Americans With No History of Violence Are Still Waiting

Posted on by Lone Candle

Mel Gibson Got His Gun Rights Back, but Millions of Americans With No History of Violence Are Still Waiting

https://reason.com/2025/04/09/mel-gibson-got-his-gun-rights-back-but-millions-of-americans-with-no-history-of-violence-are-still-waiting/

These Reforms Would Simplify Our Messy Tax Code—and Level the Playing Field

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The U.S. tax code is broken. That’s mainly because it collects revenue in an arbitrary, distortionary, and unfair manner. At the heart of the problem are “tax expenditures”: credits, deductions, and loopholes that benefit the government’s favorite groups and behaviors.

…

It’s a patchwork of exceptions and preferences designed more by lobbyists than by public servants. Policymakers claim they are encouraging savings, promoting fairness, or aiding the poor. In reality, many tax expenditures—also known as tax breaks—serve no purpose beyond enriching powerful interest groups.

The solution is to return to first principles. We must begin by defining the tax base in a principled way. What should count as income? What should be taxed, and when? Only then can we properly distinguish between legitimate exemptions and unjustifiable giveaways.”

https://reason.com/2025/04/10/these-reforms-would-simplify-our-messy-tax-code-and-level-the-playing-field/

Markets Don’t Want More Coal. Trump Is Propping Up the Industry Anyway.

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Coal’s decline was not caused by a federal plot to transition away from coal, like Trump thinks, but rather by markets and innovation. Advancements in renewable energy technologies—which were, and continue to be, supported by subsidies—made the energy source more attractive to investors. Breakthroughs in horizontal drilling in the early 2000s brought a flood of cheap and abundant natural gas to the market. These technologies priced coal out, which lowered energy bills for consumers and significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
The energy source is also not as cost-effective as the executive order claims. Coal plants are expensive to build and operate, and transportation costs can exceed the price of coal at the mine. These economic factors have informed investors and utilities not to build coal-fired power plants—the most recent large plant was built in 2013—which has made the current fleet of these power plants less efficient than other energy sources.

To be sure, some regulatory barriers, including federal air quality standards and state-level bans, have made coal less competitive. However, “it is the market that explains coal’s decline better than regulations,” Philip Rossetti, an energy policy analyst at the R Street Institute, tells Reason.”

https://reason.com/2025/04/10/markets-dont-want-more-coal-trump-is-propping-up-the-industry-anyway/

Opinion | Europe Needs Its Own Nukes

Posted on by Lone Candle

“If Washington truly abandons its role as the world’s police officer, Europe would struggle to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army, at least in that time frame. Many European countries, especially Germany, have neglected their own military in recent decades. While Russia has converted everything to a war economy, parts of Europe have only just woken up from the dream of a peaceful world. Military experts proclaim that it will take more than four years to manufacture an arsenal of conventional weapons of the size needed to counter a Russian invasion. While most observers consider a Russian attack on Germany unlikely, even this is not an impossible scenario.

That’s why, to deter Russia, Germany and Europe need their own nuclear shield.”

…

“relying solely on France seems risky especially with French nationalist Marine Le Pen, a known Russia sympathizer, or another figure from her nationalist party potentially taking over the Élysée Palace in the near future. A broader European solution also involving Britain’s nuclear capabilities — and possibly Poland as a front-line state — would be far more prudent.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/08/nuclear-weapons-europe-defense-trump-00278754