“Some say that economics is not a predictive science. We say ‘Pish’ to that idea, even ‘Pfft,’ and here is a prediction from economics: ‘The Conservatives are planning to introduce ‘ration cards’ to prevent thousands of criminals from spending their benefits on alcohol and gambling. The party wants to reduce Britain’s ballooning welfare bill by issuing criminal claimants with cards that severely limit what their money can be spent on.’ It will take some sub-triple digit number of hours for a black market to appear and given modern social media some sub-double digit number of weeks for it to be a commonplace across the country. There will be a trade of this restricted money for the unlimited ration coupons known as cash money. Further, we’d predict that the unlimited form will be worth more than the limited.” (06/02/26)
“Florida home values have increased by about 150% since 2008, and that there now about 2 million more homes in Florida than there were in 2008. In other words, a lot more homeowners are paying a lot more in property taxes than used to be the case. In the meantime, average wages have only increased by about 35%, while inflation has driven up the prices of things Floridians buy by 75%. Which means those increased tax bills have become less affordable, even as county government budgets have continued to grow at or faster than the inflation rate. The state government has run budget surpluses since 2010. It seems to me that SOME kind of correction is in order. Government keeps taking, and spending, more of our money, but our earnings aren’t keeping up with either that government growth or the cost of living.” (06/02/26)
“A Congress that routinely misses budget deadlines and adds to an unsustainable debt burden should not expect automatic raises with no accountability.” (06/02/26)
“Some conflicts among the states are inevitable and perhaps even healthy in our system. But rules must restrain those conflicts so that they do not undermine important national goods such as freedom of commerce among the states. … The Constitution therefore includes several restrictions on what states can do to one another and a commerce clause that hands regulatory power to Congress. For almost all of America’s history, the Supreme Court has inferred from that clause that state governments can’t regulate interstate economic activity … But the justices have, unfortunately, grown less and less willing to enforce those limits on the states.” (06/02/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Alexander William Salter
“There is a tension at the heart of political economy. Is it the science of statesmanship, by which rulers manage taxation, commerce, public finance, and national prosperity? Or is it the science of self-government, meaning the study of how free people coordinate their affairs without constant management from above? These conceptions appear to conflict. Statesmanship implies centralized judgment. Self-government implies decentralized judgment. One vision emphasizes what governments do for societies, while the other emphasizes what societies can do for themselves.” (06/02/26)
“More than any other region, Asia has felt the knock-on effects of the Iran war in energy supplies. Before the conflict began in February, some 80% of the oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz went to Asian buyers. In recent weeks, as those supplies have dwindled, the region has endured blackouts, fuel rationing, and dozens of protests, from South Korea to the Philippines to India. The expectation was that each country would turn inward to protect petroleum supplies. Not so. With a population of more than half of humanity, Asia has shown a great deal of humanity in tackling the crisis together. ‘Now that they are hostage to events thousands of miles away,’ reported The Economist, ‘the squabbles that frequently break out between Asian neighbours no longer look quite such a threat.'” (06/01/26)
“On a weekday morning in downtown Washington, federal buildings and corporate offices still feel half-full, even as return-to-office emails pile up. At the same time, across the Atlantic, the House of Lords has treated remote work not as a culture-war skirmish but as a subject for a full inquiry on home-based working, backed by extensive evidence and formal hearings. Its Home-based Working Committee spent 10 months asking two simple questions with big consequences: First, is working from home working? And second, if so, how should governments and employers respond? The answer, detailed by researcher Jane Parry in a synthesis of five years of evidence on hybrid work, is clear enough for policymakers. Hybrid work shows only modest average effects on productivity, but it delivers meaningful gains in labor supply, employment rates, recruitment, retention and office efficiency when it is managed deliberately.” (06/02/26)
“What’s the point of trying to civilize the barbarians? Why demonstrate what liberal democracy can offer to a fundamentally illiberal civilization? Why bother trying to make inroads with a ‘basket of deplorables?’ Why bother trying to reason with people who ‘get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations?’ The irony is that the entire argument is fundamentally illiberal. The whole point of liberalism is that your ‘civilization’ does not define you. Nor does your race, sex, nationality, or religion. The whole point of liberalism is that the world is not divided into us versus them. Creating outgroups and outgroup hostility and moral panics is the authoritarian’s playbook. It’s immiserating.” (06/02/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Multiple far right Israeli ministers attended New York City’s Israel Day Parade on Sunday, including Israel’s genocidal finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. Smotrich is ideologically not significantly different from a Nazi. Which means New York City just hosted a Nazi parade that was attended by thousands of people. New York officials are acting shocked and appalled by Smotrich’s appearance at the march, but ‘I can’t believe there were Israeli officials at the Israel parade’ is kind of a hard sell. This is just what supporting Israel looks like: standing shoulder to shoulder with genocidal extremists and making common cause with them. That’s what Israel is.” (06/02/26)
“I will start by noting I am not an academic expert on dating and relationships, nor am I any kind of professional dating guru. Far from it. But what I learned may be useful to some people, in part for those very reasons. If I could make this strategy work, the same may be true for others.” (06/02/26)
