All zoos actually offer the public, in return for the taxes spent upon them, is a form of idle witless amusement, compared to which a visit to the state penitentiary, or even a state legislature in session, is informing, stimulating, and ennobling. -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (12 Sep 1880-1956)
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Research paper: Populism at the country level is at an all-time high, with more than 25% of nations currently governed by populists. How do economies perform under populist leaders? We build a new long run cross- country database to study the macroeconomic history of populism. We identify 51 populist presidents and prime ministers from 1900 to 2020 and show that the economic cost of populism is high. After 15 years, GDP per capita is 10% lower compared to a plausible non-populist counterfactual. Economic disintegration, decreasing macroeconomic stability, and the erosion of institutions typically go hand in hand with populist rule.
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In August 2023, there were 232,000 illegal immigrants encountered at the Mexican border. There is no 'get-away' estimate. One month.
There have been 3.8 million encounters with immigrants at the Mexican border during Biden's administration. 1.8 million are adults. There are estimated to be at least 1.6 million non-encountered 'got-aways.' That's 5.4 MILLION illegal immigrants, none we really know and only a few we can locate.
The question is not one of policy. There is no policy. The question is, what are we doing? Is there actually a motive for no policy? Or is no policy the best they can do?
And another question: how can thinking people look at this without alarm?
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