What Nobel Minds Get Wrong

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mani Basharzad

“Each year after the Nobel Prize announcements, laureates, who are among the greatest minds of their generation, gather and shape a broader intellectual conversation. At this year’s gathering, a Nobel laureate in physics posed a question to the economic laureates: ‘Can we grow without limit? What about finite resources?’ He added, ‘At some point, must we also modify this growth system — which wants to consume more and more of the Earth’s resources?’ To answer this question, we need to go back to a bet made about humanity’s fate in 1980. Economist Julian Simon and biologist Paul Ehrlich made a wager about the future of humanity. At the heart of the bet was a simple question: Would population growth lead to resource scarcity and human decline, or to greater prosperity and innovation?” (03/31/26)

https://fee.org/articles/what-nobel-minds-get-wrong/

Why the US Navy won’t blast the Iranians and “open” Strait of Hormuz

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by James A Russell

“American taxpayers could be forgiven if recent events have left them wondering why the largest and most expensive Navy in the world is sitting well outside the Strait of Hormuz, watching powerlessly as the Iranians decide which ships they will allow to transit the waterway. After all, they must wonder, why can’t the Navy simply blast the Iranians away and re-open the strait, sending life and the global economy back to normal? Alas, the days of omnipotent U.S. sea power as a power projection instrument close to well defended shorelines are coming to an end. This change raises questions about the future of navies and the wisdom of investment in these extremely expensive instruments of national power.” (03/31/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-strait-of-hormuz/

Bari Weiss and the “Four Horsemen of New Zionism”

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Brandt Burleson

“The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has received over two-hundred complaints from American troops that their commanders used the Book of Revelation to frame the Iran War as a ‘Holy War’ in which President Donald Trump was chosen to ignite ‘The End Times’ as part of ‘God’s divine plan.’ When I decided to make this series about the ‘Four Horsemen of New Zionism,’ I meant it purely metaphorically. It seems some of our top brass have a more literal interpretation (welcome to the End Times). The Horseman, or rather Horsewoman, we will be spotlighting in this article is none other than the Empress of Identity, the Herald of Cancellation, Bari Weiss.” (03/31/26)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/bari-weiss-and-the-four-horsemen-of-new-zionism

Malaysia: Court orders ex-PM Najib to pay US$1.3 billion to 1MDB unit

Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

“A Malaysian court on Tuesday ⁠ordered jailed former ⁠prime minister Najib Razak ⁠to pay US$1.3 billion to a former unit of scandal-tainted state fund 1MDB, state media reported. The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Najib was liable for losses incurred by ‌SRC International, a former subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, state news agency Bernama reported. High Court judge Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin ruled that Najib breached his fiduciary duties, abused his position as prime minister, and misappropriated SRC funds for ⁠personal gain, Bernama reported. … Najib has been in prison since August 2022 ‌after being found guilty of corruption and money laundering over funds misappropriated from SRC in a ‌separate ‌case.” (03/31/26)

https://archive.is/2hbIm

But this is the very point of tariffs

Source: Cobden Centre
by Tim Worstall

“The point of tariffs is not to make those things made by evil Johnny Foreigner more expensive. It is to enable the domestic capitalists to raise the prices of their domestically made goods: ‘HS2 firm says new steel tariffs will ‘exacerbate’ cost pressures for UK construction industry’ Doubling tariffs on imported steel will raise cost of the metal when Iran war is already inflating steel and concrete prices This is not an error nor a happenstance: it’s the whole and precise point of the act itself. … So, let’s not do that. Let’s not make everything in the country more expensive just to benefit that fraction of the 1%.” (03/31/26)

https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/03/but-this-is-the-very-point-of-tariffs/