NRA = A Terrorist Supporting Organization and

you know what the alt-right would be saying if such an organization existed in the following manner espousing the same policies the NRA supports.

An organization is formed saying all American Citizens who support Radical Islamism should buy AR-15's and other useful weapons and give them to people willing to use them in support of Radical Islamism somewhere in the world.  This is protected by the 2nd Amendment even if the guns are used in the U.S., although the perpetrators of such acts would be committing crimes in the U.S.  But if all the guns were provided to ISIS and Al Qaeda and used in the chaos of the Middle East, it would likely be all protected by the 2nd Amendment with no crimes committed.  This is why most of the guns in the hands of Mexican Drug Lords and their armies come from the U.S.  Now suppose this new organization also uses its member dues to provide financial support to politicians who support an unconstrained by any laws 2nd Amendment.

Now suppose such an organization which is would mirror NRA.  Would the Alt-right media be supportive of that?  No, because it is sponsoring Islamic Terrorism.

But that logic means the NRA is sponsoring Domestic Terrorism. Why doesn't the Alt-right media come out forcefully against the NRA?  After all, the greatest threat to America is Terrorism of all forms and that is where the Alt-Right and I agree.

Musings Before I Disappear to Ski Out West

No one wins a trade war.  Comparative Advantage is a basic truth of economics.  There is much about economics that is not predictable, because variables change.  But there are tenants that run true regardless of the variables.  Comparative Advantage is one of those.

Comparative advantage says if every country produces what it does so at a lower cost than other countries, then all countries will benefit from a higher standard of living.  And the market is what determines the clearing price, the profit that can be gained from the clearing price by each potential producer who has their own cost profile, and the result is a global production pattern that maximizes profit and consumption.

If you disrupt that process with tariffs, you will lower consumption by increasing profits in your own country and if everyone responds with various tariffs, every country will have higher inflation and a lower standard of living.

It is hard to believe our President studied economics, since he believes economics is a zero sum game.

Meanwhile, this is just one element of the chaos in public policy and we can only hope that 2018 elections bring us to a better place in 12 months.