la liberté avant tout
In the last election and on the global stage, President Donald Trump talked tough on trade. It’s us versus them and we’re losing, he says. Put simply, he views the current trade deficit, when we import more from a country than we export to it, as detrimental to American jobs. Since January, that trade deficit…
Who is today’s ‘Beat Generation’? Looking at some of the great figures of the literary and cultural movement, we compare with today’s reality. Bringing in Jack Kerouac, Allen, Ginsberg, Hunter S. Thompson, and even some Anthony Bourdain along the way. Take a road trip with the Innocents Abroad podcast. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/10…1/drive-he-wrotewww.youtube.com/watch?v=BYgv7ur8ipg theinnocentsabroad.com
When consumers make decisions in the marketplace, they are voting with their wallets, writes Yaël Ossowski. Ossowski is the deputy director for the Consumer Choice Center. He wrote this op-ed ahead of the Brand Freedom Day conference on 6 June in Brussels. In a system of voluntary exchange, only consumers can decide if a company…
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is seeing green. He wants to legalize industrial hemp, a highly versatile derivative of the cannabis plant, and that’s great news for consumers and entrepreneurs. He’s been joined in the fight by his fellow Kentuckian Sen. Rand Paul and top Democratic leaders Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Tim Kaine, both…
The Danube powers many an industry on its way to the Black Sea, from hydropower to high-volume logistics Flowing through 10 countries – from the Black Forest to the Black Sea – the Danube River has unified a Central European population of some 83 million people of otherwise very different cultures and nationalities. Its waters…
DOWNLOAD THE MP3 Estonia is a European country known for pioneering e-governance, which makes life easier for citizens. They can pay taxes, set up companies, and even vote—all online. Since 2014, Estonia has attracted individuals from all over the world by letting anyone apply for residency without leaving their homes and enjoy these benefits. Yaël…
This week in the nation’s capital, the House Agriculture Committee will decide the fate of various agricultural subsidies and food benefits for millions of Americans. The bill, H.R. 2 , known as the Farm Bill, includes provisions on crop insurance, dairy prices, wetland conservation, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) adjustments, and dozens of other rules and regulations…
Happy Victory in Europe Day! In Vienna, the end of WWII in Europe is commemorated by this street near the University of Vienna (one of my alma mater). (at Vienna, Austria)
Is it important to visit a place and see it with your own eyes? On this episode, we get tales of Cuba from Yaël. The streets, the socialism, and the sad faces. What is really happening underneath? Todor fills us in on the juxtaposing beauties of the Republic of Georgia, a post-communist country that has…
Scott Pruitt’s policies turn environmentalists into budget hawks. In all the humdrum surrounding public expenses in President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, there is certainly a case to be made that there was waste. First-class travel, a $43,000 secure phone line, and poor judgment for failure to prevent an appearance of impropriety for renting a…
Imagine you’re prepping a dinner party for 10 friends. You pull out your smartphone and fill your Amazon shopping cart with the best meats, vegetables and delectable cheeses. Then, a bottle of Californian Cabernet Sauvignon pops up as a recommendation. You read the reviews, scope out pictures of the winery, and add to cart. Finally,…
To drill or not to drill? For the past few months, it’s a question Arizona state lawmakers have been asking themselves and various experts in the dental field. Dental care in the Grand Canyon State is ranked 30th in the nation in terms of dental care and oral health, according to the research website WalletHub….
Recently proposed restrictions on branding and logos, as well as exhaustive warning requirements, won’t benefit legal cannabis users. By Yaël Ossowski Deputy director at Consumer Choice Center. Last Monday, Health Canada unveiled its proposed guidance on how cannabis should be regulated, marketed and sold once it is fully legalized in later this year, likely in July or…
INTRODUCING the first print edition of the Devolution Review Magazine. Get your copy now on our website. Devolution Review is a literary journal that features book reviews, short stories, nonfiction, poetry, personal narratives, interviews, and more. ORDER HERE
This is, without a doubt, one of the best times to be alive. We live longer. We’re subject to less violence. We live in cleaner, more prosperous cities, and enjoy more civil and individual freedoms than any generation before us. Innovations have brought us closer together and shed our prejudices. Young men now take up…
By Yaël Ossowski | Comment Central Yaël Ossowski argues that the Boeing-Bombardier affair shows that waging trade wars isn’t to anyone’s benefit, certainly not consumers, workers, and citizens who have the most at stake. A stinging rebuke by the U.S. International Trade Commission last month was a hard defeat for Boeing. The American aircraft manufacturer…
By Yaël Ossowski | Washington Examiner For far too long, domestic producers of sugar have gotten a sweet deal from the federal government. Thanks to the U.S. sugar program, sugar beet and sugar cane farmers have had the advantage of minimum prices, cheap loans, and tariffs to keep out competitors — all at taxpayer expense….
East versus West. What constitutes a western country, and what’s an eastern country? Is it cultural? Reflective of how societies are organized? What about art and expression? Todor and Yaël debate the notion and recount their recent trip to Odessa, Ukraine, where they were confronted with the debate, and also put the final touches on…
By Yaël Ossowski | Morning Consult As President Donald Trump schmoozed with economic titans in Davos, Switzerland, over the weekend, news from Washington indicated parts of his trade agenda won’t go forward as planned. In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. International Trade Commission struck down the Trump administration’s request to slap tariffs of 300 percent…
To the Trump protectionist hammer, every product imported looks like a nail. On Monday, we learned that President Trump’s trade enforcer, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, announced new tariffs on solar panels and washing machines assembled outside the U.S. For washers and dryers from companies such as Samsung and LG, steep tariffs as high as…