Senior Fellow at The Heartland Institute. Read here: stkarnick.substack.com/.
Articles by Samuel Karnick
Trump Declares Liberation from Unbalanced Trade: In the Tank #490
Government & Liberty Tariffs are the subject of heated debate not just between Democrats and Republicans, but within the spectrum of right wing economic thought as well. Trump has announced reciprocal tariffs for every country on the planet, in an attempt to end unfair trade imbalances across the board. Some countries have already started falling in line, the question is, what will the end result for American citizens be?
Guest Editorial: Who is ultimately responsible for personal safety?
The rise of politically motivated violence in the United States in recent years, highlighted in the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, goes right to the heart of the American experiment and indicates a fundamental problem with our current, highly centralized system of governance. The United States was founded on the belief that the widest possible distribution of human agency and power is morally right and practically effective.
Celebrating Charlie Chan's 100th Birthday
Here’s a little change of pace—but not of aim—for this site. Much of my writing over the years has been on cultural issues, on films, books, television, music, manners, and so on. One subject on which I’ve written multiple times is the fictional detective Charlie Chan. Chan is a Hawaiian-born police detective who appeared in six mystery novels by author Earl Derr Biggers, beginning in 1925, and in numerous movies, radio shows, and other media products.
Who Is responsible for personal safety?
The rise of politically motivated violence in the United States in recent years, highlighted in the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, goes right to the heart of the American experiment and indicates a fundamental problem with our current, highly centralized system of governance. The United States was founded on the belief that the widest possible distribution of human agency and power is morally right and practically effective.
Biden Handed Trump a Poison Chalice
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Op-Ed: Who Is responsible for personal safety?
The rise of politically motivated violence in the United States in recent years, highlighted in the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, goes right to the heart of the American experiment and indicates a fundamental problem with our current, highly centralized system of governance. The United States was founded on the belief that the widest possible distribution of human agency and power is morally right and practically effective.
The Case for DOGE
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Avoiding Biden’s Economic Tripwire
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The People Speak—But Who Listens?
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Op-Ed: Only One Thing Can Cool the Nation’s Political Rhetoric
Candidates and pundits were not overstating things when they characterized the 2024 election as the most important in decades or perhaps even in the nation’s entire history. Every election is consequential, yet this one does seem to have been more potentially transformational than most. The contrast between the nation’s two political parties looks much more like a clash of civilizations than a battle over public-policy issues.
Only One Thing Can Cool the Nation’s Political Rhetoric: Election Day and After
It became a commonplace, in this year’s election campaigns, for candidates and pundits to characterize this year’s vote as the most important in decades or perhaps even in the nation’s entire history. Every election is consequential, yet this one does seem more seismically forceful than most. The contrast between the nation’s two political parties looks much more like a clash of civilizations than a battle over public-policy issues.
Only One Thing Can Cool the Nation’s Political Rhetoric: Election Day and After
It became a commonplace, in this year’s election campaigns, for candidates and pundits to characterize this year’s vote as the most important in decades or perhaps even in the nation’s entire history. Every election is consequential, yet this one does seem more seismically forceful than most. The contrast between the nation’s two political parties looks much more like a clash of civilizations than a battle over public-policy issues.
The U.S. Job Market Is Contracting
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Op-Ed: Education choice benefits all - except teachers unions
As a result, the traditional public schools often gain in per-student funding when states implement choice programs. This gives public schools a windfall when students depart for better options. In addition to the fiscal cushion, the increased competition for students creates education benefits for the students who stay in the public schools.
Harris’ Fracking Actions Belie Her Artful Evasions
A common observation is that new converts to a religion are the most zealous in promoting it. Those who understand that premise can easily see that Vice President Kamala Harris is thoroughly insincere in her recent public conversion to support of fracking. Public opinion polls show swing state Pennsylvania is very much in play in this year’s presidential election, while fracking is very important there.
Here's Where Anti-Trump Economists Go Wrong
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Op-Ed: Here's Where Anti-Trump Economists Go Wrong
Given the terrible economic distress the American people have undergone during the past four years, it was inevitable that the nation’s newspaper of record on economic issues would conduct a poll on what effects economists think the respective policies of the two major candidates would have if elected.
Numbers don’t lie, but people do
The federal government will release a large amount of economic data this week, including “advance estimate[s] of Q3 GDP growth, non-farm payrolls, the unemployment rate, and JOLTS job openings,” plus “the ISM Manufacturing PMI, CB consumer confidence, the PCE inflation report, and personal spending and income figures,” as Trading Economics reports. Much of this data will consist of estimates while the rest likely will be subject to the Biden administration’s economically negative revisions.
Op-Ed: Education choice benefits all – except teachers unions
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Op-Ed: Education choice benefits all - except teachers unions
A standard argument against school choice is that these programs unfairly deprive government-run public schools of money, to the detriment of the children who remain behind. A new study demonstrates that the opposite is true: while saving taxpayer dollars, education choice programs actually increase per-student funding for those who remain in conventional public schools.
Education Choice Benefits All (Except Teachers Unions)
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The FBI’s Crimes Against Truth
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The Crime Issue and the Nation's Political Divide
My latest article is available at William M. Briggs’s superb Substack page, Science Is Not the Answer. It’s called “Crime Issue Reveals the Real Source of Nation’s Political Divide,” and it finds that the two major political movements of our time have—somewhat to my surprise—consistent political philosophies behind them. One political party, the Democrats, represents its constituents’ political philosophy rather well. The other is much less effective. Please toddle over to SINTA and read the piece.
Happy Days Are Here Again
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Recession Averted?
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Household Data Explains Stagnant Biden-Harris Economy
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Op-Ed: States can lead the charge in health care reform
Although health care did not receive much attention at the debate between the two major presidential candidates last week, voters consider it the second-most important issue in the upcoming election, behind only the economy. Neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor Republican nominee Donald Trump revealed any plan for reforming the nation’s health care system. Voters have good reason to worry about health care.
The Harris Inflation Tax
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Harris-Walz Wealth Tax Would Harm Everybody Except Super Rich
Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris has confirmed her support for $5 trillion in tax increases over 10 years in the Biden-Harris administration’s proposed budget. What should be truly terrifying to any taxpayer is the fact that the total increase is not the worst thing about Harris’ plan. Among the many and varied tax hikes Harris and running mate Tim Walz endorse is a big increase in the top tax rate on capital gains.
The 2024 American Health Care Plan: State Solutions
In 2021, The Heartland Institute released the American Health Care Plan (AHCP), which focused exclusively on federal reforms to lower health care costs, increase access to high-quality care, and introduce market forces to a health care system that has become overly bureaucratic and too-focused on a one-size-fits-all approach.
This Labor Day, celebrate the work of property owners, too
Although Labor Day was conceived and established as a way of honoring and promoting the interests of the organized labor movement and the unions that control it, the day can have a much more important meaning than that, if we choose to see it as commemorating the fundamental importance of work as an element of the human condition.
Harris’s Housing Problem
The high cost of housing is a big problem for the presumptive Democrat presidential ticket. Inflation raised rental prices and the nominal monetary value of the housing stock across the nation during the Biden administration, while the high interest rates the Federal Reserve imposed to slow the devaluation of the dollar further increased the costs for new homebuyers.
Two visions of government contend in the 2024 elections
At present, it appears that the 2024 elections, especially for the presidency, will ultimately be all about policy. That may seem unlikely given the rather eccentric personalities vying for president and vice president. It is nonetheless true. Vice President Kamala Harris will run on abortion, and former president Donald Trump will run on the economy. The two campaigns are engaging in a fundamental argument about who can be trusted with power.
Harris Economic Plan Rebrands Democrats’ Old Playbook
Harris economic plan rebrands Democrats’ old playbook of more federal spending, regulations, and destructive tax policies. (Commentary) Vice President and Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris outlined her “Agenda to Lower Costs for American Families” in a widely anticipated speech in Raleigh, North Carolina last Friday.
Harris Economic Plan Rebrands Democrats’ Old Playbook
Vice President and Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris outlined her “Agenda to Lower Costs for American Families” in a widely anticipated speech in Raleigh, North Carolina last Friday. Far from being an agenda, with actual costs and benefits specified, Harris’s plan is a slapdash assortment of ideas for even greater interference in the economy by the people who broke it in the first place.
Kamala Harris Rebrands Democrat Interest-Group Politics
August 21, 2024 Kamala Harris Rebrands Democrat Interest-Group Politics As An Appeal To The Middle-Income Taxpayers To Whom She And The Democrats Have Been Sticking It For Decades By S.T. Karnick - All News Pipeline Vice President and Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris outlined her “Agenda to Lower Costs for American Families” in a widely anticipated speech in Raleigh, North Carolina last Friday.
A Strong Historical Case for Nullification of Federal Laws
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Life, Liberty, Property #73: The Harris Plan, Such As It Is
Life, Liberty, Property #73: the Harris plan, such as it is, blames “price gouging” for Bidenflation, and promises new, unfunded spending. by S.T. Karnick IN THIS ISSUE: The Harris Plan, Such As It Is Harris’s Housing Problem A Strong Historical Case for Nullification Cartoon Vice President and presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Kamals Harris outlined what the press is calling an “economic agenda,” in a widely anticipated speech in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday.
Op-Ed: Two visions of government contend in the 2024 elections
At present, it appears that the 2024 elections, especially for the presidency, will ultimately be all about policy. That may seem unlikely given the rather eccentric personalities vying for president and vice president. It is nonetheless true. Vice President Kamala Harris will run on abortion, and former president Donald Trump will run on the economy. The two campaigns are engaging in a fundamental argument about who can be trusted with power.
Housing Market Slowdown Signals Broader Economic Troubles
Housing market slowdown signals broader economic troubles, from interest costs to prices, due to profligate federal deficit spending. (Commentary) By S.T. Karnick The current troubles in the American housing market are an important sign that the broader U.S. economy is slowing. The inevitable results of wrongheaded economic policies are finally overpowering the massive stimulus that was perpetrated in response to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Free Speech Under Assault - In The Tank #461
Free Speech Under Assault – In The Tank #461 The Heartland Institute’s Donald Kendal, Jim Lakely, and S. T. Karnick present episode 461 of the In The Tank Podcast. The concept of free speech is once again under assault.
Life, Liberty, Property #72: What’s at Stake in 2024 Election
Life, Liberty, Property #72: what’s at stake in the 2024 elections is policies that attempt to ensure equality of outcomes versus merit. by S.T. Karnick IN THIS ISSUE: What’s at Stake in the 2024 Elections Seattle’s Criminal Budget Problems Cleveland Browns Owners Push for Stadium Deal Cartoon At present, it appears that the 2024 elections, especially for the presidency, will have an unusually strong focus on policy.
Trump Mystery Solved!
American voters believe, by a wide margin, that the extraordinarily harsh and terrifying rhetoric President Joe Biden and his supporters have directed against Donald Trump “led to” the assassination attempt against the former president in Pennsylvania in mid-July, according to a national public opinion poll.
Life, Liberty, Property #71: Disappointing Jobs Report Might Finally Get Fed’s Attention
Life, Liberty, Property #71: disappointing jobs report might finally get Fed’s attention, as Wall Street stocks plunge. (Commentary) by S.T. Karnick IN THIS ISSUE: Disappointing Jobs Report Might Finally Get Fed’s Attention Warning Signs of Downturn Have Been Abundant Trump Mystery Solved Cartoon The Federal Reserve finally got the bad news it has been waiting for. The U.S. jobs market is tightening distinctly, a sign of a possible economic downturn.
Economic Indicators Turn from Confusing to Ominous
Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell’s Wednesday announcement that the central bank might start lowering interest rates in September sets the stage for a potential reversal of the longstanding pattern of inconsistent and contradictory indicators from the economy. Unfortunately, that change may not be for the better, with a conservative September interest rate cut of 0.25 percent being too small and arriving too late to do much good.
New Trump: Reagan Redux?
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Life, Liberty, Property #70: The (Possibly Beneficial) End of Trust in Institutions
Life, Liberty, Property #70: The (possibly beneficial) end of trust in institutions is upon us. (Commentary) by S.T. Karnick IN THIS ISSUE: The (Possibly Beneficial) End of Trust in Institutions Which to Believe: Polls or Pols?
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