“Market failure, which I am defining here as a market not reaching the equilibrium condition where quantity supplied equals quantity demanded, is ubiquitous. Every time we walk into stores, we see market failure happening: shelves and shelves of goods sit, waiting for buyers. This is excess supply (surplus), a market failure. If the market were in equilibrium and perfectly clearing, then when you (the marginal consumer) walk into a store, you should see only the good(s) in the precise quantity you want to buy at the price that precisely equals your willingness to pay for the marginal unit. Nothing else should remain. … Obviously, such an outcome does not exist. Some of the goods we want exist in surplus. Some exist in shortage. And, consequently, the market has failed. But this failure is vital to the workings of the market, broadly called the ‘market process.'” (06/09/26)
“The Republican revolt against President Donald Trump began over an issue that was never supposed to become a crisis: another war in the Middle East. In recent weeks, a group of Republican members of Congress has openly challenged the White House — not over taxes, immigration, or even the budget, but over the most fundamental power of any president: the authority to lead the country into war. When several Republicans chose to stand alongside Democrats and support efforts to limit the president’s war powers, something greater than a routine legislative vote took place. This was not merely a legal disagreement over the interpretation of the Constitution; it was a sign of a deeper fracture emerging at the core of a movement that was once united around Trump’s leadership.” (06/09/26)
“The Los Angeles Republican mayoral candidate was seen as a cutting-edge adopter of artificial intelligence, but it only cut down his chances of winning.” (06/09/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“When the conduct of war is depicted as essentially a force for good, citizens who criticize wars risk incurring the wrath of their own governments. In Northern Opposition to Mr. Lincoln’s War, John Chodes recounts the hardships experienced by Indianans who criticized Lincoln’s war. The governor, Oliver P. Morton, ordered that his critics be arrested, subjected civilians to military trials, and imprisoned them in a detention camp. He shut down newspapers and imprisoned their editors. All this was ostensibly to rout out the traitors who did not agree that Lincoln’s war was necessary to hold the Union together.” (06/09/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale
“I get it, I’m not supposed to like Hunter. In fact, I’d wager that my name is on some list in the catacombs of an FBI vault for purchasing the Marco Polo hardcover copy of Hunter’s laptop files in 2022, the darkest days. But what can I say? I do like Hunter. And I’m certainly not the only one. On X, many right-wing accounts, which usually spend their days defending the sleepiest of Sleepy Don’s final days, were mesmerized by the younger Biden’s fever dream this week, liking and resharing his honest accounting of the sort of drug addiction and degeneracy that was once used to attack the elder Biden’s shivering and quivering administration. … Authenticity is the only currency left in American politics, and it’s ideologically neutral. Trump proved that a decade ago. Hunter is proving it now from the opposite side.” (06/09/26)
“he typical politically active professor teaching at Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, and America’s other leading universities sits in the same ideological neighborhood as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the three most progressive members of Congress. The bigger issue, however, is that many campuses lack the intellectual range for anyone to seriously challenge those professors’ views. That is the central finding of a new study commissioned by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and conducted by University of Rochester political scientist David Primo.” (06/09/26)
“Gas prices have increased 50% since the war began. Food prices have followed. The Consumer Price Index jumped 3.3% this April. Grocery bills jumped 0.7% in April. Such figures have not been seen since the peak of post-pandemic inflation. While it’s hard to ignore these costs, many Americans are not noticing the warning signs that higher prices and shortages for vital medications they rely on may soon be next, especially insulin. Supply chain experts at Stanford Health Care have flagged insulin syringes, generic drugs, and petroleum-based medical supplies as products at risk as oil prices rise and shipping costs climb. One logistics firm warned that consumers could see drug costs affected within four to six weeks of sustained disruption — a window that has already opened.” (06/08/26)
“After decades of steady growth, attendance in U.S. K–12 public schools has shifted drastically. Over the past five years, registration has fallen by 2.3 percent, or 1.18 million students, and schools show no signs of rebounding. Lower birth rates are the primary driver of the downturn. The number of births in the U.S. has decreased steadily in recent years, with 690,000 fewer children born in 2024 than in 2007. California lost nearly 75,000 TK–12 students as of the 2025–26 school year, a slide more than twice as steep as the previous year’s. Since 2017–18, the Golden State has seen a 10 percent decline. New York City has also been hard hit. As of the 2025–26 school year, 793,300 students are enrolled in K–12 schools, down nearly 10 percent since 2020. The loss of enrolled students has prompted some desperate measures.” (06/09/26)
“In a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last August, President Donald Trump noted that Ukraine hadn’t held elections since the Russian invasion, asking whether elections are called off during a war. Before Zelensky could respond, Trump added: ‘Oh, that’s a good thing.’ Five months later, Trump mused apophatically about canceling elections out of disdain for Democrats. Just days after that, in an interview with Reuters, Trump reflected with his typical braggadocio that, given his great success as president, ‘we shouldn’t even have an election’ this November. The sheer number of times Trump brought up canceling elections forced White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to clarify that the president was only joking. But in light of Trump’s repeated affronts to democracy—including January 6th and his sustained lies about the results of the 2020 election—we are forced to take these remarks seriously.” (06/09/26)
