Dems fall for ‘fantasy economics’, eyes wide shut to Jew-hate and other commentary

Libertarian: Dems Fall for ‘Fantasy Economics’

Democrats’ “leading lights are not especially sharp” on economics, but the DSA crowd is leading them into pure “economic fantasyland,” warns Reason’s Peter Suderman. Darializa Avila Chevalier is a “committed economic socialist” fighting for “Medicare for All,” even though the plan is so “unwieldy” it failed even in Sen. Bernie Sanders’ home state of Vermont. Claire Valdez supports the Green New Deal, though the cost is estimated “at over $90 trillion,” triple the country’s annual GDP. Some might argue these new socialists aren’t “representative of the rest of the party,” but mainstream Dems “have been embracing fantasy economics for years,” and this week’s DSA wins “are just the latest sign that the fantasy is taking over.”

Canada beat: Eyes Wide Shut to Jew-Hate

A Montreal shooting with obvious “antisemitic elements” that left two people dead received “virtually no Canadian coverage,” despite the killer’s overtly anti-Jewish manifesto, frets Casey Babb at The Free Press. “Articles from major outlets” across Canada focus instead on the murderer’s “violent incel” and “anti-feminism” ruminations. This “omission” is “striking” because “Canada has arguably become one of the most antisemitic countries in the Western world,” with “countless shootings at Jewish day schools,” “firebombing of synagogues and acts of vandalism.” The situation for Canadian Jews seems “unlikely” to improve, and in response “Jews in Canada have already begun retreating inward.” “Fear among Jews is palpable,” with many Jews in Canada “now asking themselves how much worse things can get.”

Business desk: So Much for ‘Record’ Oil Prices

Oil-industry analysts “are eating a lot of humble pie lately,” snarks CNN’s David Goldman. “Despite the biggest oil supply shock in history, oil prices in recent months never approached their record set in 2008. Gas and diesel prices didn’t surpass their 2022 highs. And, just as President Donald Trump predicted, oil prices have, in fact, fallen ‘like a rock’ after the United States reached an agreement with Iran.” So how did “all the experts” get it “so wrong”? Well, for starters, the world had 407 million barrels in storage going into the war. Trump then lifted sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil. China shifted to coal power plants instead of oil. Brazil and Venezuela ramped up supplies. Turns out the oil market is “significantly more flexible than even the most knowledgeable experts anticipated.”

LA watch: Pratt Couldn’t Beat Demographics

“A Trump-like performance,” such as Spencer Pratt’s in Los Angeles, “can make a primary interesting,” remarks City Journal’s Jesse Arm. But it can’t “make someone mayor.” People in LA don’t “need to be persuaded that their city is badly governed,” and Pratt overperformed “in fire-adjacent and hill-adjacent precincts across the Westside and San Fernando Valley.” But “many places that people associate with the cultural idea of Los Angeles” where Pratt became popular, such as Santa Monica or Beverly Hills, “don’t vote for mayor of Los Angeles.” In the end, “demographics” worked against Pratt, who had little more than “a Republican coalition with a few local enhancements.” Nonetheless, Pratt proved that “a blunt, local critique of progressive governance can resonate” even in a city like Los Angeles.

From the right: Time To Ditch ‘Disparate Impact’

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “bureaucrats” embody “everything that’s wrong with the administrative state,” rails The Wall Street Journal’s Jason L. Riley. Supporters of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which created the EEOC to oversee its Title VII employment provisions, insisted the bill didn’t authorize “disparate impact,” i.e, the use of “racially disproportionate” results to determine discrimination; rather, discrimination had to be “intentional,” not merely “inferred” from outcomes. Nonetheless, the EEOC soon “determined that statistical disparities could be used,” even if discrimination was unintentional, and the Supreme Court backed it. Now the Justice Department is moving “to rein in EEOC’s use of ‘disparate impact.’ ” Finally: “It’s long past time we clean up this mess,” and Team Trump “has taken an admirable step.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board