On this day in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.

For 28 years, the Wall stood as a symbol of the division between East and West. During his visit to Berlin, President Ronald Reagan chipped away at a piece of the Wall himself. Years later, he and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stood gan Library in front of an actual section of it. A striking image of how much had changed.

That same piece of the Berlin Wall remains on display outside the Reagan Library today. We invite you to come see this piece of history for yourself.

It would be unfathomably good to rid ourselves of the progressive income tax.

Can you spot the anachronism hidden in this 1985 hospital scene?

The same poll that shows Trump's economic approval rating had a question about foreign policy.

His economic approval *consistently* ranked worse than his foreign policy approval throughout the Iran war.

Tariffs were a more important factor in the midterms than Iran. QED.

I just bought a $1999 refrigerator.

It would have been about $1649 if not for the federal tariffs tax which I (not “South Korea”) paid.

I also paid $155 in sales tax.

Total cost $2154. Of which 25% is tariff tax and sales tax.

To pay for it, I had to earn $3,420 in gross salary, of which $1266 went to fed and state taxes.

So for $3,420 in labor I got a refrigerator worth $1,649 (48%).

52% went to the government in taxes.

Tariffs are taxes on Americans.

If Congress repeals the Canada tariffs, that's a tax cut for families and businesses buying lumber, energy, cars, and groceries from one of our largest trading partners.

Republicans should support it. Congress should also take back the tariff power it handed the president.

Just don't use it as cover to raise other taxes. Pair it with spending restraint.

Let people prosper.

On this date in 1939, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released Ernst Lubitsch’s “Ninotchka,” written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and Walter Reisch and starring Greta Garbo as the title character. A clever comedy that effectively showcases the talents of Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina members, the anti-communist picture was banned within the Soviet bloc but nevertheless sold well domestically and internationally, making a tidy profit for MGM.

The plot involves a Soviet functionary named Nina Ivanovna “Ninotchka” Yakushova sent to Paris to correct the “mistakes” of three wayward Soviet agents. In the end, all come to embrace freedom and defect. Ninotchka’s superior in Moscow is played by none other than Bela Lugosi of “Dracula” fame.

Lubitsch had already directed several successful comedies, before and after recorded sound came to cinema, and would go on to make other comedic gems such as “The Shop Around the Corner” (1940), “To Be or Not to Be” (1942) and “Heaven Can Wait” (1943).

As for the writers, Billy Wilder subsequently made such movies as “Double Indemnity” (1944), “The Lost Weekend” (1945), “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), “Ace in the Hole (1951), “Stalag 17” (1953), “Sabrina” (1954), “The Seven Year Itch” (1955), “The Spirit of St. Louis” (1957), “Love in the Afternoon” (also 1957!), “Witness for the Prosecution” (also 1957!!), “Some Like It Hot” (1959), and “The Apartment” (1960). Charles Brackett worked on several of these Billy Wilder films, plus the likes of the musical “The King and I,” (1957), the Bette Davis picture “The Virgin Queen” (1955), and, with Walter Reisch, “Titanic” (1953) “Niagara (1953), and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1959).

In a play on the “Garbo Talks!” ad campaign used for her sound debut in “Anna Christie” (1930), “Ninotchka” was marketed with the catchphrase "Garbo Laughs!” I find the film highly enjoyable on its own terms, but I also appreciate its role in inspiring the 1955 stage musical “Silk Stockings,” with songs by Cole Porter, adapted a couple of years later into one of Fred Astaire’s last movie musicals — filmed in “Glorious Technicolor, Breathtaking Cinemascope, and Stereophonic Sound!” (one of its catchiest tunes).

Bernie Sanders wants to raise taxes on “the rich.” If the goal is to reduce poverty, here’s a number worth considering.

A tenfold increase in the number of billionaires is associated with a 40% decline in poverty.

According to an exit poll of midterm voters, just 21 percent said the tariffs had helped the national economy. Even fewer voters, just 14 percent, said the tariffs had helped their local economies. Meanwhile, more than 60 percent said the tariffs had caused harm.
buff.ly/trvzu0G

From pollster @Mark_Penn & Andrew Stein:

"They were happier with the economy when Donald Trump was elected, but that faded month after month, showing the biggest decline when tariffs were issued and then when Democratic campaign ads were in full swing."
wsj.com/opinion/it-was…

Another big taxpayer win.
Despite the blue wave, voters are in No Mood for tax hikes.
Arizona bans any vehicle miles traveled tax+government limits on how much you drive.
atr.org/arizona-voters…

Decades of @reason editing.

Thirty years before the Civil War South Carolina called out the militia in opposition to the Tariff of Abominations.
The feds reduced the tariffs.
Is that good enough for you.

Agree. Only the market can determine prices. There is no moral or correct price of anything, only the market price. The Soviet Union failed not from external threat but because they had the hubris to believe they knew the “correct” price of bread.

wsj.com/opinion/theres…

Recent tariff hikes added at least $10,000 to the price of a typical home. Building regulations add $90,000, and can make up 40% of the cost of multifamily housing.

The best thing governments can do to address the housing crisis is to get out of the way.
humanprogress.org/the-end-of-the…

“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”

— Ayn Rand

The US economy keeps getting more out of less.

The energy needed to produce a dollar of GDP has fallen by about 70% since 1949, and by half since 1990.

In 2024, it hit 4,040 BTUs per dollar, the lowest on record.

Explore the data: humanprogress.org/dataset/u-s-en…

Tariffs made life more difficult for small and midsized business all across this great land.

Cost, uncertainty, compliance burden, erratic actions take a toll.

Here’s a previously published letter to editor from a small manufacturer.

The gaslighting on tariffs continues. Again here’s the Dem ad used against Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi. Widely considered the best ad of the cycle.

Tariffs are the weapons in Trade Wars.
Tariffs are taxes on the American people
All the casualties in a trade war are due to”friendly fire.”
American tariffs damage Americans.
Trade Wars are hard to untangle.
Trade wars are “forever wars”
I thought we were trying to avoid “forever wars.”