Pun Salad

I'm glad Mr. Ramirez didn't use my headline for a punchline, though.

But here are some words on that topic, from Clark Packard and Alfredo Carrillo Obregon at Cato: Meet the New Steel Tariffs, Same as the Old Steel Tariffs.

As near as I can tell, explicit references to "Won't Get Fooled Again" lyrics are only in the article's headline. I hope, reader, you stocked up on steel and aluminum.

Also of note:

• Time will tell. As it usually does. That doesn't stop Jeffrey Blehar from asking: What Did Elon Musk Actually Accomplish, Except His Own Downfall?.

  As most are no doubt already aware, yesterday Elon Musk broke his silence about the “big, beautiful” spending bill that is currently wending its way through a Republican Congress. Calling it a “disgusting abomination,” he added, “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.” This bill, of course, is likely to end up being the primary legislative accomplishment of Donald Trump’s first year back in office. He pushed the House Republican caucus furiously to get it across the finish line there, to the point where its passage by a few votes felt — despite the seeming last-minute drama of it all — a bit like scripted kabuki theater.

  One can only imagine how unhappy the Trump administration is with this, especially since several Senate lawmakers have used the opportunity afforded by Elon’s apostasy to poke their heads out from behind his protective skirt and chip in with their own reservations. (Profiles in cowardice, nearly all of them, with Rand Paul as a notable exception.) The Trump administration has, as of this writing at least, held its fire — uncharacteristic when a former ally directly criticizes it. It’s easy enough to grasp why in this case: Nobody wants to anger the world’s richest man, especially when he also happens to own and control the world’s most relevant social media site. Perhaps Trump may just let Elon stew online, rather than provoke a MAGA civil war. Perhaps not. Regardless of whether fireworks follow, this was always the way the story was going to end.

  That last link goes to Jeffrey's February post, which was headlined How Elon Musk’s Service to Trump Will Probably, Eventually End. He now reveals that the "Probably" was demanded by his editors. I think he got a bunch of "toldya so" credits.

• Violent rhetoric from local Democrat. New Hampshire House Democratic leader Alexis Simpson talks tough in my lousy local paper: Fight now for NH public schools before it's too late.

  Over the past few months, in Rindge, school officials warned they might need to cut their championship winning sports programs entirely just to balance the budget. In Wolfeboro, part of the ceiling at the high school literally caved in. And in Manchester, the state’s largest school district, administrators say they can’t afford to replace retiring teachers or move forward with long-planned expansions to athletic programs.

  This is not a dystopian projection; it’s happening right now in New Hampshire. While communities are scraping together every last local property tax dollar to keep public schools running, the state is already pouring tens of millions into a school voucher program to pay for private and religious schools with virtually no oversight — even subsidizing private ski passes, music lessons, and undisclosed Amazon and Walmart purchases.

  Yes, it's another broadside against the proposal to expand New Hampshire's Education Freedom Account (EFA) Program. Making the usual arguments. Some observations:

  • Can you read Alexis's first paragraph and not get the niggling thought: "Gee, Rindge, Wolfeboro, and Manchester schools are really poorly managed."
  • Apparently New Hampshire Dems have given up arguing what's good for students and parents. It's all about what's best for "public schools". Not exactly the same thing.
  • Alexis uses the term "voucher" twelve times in her short column. Voucher, voucher, voucher! Apparently, that's a word that focus groups have found has unfavorable connotations among the citizenry.
  • Alexis fails to deal with a pretty obvious point: if "public schools" were doing a decent job of meeting the needs of students and parents, there would be no use of the EFA program. Nobody would bother with the extra work involved.

  Which brings us to our next item.

• Doing less with more. Above, Alexis relies on rabble-rousing rhetoric. At the Josiah Bartlett Center, Andrew Cline has some facts: Per-pupil spending in NH nearly doubles from 2001-2024 as district public schools spend $1.25 billion more on 54,000 fewer students.

  Average per-pupil spending in New Hampshire district public schools has nearly doubled this century, as student enrollment declined sharply and reading and math assessment scores fell, a new Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy study finds.

  Total public school district spending in New Hampshire increased by an inflation-adjusted $1.25 billion, or 45%, from 2001-2024 as enrollment fell by 54,381 students, or 26%, state data show.

  The large increase in total spending combined with the large drop in enrollment caused a near doubling of average per-pupil spending, the new study shows. Total per-pupil spending in district public schools rose by an inflation-adjusted 96% from 2001-2024, meaning that the average district public school student in New Hampshire had 96% more in real resources devoted to his or her education in 2024 than in 2001.

  It's not a pretty picture, Emily Alexis.

• I've noticed this mysel… Oh, wait, you said "cents". Max Raskin bids farewell to a small bit of hard money: As We Get Older and Stop Making Cents. (WSJ gifted link)

  It’s wise for the U.S. Mint to stop putting pennies into circulation next year. President Trump’s decision will save taxpayers money: The penny cost about 2 cents to make in 2007, and costs nearly 4 cents today. But the death of the penny says something unfortunate about our economy. The 1-cent piece is an important barometer of monetary health.

  Hard currency is a check on government profligacy. Government prefers cheaply produced money, which has a high seigniorage: the difference between the face value instrument and its production costs. The greater the seigniorage, the more money politicians have to spend. In the U.S., this means a preference for paper bills. According to the U.S. Mint, the production costs of American currency vary from a few cents to print small paper bills to about 15 cents to mint a quarter. Even the costliest greenback, the $100 bill, costs only 9 cents. And the penny has the worst seigniorage of the bunch.

  It will save taxpayers money; but (as I have previously said): it's not a lot of money.