Libertarian: Pension Bombs Are States’ Own Fault

With the pandemic’s toll on stocks, state pension funds may have to deal with a cumulative unfunded debt of as much as $2 trillion, reports Eric Boehm at Reason. States like Kentucky, Illinois and New Jersey — “in terrible shape” before the COVID-19 outbreak — now face “a serious crisis.” Worse, “the economic downturn creates a one-two punch” for states, which must make up investment shortfalls with tax dollars, even as tax revenues are expected to drop sharply. Now some state officials are pushing for a federal bailout. But there were “plenty of warning signs that public pension systems were in trouble” before the pandemic. “Federal taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for states’ mistakes.”

Housing watch: Eviction Bans Worsen Things

Thanks to a pandemic-sparked “moratorium on evictions,” we’ve “perversely” worsened the nation’s housing crisis, sighs Dru Armstrong at the Washington Examiner. Some people even think they don’t have to pay rent under the “poorly communicated” federal relief program. Yet if we “bankrupt” landlords and “discourage the creation of more housing, we are making a drastic and avoidable mistake.” For one thing, the housing sector will be forced to make layoffs just when we need “services to keep us safe as we shelter in place.” And while it’s understandable politicians would want to stop landlords from kicking people out, there are other solutions, like “immediate rent support.” No one would “dream of public officials ordering supermarkets to give out food for free. They are not charities.” Well — neither are building owners.

Economist: How Trump Is Trumping Poverty

Throughout his term, President Trump has been “cutting excessive regulations” — a wise decision, University of Chicago prof Casey B. Mulligan argues at the City Journal, because “regulation’s costs fall disproportionally” on the poor, “driving up the prices of regulated goods and lowering the wages of lower-income households and workers.” If we return to the Obama-era “accelerated rulemaking” that de facto Democratic nominee Joe Biden promises, the poor will have “diminished purchasing power due to higher costs for energy, cars and other consumer goods.” The wealthy, on the other hand, will “suffer the least.” Despite left-wingers’ populist claims, then, Trump is the “real Robin Hood” here: He’s “helping the working poor keep more of their money” by taking on the regulatory state.

From the right: Smearing Lockdown Protesters

“If there’s one thing Democrats (and the media) want you to know about the anti-lockdown protest at the Michigan state capitol in Lansing last week, it’s that people were flying Confederate flags,” sighs National Review’s Rich Lowry. “But that a couple of zealots displayed Confederate flags at this event involving as many as 4,000 people isn’t the first, second, or third thing to know about the protest, which can be more accurately described as lavishly star-spangled.” Long stretches of video footage document “a panorama of American flags.” Attention to “a few isolated idiots” is being used to “tar the entire enterprise.” Don’t depict all anti-lockdown protesters as “a bunch of neo-Confederates” just because you disagree with them. “It’s tiresome, and not true.”

2020 watch: Senate’s Fate depends on Trump

If President Trump loses in November, “Democrats would almost certainly be in control of the Senate,” predicts Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist. “It’s past time” for Republicans to understand that. Some “have said on background that they hope to create a split ticket, where anti-Trump suburban voters vote for the Republican Senate candidate while voting for Joe Biden and his running mate.” Yet Trump’s re-
election loss would likely mean that “the entire GOP ticket was suffering mightily” — that almost certainly Senate races in Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina had gone to Democrats. No, “the best way” for Republicans to save the Senate is for Trump to win re-election. Anyone who wants “GOP senators to keep control should be hoping for Trump to do the best he can.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board