“In antiquity, kings, generals, and heroes journeyed to the Oracle of Delphi seeking guidance about the future. Their questions were strikingly similar to those posed by economists today: What will happen if I choose this path? Will victory come next season? Will prosperity return? The oracle, seated above fissures of intoxicating vapours, never gave precise forecasts. Her answers were elliptical, conditional, and interpretive. ‘If Croesus goes to war with Persia, he will destroy a mighty empire,’ she told Croesus — but she did not specify whose. The message was merely a signal, not an itinerary blueprint. In this sense, the Delphic pilgrimage mirrors contemporary economics.” (12/02/25)
Source: Washington Post
by Marian L Tupy and Gale L Pooley
“U.S. consumers spent about 17 percent of disposable personal income on food in 1960; by 2019, that share had fallen to 9.5 percent, driven largely by more affordable food at home. Even after the inflation spike in recent years, Americans last year devoted 10.4 percent of disposable income to food, still roughly half the share common in the mid-20th century and lower than in most other countries. That is a textbook case of Engel’s law: As incomes rise, the share of income spent on food declines.
What produced these gains is not mysterious.” (12/02/25)
“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is under increasing fire for a double-tap strike, first reported by The Intercept in early September, in which the U.S. military killed two survivors of the Trump administration’s initial boat strike in the Caribbean on September 2. The Washington Post recently reported that Hegseth personally ordered the follow-up attack, giving a spoken order ‘to kill everybody.’ Multiple military legal experts, lawmakers, and now confidential sources within the government who spoke with The Intercept say Hegseth’s actions could result in the entire chain of command being investigated for a war crime or outright murder.” (12/02/25)
“Haiti’s transitional presidential council has backed an electoral law in the latest step toward holding a general election for the first time in nearly a decade. The approval late Monday means that the government can finally publish an official and long-awaited electoral calendar, after fears that the council would try to push back the tentative dates to stay in power longer. … The adoption of the electoral law came as some council members have pushed for the ouster of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, including Fritz Alphonse Jean, who was recently sanctioned by the U.S. government. Some believe that U.S. visa restrictions, like the one imposed on Jean, are being used as a threat to try and influence Haiti’s politics. Three of seven council members with voting powers weren’t present for Monday’s meeting, where the electoral law was approved, including Jean, according to Le Nouvelliste newspaper.” (12/02/25)
“The most common cancer in America is also one of the most preventable — if people simply had access to effective sunscreen. We spend $9 billion a year treating the cancerous effects of sun damage, not to mention the billions we spend to soothe the sun’s more minor effects. So many people get skin cancer that the statistics aren’t even reportable to cancer registries. But nearly all skin cancer is the result of sunlight and UV exposure, which means it is preventable. But that’s the (often greasy) rub: in the United States, sunscreen is locked inside a bureaucratic vault built in 1938, guarded by the Food and Drug Administration as if it were an experimental medical treatment.” (12/02/25)
“One danger of nationalism, Friedrich Hayek warned in 1960, was the ‘bridge’ it provides ‘from conservatism to collectivism.’ ‘To think in terms of ‘our’ industry or resource,’ he wrote, ‘is only a short step away from demanding that these national assets be directed in the national interest.’ That’s a short step that President Donald Trump has eagerly taken. In the first nine months of his second term in office, the president has overseen a giant government leap into the boardrooms of strategically important businesses. … Trump would not be the first leader to believe that greater state control of key industries and economic sectors would translate into better growth and stronger security. But from Soviet Russia to modern China, the best parallels come from authoritarian regimes rather than American presidencies.” (for publication 01/26)
