Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“I’m always amused whenever I read some criticism of America’s ‘capitalist’ system by some leftist. Leftists rail against the evils of capitalism and cite American ‘capitalism’ as a prime example of such evil. I’m sure that such leftists are thoroughly confused when they encounter a libertarian. That’s because libertarians also condemn the economic system under which we Americans live. I’m sure that the leftists just don’t get it. How can a libertarian, they think, criticize and condemn America’s ‘capitalist’ system when libertarians are deeply committed to capitalism? The answer is very simple, but one that all too many leftists are loathe to consider: America doesn’t have a genuine capitalist system.” [editor’s note: Actually, it does. What it does not have is a free market system. There’s a difference – TLK] (06/23/26)
“Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is talking in circles. The city is suffering under a $55 million operating deficit. The mayor pointed out in a 2023 budget letter that ‘The demands of a City this size in square miles and infrastructure age far exceed affordable options for residents and available resources.’ What to do? The answer is obvious: dedicate more public tax dollars to private corporations. And not just baseball, but women’s soccer, too! Kansas City leaders are once again proposing public subsidies for a sports facility.” (06/22/26)
“The view that an increase in the money supply could revive an economy is based on the idea that money transmits its effect through the aggregate expenditure. With more money in their pockets, people will be able to spend more and the rest will follow suit. Money, however, only enables one producer to exchange his produce with another producer.” (06/23/26)
“China has taken the world’s fastest supercomputer crown for the first time since 2017. LineShine from the nation’s National Supercomputer Center hit 2.198 Exaflops of performance, beating the previous champ El Capitan (1.809 Exaflops), located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the USA. Lineshine, a previously unlisted machine, is the first supercomputer to exceed two exaflops of ‘sustained double-precision performance using CPUs only,’ according to Top500.org. China’s new machine was able to beat its US counterpart despite technology embargoes because it doesn’t rely on GPUs like other leading models. Instead, it’s designed around a custom 304-core processor, with 13.79 million cores running at 1.55GHz and linked by a proprietary interconnect. It draws around 42.2 megawatts of power, for an efficiency of 52.07 Gigaflops per watt.” (06/23/26)
“It’s my weekly chat with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. If you’re needing a quick reality supplement, this is an extra-strength dose, served up in less than 30 minutes.” (06/23/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“Mark Twain popularized the phrase, ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.’ This phrase could equally well be adapted to depict the role of socialist narratives taught as ‘history’—narratives that wreak even more economic havoc than outright lies. Lies can be debunked with facts, but socialist narratives appeal to political and moral ideologies that are less easily dislodged once they take root.” (06/23/26)
“The most controversial part of last week’s article on the Midjourney ultrasound scanner was medical experts’ recommendation against whole-body screening (including existing whole-body screening technology using MRI). Isn’t this crazy? Whole-body screening can save lives by detecting serious diseases like cancer. The experts counterargue that it finds so many false positives – minor zit-like imperfections that would never have caused problems, but which cost patients time, money, anxiety, and side effect burden to investigate – that it ends up net negative. But isn’t this just a problem of setting thresholds correctly? Can’t you commit to only investigating the most obviously bad things, then ignore the rest?” (06/22/26)
“The pattern is obvious. In an overworked House office, whoever has time and capacity to produce a clean draft often decides what gets written. On defense portfolios, that is increasingly a uniformed fellow on detail from the Department of Defense. In practice, executive-branch detailees do not supplement staff capacity; they replace it on key tasks, shaping agendas, drafting text, and gatekeeping information that will later govern their own departments. About ninety military fellows cycle through the Hill each year, with roughly two dozen each from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and a dozen more from the Marine Corps. Their credentials are strong and intentions usually public-spirited. The problem is institutional. A congressional staffer owes undivided loyalty to Article I. An officer owes loyalty to a chain of command that runs to Article II. When workloads are crushing, that conflict is resolved by inertia rather than deliberation.” (06/23/26)
