Infographic: People Overestimate How Many Immigrants Live in Their Country
Infographic: People Overestimate How Many Immigrants Live in Their Country
https://reason.com/2025/01/27/people-overestimate-how-many-immigrants-live-in-their-country/
Missing Middle, What Is It Good For?
“A few hundred duplexes and townhomes aren’t going to push down citywide rents. They might not even lower the amount of rent any one family pays. But they will give a few hundred house hunters the option of living in a location that better suits their preferences.”
https://reason.com/2025/01/28/missing-middle-what-is-it-good-for/
Argentina Strikes $20 Billion Deal With IMF To Fuel Milei’s Reforms
“But over the past 16 months, the IMF has increasingly praised Milei’s approach, stating that his policies have “resulted in faster-than-anticipated progress in restoring macroeconomic stability.”
Since taking office in December 2023, Milei has rolled out sweeping austerity measures aimed at fixing Argentina’s long-standing economic dysfunction. His administration cut public spending, fired tens of thousands of public employees, eliminated several public ministries, froze infrastructure projects, and slashed subsidies, among other reforms.
The fresh funds are expected to give Argentina some financial breathing room to continue with its reforms. According to the IMF, the latest agreement “supports the next phase of Argentina’s homegrown stabilization and reform agenda aimed at entrenching macroeconomic stability, strengthening external sustainability, and unlocking strong and more sustainable growth.””
https://reason.com/2025/04/09/argentina-strikes-20-billion-deal-with-imf-to-fuel-mileis-reforms/
Trump’s Car Tariffs Could Drive Slovakia Into Russia’s Arms
“Slovakia has a population of just 5.4 million, yet it is one of Europe’s leading car manufacturers, heavily reliant on auto production and exports to the U.S. Home to five major car manufacturers and more than 350 local suppliers, Slovakia is not only the second-largest E.U. exporter of vehicles to the U.S., but also the biggest car producer per capita in the world.
Slovakia manufactures and exports higher-end SUVs from brands like Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Range Rover, and—starting in 2026—Volvo. With SUVs accounting for 46 percent of total annual auto sales in the U.S., the tariffs are likely to hurt models that are especially popular among American consumers.
According to the National Bank of Slovakia, the Slovak economy “would decrease cumulatively by nearly 3 percent” due to the new tariffs, and “would also mean the loss of 20,000 jobs.” The bank projects that Slovakia’s economy will “suffer the most in 2026, when its growth would barely stay above zero” and that by 2027, the automotive tariffs alone could reduce gross domestic product by 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points. The bank’s governor referred to the prospects of a 25 percent car tariff impact as a “small Armageddon.””
https://reason.com/2025/04/10/trumps-car-tariffs-could-drive-slovakia-into-russias-arms/
Tariffs Failed in the Middle East—America Shouldn’t Make the Same Mistake
“Take Egypt: In 2016, facing fiscal pressure and public dissatisfaction, the government raised tariffs on hundreds of imported goods—everything from electronics to household furniture. The stated goal was to protect domestic industries and reduce reliance on foreign goods. The outcome? Inflation soared, local industries remained stagnant, and Egyptian consumers were left paying more for lower-quality products. The government hoped tariffs would nurture innovation; instead, they strangled competition and punished ordinary people.
In Iraq, where the state has tried to rebuild its shattered economy after years of conflict, officials implemented tariffs to supposedly boost “national production” and replenish government coffers. But in a country where corruption runs deep and borders are porous, the policy only incentivized smuggling and rent seeking. Goods flowed illegally across borders while customs officials took their cut. Meanwhile, consumers bore the cost, and genuine economic growth never came. Tariffs there didn’t protect industries—they protected the corrupt.”
https://reason.com/2025/04/10/tariffs-failed-in-the-middle-east-america-shouldnt-make-the-same-mistake/
USA Trade War Escalates
Despite the tariff pullback, Trump tariffs are still very high!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt8RGkgHKwo
Tariffs, Decline, and the Promise of AI | A Conversation with Larry Summers and Niall Ferguson
Tariffs are a bad policy based on a misunderstanding of economics. Even if you have a protectionist mindset, Trump’s tariffs make no sense because they don’t focus on tariffs goods that we could produce and provide our consumers; they focus on inputs to things we want to produce like steel, aluminum, and autoparts. Many more people use steel and aluminum that produce it. This makes tariffs bad before we even consider retaliatory tariffs from other countries.
The uncertainty of what tariffs will look like prevents businesses from investing and consumers from making large decisions, causing further damage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy-fn5MWFIk
More than 300 student visas revoked as the government expands reasons for deportation
One of America’s powers is taking smart people from other countries and using their energies and insights. Trump is dampening that power.
“Kseniia Petrova’s path from a Harvard laboratory to an immigration cell began with frogs.
The Russian national who has been working as a researcher at Harvard Medical School failed to declare “non-hazardous” frog embryos she was carrying with her on her return to the US from France in February, Petrova’s attorney said. Rather than issue a fine, Petrova’s exchange visitor visa was revoked, and she was taken into custody.
Revoking Petrova’s visa was “a punishment grossly disproportionate to the situation,” her attorney, Greg Romanovsky, said, calling the error on the customs form “inadvertant.””
…
“an increasing number of student deportation threats involve the revocation of visas based on relatively minor offenses like years-old misdemeanors, according to immigration attorneys, or sometimes no reason at all.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-250-student-visas-revoked-175350548.html
Stock market today: Nasdaq falls 6%, Dow loses 1,700 points, S&P 500 drops 5% as markets crumble with Trump’s tariff war turning to China
“”The trade war is now turning into a direct confrontation between the US and China … we could again be seeing escalation and de-escalation at the same time, pulling markets in different directions,” Rabobank analysts said.
And though a wider trade war is on hiatus, risks remain to the health of the US economy, and Trump’s move is “merely the end of the beginning,” according to JPMorgan.
Other parts of the president’s trade-policy overhaul are still in effect, including a 10% baseline tariff on most trading partners, 25% duties on steel and aluminum imports, and 25% duties on auto imports. Those elements could still lead to consequences analysts have warned about, such as rising prices and slower economic growth.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live/stock-market-today-dow-tanks-1300-points-sp-500-nasdaq-slide-as-focus-turns-to-trump-tariffs-on-china-133050269.html
Egg prices increase to record high despite Trump’s predictions and bird flu outbreak slowing
“U.S. egg prices increased again last month to reach a new record-high of $6.23 per dozen despite President Donald Trump’s predictions, a drop in wholesale prices and no egg farms having bird flu outbreaks.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/egg-prices-continue-increase-despite-124116007.html