“For a long time, the liberal response to institutional mistrust was a mix of condescension and bafflement. If the public did not trust the experts, the assumption was that people were either misinformed or manipulated by bad actors. We lived through a decade of trying to fact-check our way out of a legitimacy crisis. But the tone has started to shift. Across public health agencies, local police departments, housing authorities, and financial institutions, people have watched institutions fail visibly and repeatedly, often without meaningful accountability afterward. In that context, skepticism is not necessarily irrational. It can be a reasonable response to systems that appear distant, unresponsive, or insulated from the consequences of their own mistakes.” (08/24/26)
“The United States has canceled a joint amphibious landing exercise with South Korean forces that was set for next month, citing resource constraints driven by the war in Iran, the South Korean military announced Monday. The U.S. Marine Corps had notified its South Korean counterpart in June that Middle East operational demands would prevent the deployment of forces for the biennial exercise known as Ssangyong, or ‘Twin Dragons,’ the South Korean Marine Corps said on Monday. The U.S. military in Korea did not immediately comment on the announcement. The move marked the second joint military drill with South Korea to be canceled or downsized during President Trump’s second term.” (08/24/26)
“Nixon promised jobs, stable prices, and protection for the dollar. His ‘fixes’ helped usher in a new era of inflation, debt, and monetary instability.” (08/24/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“Apple builds and sells iPhones. I happen to own one of the older models, for the same reason I own a last-legs older model car. What if Apple could skip the build part and sell only the phone? The money saved would be an enormous boost to its bottom line. And if Apple passed the savings onto customers I could conceivably afford to upgrade. Where would the phones come from? From a bookkeeping entry, of course. Unfortunately, Apple’s customers are very demanding and want the real things, so the build operations will have to stay. Perhaps their executives looked upon another business and envied their ability to sell loans without drawing down their savings. Customer with good credit wants a loan? Create the amount with a few taps on a keyboard and send him on his way.” (08/24/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Abigail R Hall & Michael Coon
“Excitement abounds as college students prepare to return to campus. Some students will begin their college experience. Others will begin the countdown to graduation. But for international students, fall is likely to bring significant anxiety. On Sept. 15, new rules for student visas will place them in a bind, harm universities and impose high costs on one of the country’s strongest service exports: education.” (08/24/26)
“California Attorney General Rob Bonta has canceled planned settlement talks with Paramount over the state’s lawsuit seeking to block David Ellison‘s proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, accusing Paramount of acting in bad faith, according to The New York Times. Bonta is leading a coalition of 12 states in challenging the proposed merger and asking the court to block the deal, arguing the merger would give the company too much power across cable television and movie production. The two sides had been due to meet Monday for preliminary discussions for a possible settlement, but Bonta called off the meeting late Sunday, after accusing Paramount of misrepresenting details of an earlier meeting held on Friday.” (08/24/26)
“Last week was the 28th anniversary of the U.S. government’s bombing of a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan. Scott Horton, director of the Libertarian Institute, observed last week that that wanton assault by the Clinton administration ‘helped make a folk hero out of bin Laden, drove up recruitment for Al Qaeda and made it more difficult for the Taliban to give him up.’ Operation Infinite Reach was a farce of the first order—and may have helped pave the way to the September 11 attacks. That carnage resulted in a federal court ruling that practically gave presidents a license to kill any time that they claimed to have good intentions.” (08/24/26)
“Last week, Trump announced that the U.S. will, for 90 days, admit up to 300,000 metric tons of ground-beef product without the normal out-of-quota tariff, and that he has obtained a ‘commitment’ that the beef will be sold 25% below current market prices. This comes on top of February’s much smaller measure allocating an extra 80,000 metric tons of tariff-free lean beef specifically to Argentina. … My immediate reaction to this was, ‘That sounds like some Third World shit.’ A little research would bear this intuition out: this is something like a practice of developing nations. For example, Nigeria during the oil boom of the 1970s.” (08/24/26)
