“The Grateful Dead was supremely American. No other nation on earth could have produced music like this, a synthesis of blues, R&B, country, folk, rock, even a little jazz. Nowhere else would a band origin story be the following: The 16-year-old Weir and friends were bumming around Palo Alto on New Year’s Eve 1963, heard the sound of a banjo, and followed it to a music store where they happened upon Jerry Garcia waiting for his banjo students to show up. They never did, so Bobby and his friends picked up some instruments and played jug music with Jerry into the night. It was so much fun, Jerry and Bobby decided to form a band called Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, which became the Warlocks, and then the Grateful Dead. Find that in Japan — find it in England.” (01/13/26)
“A Republican congressman from Florida introduced a bill on Monday to annex Greenland and make it the 51st US state as President Donald Trump threatens to seize the autonomous Danish territory. Trump has said the United States will take Greenland ‘one way or the other,’ floating the idea of buying the territory or taking it by force, despite strong pushback from Denmark, a Nato ally. Representative Randy Fine said his new legislation would authorise Trump ‘to take whatever steps necessary to annex or acquire Greenland.'” (01/13/26)
Source: The Daily Economy
by Christopher Lingle & Emile Phaneuf III
“The term ‘money laundering’ was coined after the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, yet it was not formalized into law with any federal offense until the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986. These days, law enforcement and regulatory agencies such as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) typically use the term alongside other terms that imply an obvious victim needing protection: ‘terrorist financing,’ ‘human trafficking.’ This is meant to provoke a strong reaction against money laundering as a practice. One problem with the association of money laundering with these other terms that obviously justify a strong response to prevent them is that money laundering does not, in itself, always have a clear victim.” (01/13/26)
“Despite the widespread expectation that President Donald Trump would end Washington’s entanglement in NATO’s proxy war using Ukraine against Russia, it is increasingly evident that the fundamental features of U.S. policy remain unaltered. Trump personally has sent an array of mixed signals about his intentions. Although he has pressured Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to accept the reality that Kyiv must be willing to make territorial concessions to Moscow in any peace accord, he also has been receptive to Zelensky’s demand that Ukraine be given reliable ‘security guarantees’ in such a settlement. Indeed, during the recent summit meeting between the two leaders, the main point of disagreement appeared to be that Zelensky wanted a commitment lasting 50 years, whereas Trump was prepared to offer only 15 years.” (01/13/26)
“The BBC plans to ask a court to throw out U.S. President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the British broadcaster, court papers show. Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim, filed in a Florida federal court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices. … The broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejects claims it defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news. Papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami say the BBC will file a motion to dismiss the case on March 17 on the basis that the court lacks jurisdiction and Trump failed to state a claim.” (01/13/26)
Source: Macroeconomic Policy News
by David Beckworth
“The FOMC brought quantitative tightening (QT) to an end at its December 2025 meeting. In doing so, it reaffirmed something that has become increasingly clear over the past decade: the structural size of the Fed’s balance sheet keeps ratcheting higher after each round of QE. It all feels a bit like déjà vu. As Bill Nelson noted, the Fed now believes it needs roughly $3 trillion in reserve balances to operate its floor system, implying a minimum securities portfolio of about $6 1/2 trillion once currency in circulation and the Treasury General Account are taken into account. What stands out is not just the size of that number, but its direction.” (01/13/26)
“A clash between Poland’s right-wing president and its centrist ruling coalition over the European Union’s flagship social media law is putting the country further at risk of multimillion euro fines from Brussels. President Karol Nawrocki is holding up a bill that would implement the EU’s Digital Services Act, a tech law that allows regulators to police how social media firms moderate content. Nawrocki, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, said in a statement that the law would ‘give control of content on the internet to officials subordinate to the government, not to independent courts.’ The government coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Nawrocki’s rival, warned this further exposed them to the risk of EU fines as high as €9.5 million.” (01/13/26)
