Cato Today

White Paper: “How Did we Get into This Financial Mess?,” by Lawrence H. White

The actual causes of our financial troubles were unusual monetary policy moves and novel federal regulatory interventions. These poorly chosen policies distorted interest rates and asset prices, diverted loanable funds into the wrong investments, and twisted normally robust financial institutions into unsustainable positions.

Op‐​Ed: “Eliminate U.S. Presence,” by Christopher A. Preble in USA Today

Iraq always was, and still is, a war of choice. The U.S. should choose to terminate the mission and refocus its attention — and, where appropriate, its still‐​strong military — on the enemies who struck on 9/11.

Op‐​Ed: “Don’t Dump on Free Trade,” by Ilya Shapiro in Legal Times

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, while most of the country understandably had its attention elsewhere, the Court heard argument in United States v. Eurodif. The case is an appeal from a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit holding that contracts with foreign companies to enrich uranium are outside the scope of U.S. anti‐​dumping law (and their corresponding tariffs) because they’re “service” as opposed to “sales” contracts.

The decision reversed the Commerce Department’s determination to the contrary and prompted a petition for certiorari from United States Enrichment Corp., a government spinoff that dominates the domestic enrichment market and would be hurt by competition from abroad. Although the U.S. solicitor general also requested cert (in which circumstance review is not uncommon), Eurodif is the first time the Court has accepted an international trade case in six years (and only the eighth time in the last two decades).

Podcast: “Obama Should Scrap E‐​Verify,” featuring Jim Harper