MICROBYTE: ALIENS AND ENEMIES

🇺🇸 Here’s the behind-the-scenes story on how things were when Adams followed Washington into the White House on March 4, 1797.

Washington had signed a treaty with Britain, our one-time enemy, which angered France, our one-time friend.

Times were tense, and war with France seemed imminent. 

Adam’s Federalist majority in Congress took the opportunity to pass four new and controversial laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts.

One of the four, the Alien Enemies Act, permitted the government to arrest and deport all male citizens of an enemy nation with whom we were at war. Another, the Alien Friends Act, allowed the president to deport any non-citizen suspected of plotting against the government, even in peacetime. No hearing, no due process, no nothing.

Most importantly, Congress passed the Sedition Act, which took direct aim at those who spoke out against the president or the Federalist-dominated government.

The Federalists pushed it through, and John Adams signed it––rumor has it, reluctantly, under pressure from his wife, Abigail. No wallflower she.

The Jefferson Republicans screamed foul, violation of the First Amendment, unconstitutional, un-American ! Between 1798 and 1801, U.S. federal courts prosecuted at least 26 individuals under the Sedition Act; many of whom were editors of Democratic-Republican newspapers, and all opposed the Adams administration. The prosecutions caused violent debate over the meaning of a free press and the rights that should be afforded to opposition political parties in the United States.

In the end, widespread anger over the Alien and Sedition Acts gave Jefferson a victory over Adams in the hard-fought 1800 presidential election, and their passage is widely considered to be one of the biggest mistakes of Adams’ quarrelsome one-term presidency.

By 1802, all of the Alien and Sedition Acts had been repealed or expired, save for the Alien Enemies Act, which has stayed on the books to this day.

MICROBYTE: ALPHABET AGENCIES

🤯 Once again, the deregulators are back, cutting a swath through government agencies like Cossacks, this time, wielding chainsaws. Deregulation vs regulation is a recurring theme in American politics. It’s an extremely complex and nuanced debate. Economists have built entire careers on the subject. 

Don’t panic, I’m going to give you the crib note version of both sides.

Supporters say deregulation will boost economic growth, increase competition, lower manufacturing costs, remove the shackles from small businesses and under-funded innovators.

Who can argue with that, right? 

Not so fast, guess who loves deregulation the most? Pharmas and healthcare companies, fossil-fuel businesses, financial services, airlines, truckers, shippers, Telecoms, energy-intensive manufacturers, and shareholders in all of the above.

Now that you’ve heard the thumbs-uppers, you're entitled to hear from the thumbs-downers.

And for the case against, rather than give you my amateur take, I yield to none other than the Oracle from Omaha himself, Warren Buffett.

While not a blanket opponent of deregulation, Warren Buffett has voiced concerns about potential negative consequences in specific industries. These concerns often revolve around the risks of:

• Increased systemic risk in the financial industry due to a lack of proper oversight.

• Underestimated impact and unforeseen negative consequences of deregulation on specific businesses.

• Potential for consumer harm and inadequate protection.

• Increased financial risks for businesses due to factors like climate change and wildfires that might be exacerbated by deregulation. 

Now you know the facts, the rest is up to you and the politicians you elected, you know, the ones that you could unelect.

Stephen Colbert: “For ninety seconds, our air traffic control system (at Newark airport) was flying blind. The man in charge of fixing this mess is, unfortunately, the newbie Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy. Duffy claims he’s gonna spend the money on the system, but warned that it might take three to four years. 

That’s not exactly what you want to hear in a crisis. It reminds me of those old Life-Alert commercials. 

Old lady in a heap at the bottom of a staircase calling Life Alert: “Help, I’ve fallen and I can't get up.” 

Life Alert: “Don't worry, we’ll be there in three to four years.”

📖 Saving Capitalism. Lawrence Summers: “Robert Reich sets the terms for new and more productive debates by rediscovering the roots of the economic arrangements we too often take for granted. Everyone concerned with our economic future will need to grapple with Reich’s arguments.” First published in 2015, Saving Capitalism remains a seminal work.

(Robert Reich, professor UC Berkeley, author, lawyer, political commentator, Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, served in the Carter and Ford administrations.)As an Amazon Associate, we earn commission from qualifying purchases.