Nearly a month ago, President Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. Though the decision will not be made final until April, a 25% steel tariff and a 10% aluminum tariff were proposed, to be levied on all trading partners-no exceptions. The idea, the Commander in Chief claimed, was to promote American security interests and build up the steel and aluminum industry after “decades of unfair trade and bad policy." 

The New York Times recently reported on the strict ban on plastic bags Kenya recently adopted—four years in jail or a hefty fine of $19,000 for importing or manufacturing plastic bags. Countries all over Europe and Asia are adopting similar policies to reduce the use of plastic bags. England implemented a 5 pence tax per bag bought, giving customers incentive to use reusable bags. The EPA reports that the United States alone uses 380 billion plastic bags every year, requiring 12 million barrels of oil to create, and only 5 percent of these plastic bags are recycled. Most plastic bags find their way into the environment, hurting or killing animals, largely in our waterways. While many cities in the United States have adopted plastic bag taxes or bans, are there economic benefits to a nationwide plastic bag tax policy implementation?

It’s an election year. Politics and policy conversations –whether intelligent or not- seem to be everywhere. This election cycle we have heard quite a bit about the economy but surprisingly not much about entitlements – at least not since the Republican primary ended. This is surprising considering entitlement spending accounts for nearly half of the federal government’s budget.  That makes the issue an obvious channel for candidates to illustrate their particular politics on the role of government, government spending, and the economy. Not only that, but it is an issue that impacts every voter, whether they are retired, close to retirement, or paying taxes to fund others’ retirement. However, this election cycle, strangely enough, louder, more colorful topics have trumped the political arena and national conversation.

In President Trump’s 2018 proposed budget, he stated plans to eliminate federal funds to many independent agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). While the NEA represents only a very minute portion of the federal budget (0.004%), it’s worth examining if these programs should be defunded.

On July 26, 2017, President Donald Trump announced to the world that the United States military would no longer allow transgender people to serve as military personnel. Over the span of three tweets, he argued that transgender individuals create costs and cause disruption, impacting the US military’s effectiveness and readiness. Since the announcement, there has been a lively discourse between the LGBTQ+ community and its allies and those who support the ban. The question remains; is a ban on all transgender military personnel feasible?