Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have only recently become a widely discussed topic among influential figures in academia, media, and public policy institutions. However, initiatives to implement CBDCs around the globe have existed for years, especially in countries with autocratic governments, such as China and Russia. As of September 2023, 131 countries have explored CBDCs.[1] The Biden administration has also signaled that it’s supportive of a Federal Reserve-backed U.S. CBDC, […]
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have only recently become a widely discussed topic among influential figures in academia, media, and public policy institutions. However, initiatives to implement CBDCs around the globe have existed for years, especially in countries with autocratic governments, such as China and Russia. As of September 2023, 131 countries have said they are exploring CBDCs.[1] The Biden administration has also signaled that it’s supportive of a Federal […]
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics are a popular kind of social credit scoring, one that poses a significant threat to individual liberty and free-market economies, both in America and abroad.[1] ESG is regularly used by corporations and investors as a tool to impose values and environmental policies on other businesses, governments, families, and individuals. ESG has been widely adopted in recent years by corporations across the United States and […]
Since the Great Recession, the total number and percentage of U.S. renters has hit an all-time high.[1] Moreover, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates several times since the start of 2022, making owning a home, considered by many to be “the American dream,” unattainable for millions. Due to these and other extenuating circumstances, more Americans than ever are now renting. Simultaneously, the United States, especially in urban areas, is […]
Artificial intelligence (AI), automation powered by AI, advanced algorithms, and other emerging technologies are now being used in criminal courts across the United States, raising serious concerns about civil rights and the trustworthiness of these tools. (For a basic primer on AI, see item 1 in the Notes section.[1]) Mapping Pretrial Injustice, a website created by the Movement Alliance Project and MediaJustice, notes that “most states” now use at least […]
In recent years, America has experienced a remarkable trend: foreign individuals and corporations have been amassing millions of additional acres of U.S. agricultural land. Although some organizations have downplayed the significance of this development, there are substantial economic, national security, and freedom-related reasons policymakers should be deeply concerned.[1] According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), at the end of 2021, “approximately 40 million acres of U.S. agricultural land (forest […]
Artificial intelligence (AI), automation powered by AI, advanced algorithms, and other emerging technologies are changing the landscape of the global financial services industry, including in the United States. AI offers numerous benefits to financial companies seeking to lower costs and provide speedier decisions for consumers and other businesses, but it also comes with significant threats to liberty. (For a basic primer on AI, see item 1 in the Notes section.[1]) […]
Over the next decade, artificial intelligence (AI), automation powered by AI, and other emerging technologies will play an increasingly larger role in the global economy. The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) estimates “between 400 million and 800 million individuals could be displaced by automation and need to find new jobs by 2030 around the world, based on our midpoint and earliest (that is, the most rapid) automation adoption scenarios.”[1] AI will […]
In June, the Supreme Court struck down the White House’s plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt. Biden’s debt cancellation plan would have been the biggest student debt handout in history, had it not been wildly unconstitutional. Undeterred, the Biden administration has rolled out smaller debt relief programs in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, and it has announced that it is in the process of developing an even […]
The Biden administration and its allies in Congress and the mainstream media say the president’s economic policies – frequently called “Bidenomics” – are delivering unprecedented benefits to American families. The data, however, tell a very different story. President Biden’s economic policies can be summarized in three words: massive government spending. After promising to rein in federal expenditures, Biden has shackled Americans with trillions of dollars in new spending. Even worse, Biden has offered […]
I’ve been watching and listening to Glenn Beck, a radio hall-of-famer, renowned author, and the founder of the Blaze Media, for many years. I’m sure he’ll be unhappy to hear me say this, but when I first started watching him, I was still in high school. (Sorry, to make you feel old, Glenn, but I tell it like it is.) If you were to go back and time and tell […]
Last week, the Supreme Court issued three important decisions that will impact public policymaking for decades. On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of race in college admissions is a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, dealing a major blow to affirmative action in education. On Friday, the Supreme Court determined in a 6-3 decision that states cannot force workers to promote messages that violate their religious beliefs, a significant […]
Under the leadership of President Joe Biden, the White House and the Federal Reserve have started to lay the groundwork for a programmable, trackable, easily manipulated digital currency. It might sound like something from a dystopian science-fiction novel, but it’s all too real, and it could soon change life in America forever. In March 2022, the Biden administration released a sweeping executive order that directed numerous federal agencies to crack down on digital […]
Four years ago, socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and her much-older socialist ally in the Senate, Ed Markey, D-Mass., made shockwaves by introducing a sweeping proposal for a Green New Deal. The Green New Deal is one of the most socialistic legislative proposals ever conceived in Congress. It would, among many other things, create massive new spending programs, eliminate “pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible,” transform all U.S. manufacturing […]
In September 2024, less than two months before the next U.S. presidential election, the United Nations will host a landmark “Summit of the Future,” where member nations will adopt a Pact for the Future. The agreement will solidify numerous policy reforms offered by the U.N. over the past two years as part of its sweeping Our Common Agenda platform. Although there are numerous radical proposals included in the agenda, perhaps none are more […]
President Joe Biden has a well-documented history of exaggerating his accomplishments while downplaying his failures. But in recent months, the president has taken this dishonest strategy to a whole new level, routinely misleading the American people to score political points, especially on topics related to economic growth. The following are four of Biden’s biggest lies about the economy, as well as the data you need to prove to friends and family that the […]
A new poll by The Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports of 1,000 likely voters, conducted December 6-7, 2020, finds that a vast majority of likely voters prefer a free-market economic system as opposed to a socialist economic system. The poll comes after a November election in which socialist candidates made important inroads, including in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress. Despite this, the new poll conducted by Heartland/Rasmussen shows that […]
The United States is facing an unprecedented debt crisis. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the federal government’s national debt totaled $23 trillion, and it was on schedule for amassing a $1 trillion deficit in 2020 alone. In the wake of the pandemic, things have become much, much worse. Trillions of dollars have already been spent on dealing with the economic and health impacts caused by the coronavirus, and trillions […]