Log in
Getting a free-trade agreement with India over the line has been harder work than getting oil out of the Straits of Hormuz. But over the weekend it finally happened, and the agreement was signed.
Over the centuries, getting it understood that trade is good -- a win-win -- has been even harder work. It's been 250 years since Scotsman Adam Smith wrote 700 pages to explain that very point. Yet as Daniel J. Smith, Gabriel F. Benzecry point out, "Returning to The Wealth of Nations, one is struck by how little progress has been made in educating the public about sound principles, a task that must be renewed with every generation."
It's true, as Murray Rothbard used to say, that genuine free trade doesn’t require a treaty or its deformed cousin, a “trade agreement” -- all it needs is repealing our numerous tariffs, import quotas, anti-'dumping' laws, and other restrictions on trade. Which, to be fair, is most of what this agreement seems to offer.
A relaxation of rules, not any new ones.
The Enlightenment ideals of individual liberty and voluntary exchange that inspired America’s founders also laid the foundation of modern economics. Yet two and a half centuries later, persistent policy blunders — protectionist trade barriers, ballooning national debt, and stubborn inflation — reveal how far we have strayed from the Scotsman’s insights, endangering the principles upon which our republic was founded.
Protectionism is becoming so endemic once again, so normalised, that it requires a major effort to implement its opposite. It's big news when shackles come off. freedom free-trade
The problem isn’t a lack of knowledge — it’s a failure to teach and apply enduring principles. ...
Yet even as those principles are applied we can see and applaud the results. Even as the world's population has increased rapidly, we see that the most important growth with more population is not more stomachs to feed, but more minds able to produce -- and (in Adam Smith's words) more people ready to truck, barter and trade. The very simple fact, as Marian Tupy reminds us, is that "for every 1 percent increase in global population, population-level resource abundance grew by about 6.3 percent."
 |
| For every 1% increase in global population, population-level resource abundance grew by about 6.3% — according to @HumanProgress's new Simon Abundance Index. |
In other words, when people are left even moderately free to produce, resources grow at a faster pace than the population.
It was Malthus, writing after Adam Smith, who ignored so many of his lessons and saw only the stomachs to be fed.
The Malthusian mind never [saw] the human capacity to cooperate, trade, discover, invent, and adapt.
The record is clear. Smith explained how it works 250 years ago. Let's applaud when more of it is allowed to happen.
UPDATE: Another reminder:
It's not nations that trade. People trade.
And they will if you just get out of their way.
“The Savant” can’t catch a break.
The Apple TV+ original was slated to debut Sept. 26, but the assassination of Charlie Kirk appeared to give the streamer pause. The show is loosely based on a real hate-crime investigator, played by Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain.
Her character goes digitally undercover to smoke out White Nationalists, all the while trying to lead a normal life on the home front.
Team Apple wasn’t clear about the reasons for the show’s delay, but the timing suggested some kind of Kirk connection. The conservative leader was killed Sept. 10, with all signs pointing to alleged killer Tyler Robinson.
(Unless you’re a certain unhinged podcaster)
Perhaps “The Savant” demonized a Kirk-like figure, and that wouldn’t be a good look following the pundit’s murder? Or was there something in the show’s DNA that would make it problematic to run as scheduled?
Editor’s Note: It’s a brutal time to be an independent journalist, but it’s never been more necessary given the sorry state of the corporate press. If you’re enjoying Hollywood in Toto, I hope you’ll consider leaving a coin (or two) in our Tip Jar.
This critic was able to screen several episodes in advance, and all signs pointed to “no, not really.” The show isn’t as political as some TV fare, like HBO Max’s “The Pitt” which jams progressive talking points into its storylines.
“The Savant’s” delay still seems curious, although studios have been quick to pull violent entertainment when real-world violence erupts.
One example? USA Network’s “Shooter” got yanked in 2016 after an actual sniper targeted cops in Dallas.
Sometimes a movie studio is quick to pause a film’s release if it appears too hot to handle, culturally speaking. Remember how “The Hunt,” a film pitting conservatives and liberals against each other, got bumped from the calendar?
Yet “The Savant” is now back on schedule, slated for a July release. Now, there’s another real-world problem facing the series.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a group that allegedly smokes out White Nationalists, was caught allegedly cutting checks for some of the very haters it supposedly targets.
It’s a shocking turn of events, and the group’s fingerprints are allegedly all over the 2017 Unite the Right rally. That imbroglio left one woman killed and allowed the media and Democrats (but we repeat ourselves) to unfairly malign President Trump.
The “very fine people” hoax remains an indelible stain on modern journalism.
A series focused on White Nationalists looks even more odd given the SPLC headlines. Imagine Chastain’s character tracks down a potentially violent Neo-Nazi only to learn he was funded by an SPLC-like group.
That isn’t the Narrative
Hollywood wants to share. Last year’s “Sovereign” is another project that captures the industry’s zeal for right-leaning ghouls.
Their standoff triggers a deadly cat-and-mouse chase. Watch the trailer for ‘Sovereign’. On Digital HD 15 September in & @Nick_Offerman pic.twitter.com/IhpBPVrQCF
— Signature Entertainment (@SignatureEntUK) September 2, 2025
It appears the supply of racial bigotry isn’t meeting the progressive demand, another issue plaguing “The Savant.”
The other problem facing the show, one not directly tethered to a single news event? The vast majority of political violence is being conducted by the Left and/or radical Islamic types.
It’s so overwhelming even The far-Left Atlantic admitted as such last year.
Remember those burning Tesla dealerships? The antisemitic attacks on Jewish people in a post-Oct. 7 world? Liberal college students raging against Israel and attacking Jewish students? The multiple assassination attempts on President Trump?
And it’s only gotten worse of late. The man accused of storming the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday with plans to take out Trump officials (and likely the president himself) is a No Kings progressive.
Cole Allen’s manifesto reads like a cross between a Jimmy Kimmel monologue and MS NOW programming.
Here’s betting “The Savant,” should it survive to season 2, won’t frame an episode around that inconvenient truth. That’s assuming Apple TV+ doesn’t just mothball the show entirely.
The post Delayed ‘Savant’ Gets More Bad News appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
President Donald Trump routinely flays his critics. Nobody does it better, and by “better” we mean meaner.
When First Lady Melania Trump does the honors, it’s different.
FLOTUS isn’t outspoken, one of the reasons the Prime Video documentary “Melania” made such a splash at the box office. We rarely hear from her, so when she speaks, it resonates.
And she just took Jimmy Kimmel to the woodshed for his hateful brand of late-night TV.
Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.
People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to…
— First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 27, 2026
‘Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,’ the First Lady wrote on X Monday morning.
‘People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate … A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
Why lash out at Kimmel now? Kimmel’s most recent Trump roast featured this line.
‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
Days later, a would-be assassin tried to take out President Trump and members of his inner circle.
Kimmel’s rhetoric has been gross, uniformly unfunny and deceitful for some time. He’s pushed the notion that the President is out to kill us, pretended the violent group Antifa doesn’t exist and got suspended for lying about the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s murder.
RELATED:
JOHNNY CARSON WARNED US ABOUT KIMMEL
KIMMEL TO FACE FREE SPEECH TEST IN UK
KIMMEL PROVES HE’S A FREE SPEECH FRAUD
ABC should have fired him a long time ago. He’s a sad excuse for a late-night comedian, and he truly is making America worse with his commentary.
Two reasons come to mind for not honoring the First Lady’s request.
The first is less important but still worth saying aloud. It would play right into Kimmel’s hands and, by extension, the modern, angry Left. They’d scream that Team Trump is silencing his opponents, ignoring the critical context in play.
The Left used that playbook following Kimmel’s Kirk misdirection, for which he never actually apologized.
That would make the ideological wars even hotter.
The second reason is more vital. Yes, ABC should be ashamed of itself for keeping Kimmel on the air. It’s a disgrace, but then again so is letting “The View” spew its hate and conspiracy five days a week.
But we’re living in the death of shame, to quote “FOX Across America” host Jimmy Failla, so that’s not even new, sadly.
The First Amendment allows for Kimmel’s brand of misinformation and hate. It’s up to audiences to either tune away or hang on every bit of his propaganda.
Firing Kimmel now is akin to wiping conspiracy monger Alex Jones off of social media a few years back. It might have felt good and righteous, but what happened next? Well, we all saw that scenario.
- The Twitter Files
- Scary Poppins
- Big Tech crushed conservative comedy
- A U.S. president got banished from social media
- A major news scandal got buried by social media
At this point, if ABC actually did the moral thing and fired Kimmel it would look like the Trumps made it happen. Instead of the truth – a late-night show host has lost his way, spreads rage on a nightly basis and has forgotten what his job description entails.
Still, what the First Lady said needed to be shared. It matters. Now, it’s up to the rest of us to reject Kimmel or allow more of his unhinged commentary.
That’s the American way, for better and worse.
The post Melania’s Right, But Firing Jimmy Kimmel Would Be Wrong appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
Next Page of Stories