Ryan Young

✨ We have a whole new page on Work & Employment stats! ✨

In just 25 hours, the U.S. has had four tariff regimes:
1. Liberation Day Mark_II_re-revised_(final)
2. Liberation Day Mark_II_re-revised_(final) - IEEPA tariffs
3. Liberation Day Mark_II_re-revised_(final) - IEEPA tariffs +10%
4. Liberation Day Mark_II_re-revised_(final) - IEEPA tariffs +10% + 5%

I have been writing for years about the need to limit presidential power. When you don't, it results in things like this and worse. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/w...

Managing Editor - Talent Market The Managing Editor reports to the Director of Publications. The Managing Editor oversees the full editorial and production process for all of CEI’s policy

Want to work with me at CEI? Can you spot a typo from 50 paces? We're hiring a managing editor to run our publications program. talentmarket.org/job-opening/...

- BNN Bloomberg Ryan Young, senior economist at Competitive Enterprise Institute, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the implications of Trump's threats on Fed independence.

I was on Bloomberg Canada this morning about the Jerome Powell mess. www.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/shows/...

Politicians need to think beyond stage one on credit card price controls - Competitive Enterprise Institute President Trump, in a Friday news dump on social media, proposed price controls on credit card interest rates. He wants to cap annual rates at 10 percent, effective January 20. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-...

Hey Republicans, price controls don't work. cei.org/blog/politic...

1-panel SMBC comic update. Two people are silhouetted in white on a hill against a dark night sky. One of the figures says "why do people keep believing in Malthusian theories when they keep not panning out?" The other person replies "the number of problems that seem Malthusian grows geometrically while the number of Malthus debunking only grows linearly."

Look, I found something lazier than a graph joke!

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/malthus
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com

WASH POST: “Corporate bankruptcies surged in 2025, rivaling levels not seen since the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession, as import-dependent businesses absorbed the highest tariffs in decades.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Actual 2025 tariff rates are, to date, far less than statutory rates, but the costs of the tariffs are mostly borne by the US – estimated tariff pass-through to US prices in 2025 is 94%. Tariffs on imports act like a 1 to 2pp tax on US manufacturing. brentneiman.com/research/GN2...

Congressional leadership is corrupt - Marginal REVOLUTION Using transaction-level data on US congressional stock trades, we find that lawmakers who later ascend to leadership positions perform similarly to matched peers beforehand but outperform them by 47 p...

Using transaction-level data on US congressional stock trades, we find that lawmakers who later ascend to leadership positions perform similarly to matched peers beforehand but outperform them by 47 percentage points annually after ascension.
marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

Magaziner: How many US military veterans have you deported?

Noem: We have not deported military veterans.

Magaziner: We are joined on zoom by a gentleman who is an army combat veteran who was shot twice while serving our country. You deported him to Korea.

You can afford a tradlife It’s rising, not falling, wages and incomes that make full-time homemaking rare.

If you're willing to accept 1960s living standards, you can absolutely afford to support a 2025 family on a single 2025 income. People just don't want to do that.

www.slowboring.com/p/you-can-af...

What did I miss in my list?
www.thebulwark.com/p/jackie-cha...

The Economic Importance of Thanksgiving – InsideSources Thanksgiving celebrates human cooperation. And even though the European colonization of America was not exactly a cooperative venture, the inaugural 1621

From the archives: a short piece on Thanksgiving gratitude for human progress. From 2015, but the argument holds up. Happy Thanksgiving, all. insidesources.com/the-economic...

ICE agent when told he's about to arrest a US citizen. Direct quote: "I DON'T CARE."

Underrated thing that's been flying under the radar: ICE's hiring spree, by necessity since there are so few others willing and able, has been hiring away local cops, which infuriates the departments by causing manpower problems and is, ironically, removing the worst of the worst from their ranks.

Chicago: That is insanely disturbing. ICE kidnaps workers in broad daylight, leaving their equipment on site.

Human evolutionary biology seems to disclose a past that was horrific, particularly for women.

Egalitarianism is a revolt against nature--and for human liberty. We must understand the past, because we must overcome it.

Freedom, Broadcasting, and the Public Interest - Competitive Enterprise Institute Introduction The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is invoking the public interest to justify regulatory moves that would, in theory, force television and radio station broadcast licensees to cr...

The FCC is an enemy of free speech. A new paper by my colleague Brian Rankin has some reform ideas to prevent politicians from weaponizing it against opponents. cei.org/studies/free...

news news

Manufacturing has now contracted for eight straight months.

Tariffs are working as well as most people not blinded by partisan politics thought they would. www.prnewswire.com/news/institu...

Employees at a Menards in Cicero Illinois have been instructed to delete video of ICE, according to people at the scene.

Multiple accounts on ICE Watch Facebook pages are reporting that agents pulled a couple out of their vehicle in Aurora, Illinois, arrested them, and then abandoned the couple’s toddler in the backseat.

Digital ID and the Return of Big Brother Britain | The Daily Economy Britain’s political class keeps forgetting its own lessons on liberty. A new digital ID scheme risks undoing a century of trust between the public and the s ...

Excellent piece on civil liberties by my colleague @iainmurray.bsky.social. thedailyeconomy.org/article/im-a...

Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.

More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

Gotta log off for a while after this one. Just too much.

What if we gave the worst people in the world, the people who are just fundamentally assholes, all the power? What an experiment.

No excuse for price floors in rare earths dispute The best way to ensure that America’s technology sector has the rare earths it needs now and in the future is deregulation and openness.

Parents don’t tolerate “But they do it, too” as an excuse from their children. What about when adults in positions of power use it?

Paige Lambermont and me in @washingtonexaminer.bsky.social: www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-am...

‘The Blob' over Pacific Ocean could lead to snowy, frigid winter in Chicago area Chicago-area residents aren’t strangers to tough winters, but could a phenomenon called “The Blob” make things snowier and colder than usual?

In totally unrelated news, I am available to speak at any events your organization might be hosting in warm-weather cities in the next several months. www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stor...

'Jarring, frightening attack': Chicago homeowner describes immigration raid at his home MSNBC exclusively obtained security footage of federal agents targeting construction workers at a home in the wealthy Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. Leo Feler, who owns the property, joined The Wee...

In a wealthy neighborhood in Chicago, immigration agents hopped the fence of a US citizen’s home and tried to pull a construction worker out a 2nd-story window. Homeowner came home to blood all over his house. www.msnbc.com/the-weekend-...