Book Bans
A look at a historical example of a concerted book ban to assess its effectiveness and long-term impact.
Read more...Category Archives: Politics
Should the Government Be Allowed to Hold Bitcoin?
A terse debunking of the idea that governments holding Bitcoin or other private currencies is good for anyone other than their touts.
Read more...The Economic Benefit of Conflict: A Thriving Armaments Sector
Quelle surprise! Data supports the notion that defense contractors do well in times of conflict.
Read more...How Climate Change and Widespread Unaffordable Home Insurance Will Wreck Property Values
The death spiral of home insurance in climate afflicted areas has begun. The will and means to tackle underlying issues are sorely wanting
Read more...From MAHA to MAGA: Can We Get There?
Why MAHA won’t accomplish much even if it gets off the starting block unless the US also addresses inequality. Good luck with that.
Read more...Medical Research Depends on Government Money – Even a Day’s Delay in the Intricate Funding Process Throws Science Off-Kilter
NIH funding is a case study of how the Trump wreaking ball will damage medical research and undermine US leadership in medicine.
Read more...Federal Threats Against Local Officials Who Don’t Cooperate with Immigration Orders Could Be Unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia Ruled Against Similar Plans
Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration push is on a collision course with states’ rights to control policing. Which might prevail/
Read more...Cut Flowers, Coffee, and a Geopolitical Shock
Colombia and coffee and flowers, or how successful bullying does not necessarily translate into durable wins.
Read more...What France Loses by Closing Its Military Bases in Africa
What happens when a former colonial power like France loses one of the key implements of its control?
Read more...The Growing Inequality in Life Expectancy Among Americans
To deliver on pledges from the new Trump administration to make America healthy again, policymakers will need to fix problems undermining life expectancy across all populations.
Read more...A Trump Pivot Away From Europe? Not So Fast: The Plunder Is Too Lucrative for American Plutocrats
Europe is now largely an American colony where the tech, energy, weapons, and financial industries are making a killing, so it’s no wonder Trump isn’t going to substantially shift US policy.
Read more...Tariffs Are Coming: How Trade Dynamics Will Shape Aggregate Demand and Inflation
Consumers may not suffer from more inflation per official data if Trump imposes tariffs. But that does not mean they won’t be worse off.
Read more...Will the Newly Declassified CIA “Assessment” of Covid Origins in Wuhan Include the Possibility of Early Spread in Italy?
The possibility of early Covid spread is unlikely to mentioned in the newly released CIA assessment of Covid origins, since ths alternative hypothesis clearly contradicts the timeline held today as canon.
Read more...Wolf Richter: DOGE Seeks to Shed Vast Amounts of Government Office Space. Here’s How Much the Government Leases, and Where, and What Leases it Can Shed During Trump’s Term
For CRE, the motto in 2024 was “Survive till 2025” via extend-and-pretend. Now it’s 2025, and here comes the government’s office space.
Read more...Michael Hudson: Trump’s Balance-of-Payments War on Mexico, and the Whole World
Why US trade and economic threats against Mexico could trigger a financial/currency crisis that may propagate across the Global South
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