Source: Reason
by Jared Dillian
“From defense contracting and mortgage finance to credit, housing, and monetary policy, Trump is leaning heavily on command-and-control economics.” (01/13/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/13/the-6-ways-trump-tried-to-control-the-economy-last-week/
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Soham Patil
“Net Present Value (NPV) is a popular decision-making criteria used by firms to make key, crucial choices about how to allocate resources across an economy. Net Present Value forecasts temporally discount future cash flows to their present value to check whether a project creates value. If a project has an NPV greater than zero, it creates value. On the other hand, if a project has an NPV less than zero, the project loses value. NPV forecasting isn’t perfect and there are often assumptions baked into any forecast but there is one particular type of error that occurs most often and has disastrous consequences.” (01/13/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/cheap-credit-doesnt-create-economic-growth-it-makes-us-poorer
Source: Fox News Forum
by Michael J Boskin
“Democratic Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is focusing on affordability. But his ‘free stuff’ policy agenda would flunk an introductory economics midterm. For example: free bus rides will increase demand and cause overcrowding as service deteriorates. Can you envision New Yorkers queuing up like Londoners? Ditto free childcare, with risk of fraud. Ditto rent freezes, which are not likely to spur a rent-relieving housing supply surge. Does Mamdani really think public employees will work the same long, intense hours at city-owned grocery stores that private-sector owners do to earn a living while building their generational wealth? Or that it’s a good idea to shutter natural gas plants supplying 500 megawatts of reliable energy, which New York’s Independent System Operator extended beyond their planned retirement in mid-2025 lest the city suffer blackouts.” (01/14/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/zohranomics-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdanis-socialist-math-doesnt-add-up
Source: Politico
“A Milan criminal court on Wednesday acquitted Italian fashion influencer and businesswoman Chiara Ferragni of aggravated fraud in the so-called Pandorogate scandal. The case, one of Italy’s most high-profile celebrity trials, centered on allegations of misleading advertising linked to the promotion of the sweet pandoro Christmas bread — luxury sugar-dusted brioches — in 2022 and Easter eggs sold in 2021 and 2022. Prosecutors, who had requested a 20-month prison sentence, argued that consumers had been led to believe their purchases would support charitable causes, when donations had in fact already been made and were not tied to sales. Ferragni denied any wrongdoing throughout the proceedings.” (01/14/26)
Source: National Review
“Solving the Right Problem the Wrong Way Does Not Solve the Problem.” (01/13/26)
Source: Cobden Centre
by Dr. Frank Shostak
“According to the leader of the monetarists school Milton Friedman our knowledge of the world of economics is elusive. Consequently, it does not really matter what the underlying assumptions of a theory employed to ascertain the facts of reality are. In fact, anything goes, as long as the theory can yield good predictions. Again, on this way of thinking any theory that is applied on historical data could be valid as long as it could produce accurate predictions. … Experience of economic history is always the experience of complex phenomena. It can never convey knowledge of the kind the experimenter abstracts from a laboratory experiment. Moreover, It is vain to search for coefficients of correlation if one does not start from a theoretical insight acquired beforehand.” (01/13/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/01/theory-and-historical-data/
Source: Foreign Policy
by Keith Johnson
“The U.S. economy, after a tumultuous year of tariffs and trade wars, appears to have performed better than feared earlier in the year, with annual GDP growth through the third quarter of about 2 percent, including a surprisingly healthy bump in the last reported quarter. But that, contrary to what U.S. President Donald Trump says, is not because of tariffs but in spite of them. And 2026 looks set to be an even rockier year on the trade front, with further negative implications for U.S. economic performance.” (01/13/26)
Source: Wired
by Vittoria Elliott
“For the second Trump administration, the world of online conspiracies is shaping real-world policies like never before.” (01/13/26)
Source: US News & World Report
“Bulgaria’s second-largest parliamentary grouping, the reformist PP-DB, declined a request on Wednesday from the president to try to form a new government, increasing the likelihood of a snap election in the European Union’s poorest member state. Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov’s coalition government, backed by GERB-SDS, resigned last month after weeks of street protests against state corruption and a new budget that would have increased some taxes. In line with the constitution, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Monday had formally asked the conservative GERB-SDS to form the government which they rejected. On Wednesday PP-DB, which seeks closer relations with the European Union, also rejected the mandate, BTA agency reported. Radev is now expected to offer a chance to govern to another party and then if they refuse he will have to call a snap vote, Bulgaria’s eighth in just four years.” (01/24/26)
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Scott Adams & the Golden Globes Die in Same Week.” (01/13/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/madd-scott-adams-amp-the-golden-globes-die-in-same-week