Formal rules are the last hope to curb government debt, affirms Bruce Gilley in Law & Liberty. Drawing on global examples, Gilley outlines deficit-limiting fiscal rules, regulatory “sunset” clauses, the reconfiguration of entitlements like public pensions, and third-party reporting of government financial figures. He argues the United States is far behind other prosperous countries in confronting this challenge. Canada, take note.

Toppling a Communist Empire for $2.7 Million
Though widely thought of as focused on waterboarding terrorists or poisoning foreign potentates, it was by smuggling paper that the CIA achieved its most monumental triumph. R.M. Gerecht in a book review for The Washington Free Beacon charts how the late Cold War-era operation to flood Poland with Western books, magazines, printing supplies and audio recordings fatally weakened the country’s Communist dictatorship, setting the stage for the downfall of the entire Soviet empire. Total cost: US$2.7 million.


