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October 11, 2024

HUD’s Housing Misfire: When Bureaucrats Know Better than Markets

Kamala Harris’s proposal for a $40 billion fund for local governments to explore “innovative” housing solutions will likely funnel money into projects burdened by self-defeating government-mandated affordability requirements, which HUD loves but markets abhor. By further empowering federal bureaucrats, it will do more harm than good. The case in point is the Department of Housing…

October 11, 2024

It’s time to face up to our social poverty problem

Over the past half-century, virtually all aspects of social life have deteriorated in America. We spend less time with fewer friends, form fewer families and have turned away from organized civic life and religious institutions. We trust less than we used to, and we provide each other less social support. Rather than owning up to our glaring social poverty problem, policymakers have…

October 10, 2024

Harris’s Housing Plan and the Five C’s That Will Derail It

Kamala Harris’s latest campaign ad pledges to “end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals.” However, her plan is unlikely to significantly increase the overall housing supply. The cornerstone of her proposal is an expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)—a program plagued by the Five Cs: Rather than expanding the LIHTC…

October 9, 2024

Learning the Right Lessons from the “China Shock”

An influential 2013 paper by economists David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson finds an average reduction in manufacturing employment of 90,000 jobs per year from 1990 to 2007 because of U.S. competition with imports from China. Those economists published another important paper, along with economists Daron Acemoglu and Brendan Price, that found import growth from China led to…

October 9, 2024

Two Cheers for California’s Ban on Legacy Admissions

Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a new statewide ban on legacy admissions. It bars all colleges and universities, public or private, from taking into consideration an applicant’s relationship to alumni or donors after the ban takes effect in September 2025. In a signing statement, Newsom said, “In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through…

October 9, 2024

Kamala Harris’s Main Priority Is Expanding Welfare, Not Strengthening the Middle Class

Last week’s vice-presidential debate was chock-full of references to the middle class and plans to improve conditions for the middle class. That’s also a common refrain to the stump speech of presidential candidate Kamala Harris: She touts that she comes from the middle class, supports the middle class, and values the work ethic that defines the…

October 8, 2024

Harris Housing Subsidies: A Recipe for Repeating Past Mistakes

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has proposed housing policies that recycle ineffective strategies long seen in federal housing programs. Her key proposals include subsidies for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years and $100 billion in down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers. Unfortunately, history tells us her plan would be worse than…

October 7, 2024

Presidential Candidates’ Dueling Child Credit Expansions Explained

The Trump-Vance and Harris-Walz presidential campaigns have each recently proposed large expansions to the child tax credit (CTC). Both proposals might be intended to appeal to similar voters, but they vary significantly regarding budgetary cost, distribution of benefits, and effect on work incentives. This article compares the proposed expansions with the current Tax Cuts and Jobs…

October 7, 2024

Has Kamala Harris Given Up on “College for All”?

In 2009, then-President Obama made a bold proposal: “By 2020, this nation will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.” His administration then pursued a slew of policies to boost college attendance, including fatter tuition tax credits, a larger Pell Grant, and free tuition at community colleges.  Echoing Obama, over the next several…

October 3, 2024

Stop the insanity. Our national debt now tops $35 trillion…

America’s political leaders have a spending problem.  They know entitlement programs feature benefit promises far exceeding their tax base, but have done nothing to make them sound. Meanwhile, both parties demand more spending increases — despite the national debt soaring to $35 trillion, or more than $100,000 for each American, rich and poor alike. Under rosy assumptions, over $20 trillion in…