“Economics has a small stock of principles that a first-year student can recite and a Cabinet minister can forget within the hour. Incentives matter; Taxes change behaviour; Prices are signals. These are not obscure theorems. They are closer to proverbs, the kind of thing an intelligent teenager grasps within an afternoon. Yet politicians who could tell you the exact yield on a ten-year gilt will propose a policy that assumes people respond to subsidies but not to taxes, or that a price can be fixed by decree without anyone noticing. The puzzle is not that people are stupid. Despite obvious counter-examples, few politicians are. The puzzle is that intelligence and economic literacy are almost unrelated skills, and the political process actively selects against the second.” (08/04/26)
“U.S. job openings fell slightly in June, but the labor market continued to show resilience in the face of an economic shock from fighting in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Labor Department said that employers posted 7.36 million vacancies in June, down from 7.54 million in May. The numbers were in line with economists’ expectations. Layoffs were little-changed at 1.8 million, and the number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their prospects — rose slightly. The U.S. job market has remained sturdy despite a surge in energy prices caused by the conflict in Iran, rebounding from a 2025 slump.” (08/04/26)
“After a stinging but widely expected loss at the U.S. Supreme Court, President Trump pressed his enablers to search, once again, for some law he could use to justify imposing new tariff rates on dozens of countries, both friends and foes alike. Yet no Trump policy has been a bigger economic and political failure than his tariffs, alienating other countries, harming U.S. businesses and, most importantly, enraging American voters.” (08/04/26)
“Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) on Monday broke with her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), over abolishing the filibuster three weeks after stepping in to finish the rest of his term. … ]This is where I differ from my brother, getting rid of the filibuster to get this done. Because eventually the Democrats are going to get rid of it anyway,’ she added, in reference to how Republicans should handle passing legislation to change voter registration requirements. Earlier this year, Lindsey Graham said lawmakers could consider nuking the filibuster in the future but warned against it in the short term.” (08/04/26)
“The ideological tolerance gap on campus is shrinking, but not because students are becoming more open-minded. Rather, it appears they are becoming less tolerant across the board.” (08/05/26)
“Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos joins me for our weekly debrief. No matter how crazy things may get or how ridiculous the things we’re expected to believe, we always have options.” (08/04/26)
“The so-called “anti-weaponization fund” established as part of a purported settlement between President Trump and the IRS isn’t dead, it’s just sleeping. Don’t be fooled by the weasel-worded statements that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on the Department of Justice website and tweeted out late Sunday night. They are clearly intended to give a false impression that a stake has finally been driven into the fund’s heart. It hasn’t. Blanche posted two written statements on Sunday night, one that he calls an ‘order’ and one that he calls an ‘update.’ Let’s look at each of them in turn.” (08/04/26)
“While SpaceX says there is a ‘significant’ amount of life left in its fleet of Crew Dragon spacecraft, the company has hedged on how long it will continue flying the spacecraft as it transitions to Starship. The upcoming Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for launch no earlier than Sept. 12, will be the second flight of this Crew Dragon spacecraft, called Grace, the newest of the fleet. Grace made its first flight last summer on the Ax-4 private astronaut mission to the ISS. Crew-13 will be SpaceX’s 18th human spaceflight mission to the ISS …. SpaceX does not plan to build additional Crew Dragon spacecraft beyond the five currently in service. While the spacecraft were originally certified for five missions each, the company has been working with NASA to extend the spacecraft lifetimes to up to 15 missions each.” (08/04/26)
