Jeff Bell

Yesterday in Somerset County, New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie proposed an amendment to his state’s constitution that, if enacted in a referendum next year, will apportion state aid to local school districts on a per pupil basis. What would this mean when fully phased in? Each district would receive $6,599, multiplied by the number of […]

I am often asked by fellow conservatives about my experience with Governor Chris Christie as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey in 2014. When I reply that Gov. Christie and his team, after remaining scrupulously neutral during a tightly contested four-way primary, were very helpful to my campaign in terms of […]

This column from The Daily Caller last week is a great defense of Ted Cruz on the gold standard: Mr. Cruz has been excoriated for seemingly incompatible statements concerning the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve. On the one hand, he has advocated exploring a return to the gold standard, seemingly questioning the Fed’s purpose. On the […]

Most conservatives believe Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have wrong solutions to the stagnation in wages and job creation that has marked the American economy since 2000. But Trump and Sanders have proven better vote-getters than conservative candidates because, politically speaking, having wrong answers to a real and widely felt evil is better than offering […]

Donald Trump’s plan for tax reform is the most populist so far seen among the presidential candidates. It is also the most faithful to supply-side principles. Why? Populism in its root meaning is optimism about the ability of people to make decisions affecting themselves. Its opposite, elitism, is optimism about the ability of elites to […]

If I had to pick a winner of the debate last night, I would say it was Scott Walker for two reasons: 1.) His answer on what he would do as President was future-oriented. He talked about how he cut taxes and spending in Wisconsin, and how he would do the same thing in Washington. […]

From Townhall.com: George Gilder is a prophet. He’s been right repeatedly about almost every issue—from sex to Israel to economics—and now he’s back to tackle the most important — yet least debated — issue of our time: money. Why is money—specifically, the value of our currency—so important? Why is it important to get right? Many economists […]

There’s a lot to admire in Alex Pollock’s Saturday piece in The Wall Street Journal, “It’s High Time to ‘Audit’ the Fed.”  Pollock, a longtime chief executive of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and currently a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, attacks the faulty premise that the supposed “independence” of the […]

Steve, you are absolutely right, except you buried the lede. Ted Cruz’s strategy is smart: he needs to get in the race early, develop a small-donor fundraising strategy, and be seen as a fearless, full-spectrum conservative. He was smart to go to Liberty University, because evangelicals are not only an important part of the GOP base […]

In an orchestrated orgy of protests, Fed governors and regional bank presidents have roasted Sen. Rand Paul and his co-sponsors for reintroducing a bill mandating an audit of the Fed. Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, wants us to know that such a thought is “misguided.” Why? “They really are about allowing political considerations […]