‘It is a radical idea, but one worth debating’

‘Saving money is hard enough. Stop taxing workers under 25.’

Sam Raus at USA Today

Before “young people have accumulated any meaningful savings, the government is already taking a share of every paycheck,” says Sam Raus. The “question needs to be: Why are we taxing them in the first place?” The U.S. “already subsidizes housing, education and healthcare through an array of programs.” A “simpler alternative deserves consideration: Exempt workers under 25 from federal income and payroll taxes, allowing them to build financial security before the government begins collecting a share of their earnings.”

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‘What should we do with Trump’s monstrous architectural legacy?’

Jan-Werner Muller at The Guardian

Since a Supreme Court “ruling will embolden the president dramatically to change Washington, D.C.’s landscape by spending money never approved by Congress, we might be cursed with a triumphal arch as well,” says Jan-Werner Muller. This “raises the question: What to do with a monstrous architectural legacy in post-Trump America?” Some “might dismiss the question.” But the “decision to leave Trump’s structures in place as if his reign had just been another normal era in U.S. history is not neutral.”

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‘After the flash flood disaster, here is what Nepal really needs’

Dikshya Subedi at Al Jazeera

Days “after the flood that struck the Rasuwa and Nuwakot regions of Nepal, the number of missing people is growing,” says Dikshya Subedi, and the “threat is far from over.” While Nepal “could not realistically have prevented the initial collapse, the scale of the disaster highlights glaring gaps in disaster risk reduction and preparedness under a changed climate reality.” The country “urgently needs real, funded investment in early-warning systems for glacial and flood hazards in high-risk mountain corridors.”

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‘The Pacific is paying for America’s other wars’

Matthew J. DeSarno at The Dallas Morning News

The United States “says China is its most consequential military challenge,” but “our military deployments increasingly tell a different story,” says Matthew J. DeSarno. While Washington “prosecutes a war against Iran, expands military operations in the Western Hemisphere and continues supporting Ukraine, some of the weapons and naval forces most relevant to deterring China are being pulled toward other theaters.” The U.S. “has not suddenly become weak in the Pacific, but we are narrowing our margin for error there.”

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