What’s New on AEI
In recognition of National Beer Day on April 7, the day in 1933 when beer was legal for the first time since 1920
| AEIdeas
Tomorrow April 7 is National Beer Day, marking the day in 1933 when beer was legal for the first time since 1920 and was the first step toward ending Prohibition. It’s a great time to recognize and celebrate America’s Amazing Beer Renaissance!
From the archives: The other John Bolton
| AEIdeas
John Bolton’s first contribution to the Institute came in October 1973 when he was a member of the Yale Law School’s class of 1974 and an editor of the Yale Law Journal.
A response to Larry Berger’s ‘confession’ on personalized learning
There’s a healthy tension between the promise of personalized learning and the perils of ill-conceived curricula, models, and pedagogy.
Like Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. belongs to the ages
It’s popular today, particularly in certain corners of the Left, to deride the hypocrisy of the Founding Fathers. But hypocrisy is only possible when it illuminates a violated ideal.
India’s government wages a phony war on fake news
Fake news is a growing problem in India. It is unlikely that the government will do anything to stop it, though, given that the ruling party is complicit in spreading it.
Sweden’s self-correcting pay-as-you-go pension system
Countries with unfunded pay-as-you-go liabilities need to acknowledge, as Sweden did, that pay-as-you-go pensions must, in the end, be responsive to demographic and economic realities.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson should put a ring on it — for his kids’ sake
Although cohabiting Hollywood couples present an unusually glamorous model of unmarried family life, their path into family formation is not as unusual as it once would have been.
Trump tried going big on DACA. Now he should go small.
President Trump should offer to extend the DACA program indefinitely, in exchange for $25 billion in border-security funding. If Democrats refuse, they would have to explain to dreamers why stopping Trump from building a wall is more important than protecting their ability to stay in the United States.
$15 an hour for Mexican workers? ‘Export protectionism’ lives!
| AEIdeas
The Trump administration has blundered further into populism with a union-endorsed proposal to tie NAFTA rules of origin provisions to wage rates in Mexico.
President should heed market warning on trade war
| The Hill
Everyone knows that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Now it seems that we are about to learn the hard way that people living in bubble economies in both the US and China should not engage in trade wars.
Worried about US tribalism? Go see Springsteen
To overcome populism, the US needs to recover its national story, providing a compelling counter to the zero-sum narrative of tribal conflict put forward by the populist right.
How to measure the digital economy — and close the massive information gap
| AEIdeas
New research indicates that the digital economy may be larger and growing faster than previously thought.
Mitt Romney out-Trumps Trump on immigration
Flip-flopping is part of Romney’s reputation, too, and he is probably not inclined to strengthen it by adjusting his position on this part of the immigration debate. Even so, I wish he would reconsider.
Agency authorization: Something to please those who want less government but also those who want more
| AEIdeas
Congress has managed to reauthorize NASA, the FDA, and at long last, the FCC. Authorization from Congress is particularly essential for agencies that deal with technology policy.
Lessons from Swedish pension reform
| AEIdeas
The Swedish experience teaches policymakers in the US and elsewhere valuable lessons as they, too, strive to make their public pensions sustainable.
‘The gender gage rap is real!’
When I arrived at Lewis & Clark Law School to give a talk, a security officer asked if I had a gun. She’d heard rumors on social media. I didn’t, but my friend Andy Ngo, a Portland State grad student, was armed with an iPhone.
Reflections on a decade of leading a think tank
I am in my 10th year as president of the American Enterprise Institute. This week I asked AEI’s board of trustees to begin, over the coming year, a search for my successor.
Xi’s ‘putinization’ of China is a massive wake-up for America
| The Hill
Xi’s latest move to do away with Presidential term limits should be seen as the “Putinization” of China, or the centralization of power under a cult leader due to fragile domestic stagnation.
Raising the bar(bell): successes and shortcomings of Trump’s 2019 defense budget
| AEIdeas
Beyond the sticker shock of the $686 billion investment for the Pentagon in 2019 is an ugly reality of neglect.
Eschewing euphemisms frames the immigration issue Trump’s way
He (or she) who frames the issue tends to determine the outcome of the election. That’s an old political consultant’s rule, and its application has never been more apt than in the Senate Democrats’ failed government shutdown over immigration policy.
From the archives: Fed chair nominee Powell on housing finance reform
| AEIdeas
Federal Reserve Governor Jay Powell, just nominated by President Trump to be the next Fed Chairman, came to AEI this past July to stress that reform of the housing finance system is long past due.