“If you’re ever asked to define the word oxymoron, just say ‘Congressional ethics.’ People instinctively burst out guffawing at the absurdity of linking Congress to upright behavior. But surprisingly, Republican congressional leaders say they’re now taking a bold stand for a little less corruption among their own members, targeting lawmakers who’ve been secretly enriching themselves through ‘insider stock trading.’ … recently, the party’s designated ethics watchdog, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), rose on his hind legs to introduce the Stop Insider Trading Act. ‘If you want to trade stocks,’ Steil howled in operatic outrage, ‘go to Wall Street.’ Bravissimo! Except it was a fraud. Far from stopping the self-enriching stock scams of lawmakers like Bresnahan, Steil’s bill basically legalizes their corrupt transactions.” (02/06/26)
“Recent studies reveal a striking statistic: over the last decade, approximately 30% of primary care physicians have either retired or switched to non-clinical roles, leaving a notable gap in patient care. Something subtle has been happening in American medicine, and it’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. There have been no emergency declarations, no ribbon-cutting ceremonies, no breaking news alerts. No one has announced it officially. But if you pay attention — if you walk into clinics that once buzzed with conversation, if you notice how long it takes now to get an appointment, if you see how often a familiar nameplate disappears from a door — you begin to feel it. The waiting rooms are quieter. Not calmer. Not healthier. Just quieter in a method that feels wrong. The type of quiet that doesn’t signal relief, but absence.” (02/06/26)
Source: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus
by David Beckworth
“Quantitative Easing (QE) is back in the news. So, too, is the large size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. The public’s renewed interest in these topics has been sparked by President Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to be the next Fed Chair. Warsh is a vocal critic of both QE and the Fed’s expansive balance sheet, and he has called for a ‘regime change’ at the Fed on these issues. I am broadly sympathetic to Warsh’s concerns about the size of the Fed’s balance sheet, and in previous newsletters I have outlined several steps to carefully reduce it. In this piece, however, I will focus on QE itself.” (02/06/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Spain receives much well-deserved praise for its rail network, the second-largest in the world after China’s, with around 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of high-speed track. Rail travel in the Iberian country now accounts for 56% of all travel, more than road and air combined, with high-speed services connecting over fifty Spanish cities. In 2009, then-US President Barack Obama credited the 470-kilometer (292-mile) line linking Madrid to the southern city of Seville — the country’s first high-speed service, opened in 1992 — as one of the inspirations for creating a network of comparable efficiency across America. But after four incidents in less than a week, public trust in Spain’s world-class network has been shaken.” (02/06/26)
“Liberated from a dictatorship 14 months ago, Syrians are struggling to unify their pivotal Middle East country. One example was an attack last month by the new government on an ethnic Kurdish area. A negotiated settlement has since calmed the region – a small step toward democracy – but it has also brought a fresh focus on an old problem: What to do with the former fighters of the Islamic State group and their families? While ISIS forces were decisively defeated in 2019 through a multinational effort, northeastern Syria is still home to pockets of former fighters – and more than 20 prison camps administered until now by Kurdish forces with U.S. support. Some governments and analysts worry that these camps are potential hotbeds for fomenting continued radicalism. Many of the estimated 50,000 prisoners are family members of ISIS fighters from Syria and Iraq.” (02/06/25)
“Federal immigration agents have abducted Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, a workers’ rights organizer well known in Minnesota for fighting wage theft and labor trafficking. His attorney and son say he is currently held at the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, run by CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison companies in the United States. For the first time, his family is going to the press as community support for his release is swelling. All we care about is having him back with us, at home in Minnesota,’ his son, Gerardo Orozco Guzman, told me. ’That’s all we want.’ Our interview followed a judge’s ruling in the District Court of Minnesota on Wednesday that denied and dismissed Orozco Verdusco’s habeas corpus petition challenging his unlawful detention.” (02/06/25)
“Be vigilant, be imaginative, but also remember that everything Trump is doing to impose restrictive voting measures is backfiring on Republicans, just like his previous efforts.” (02/06/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Accusations have burgeoned that President Donald Trump is determined to destroy the ‘rules-based international order’ established after World War II. Some of his actions certainly resemble old-style, 19th century imperialism. His initial demand that Denmark sell Greenland to the United States fits that description. One could readily envision previous presidents such as Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, or William McKinley making a similar move for U.S. territorial aggrandizement. Trump is a rather unashamed imperialist, willing to use threats or even military force to bully other nations. However, despite the recent surge in warnings around the world (especially in Europe) that his actions are wrecking an effective, rules-based international system, that allegation is unfounded. The so-called rules-based system that the United States and its Western allies established has always been fraudulent and self-serving.” (02/06/26)
“There are, of course, outstanding issues in the Epstein files that need to be addressed — people who committed crimes in legal terms, people who engaged in morally reprehensible behavior, and people who themselves are not individually guilty but who condoned what was happening. The Epstein files are not about individual guilt or innocence; they are about the nature of collective power. And when, within that collectivity, elites abused sexual, financial, legal, political, and even intellectual power without shame and with impunity, one has to wonder whether the Roman historians were onto something: They envisioned empires collapsing when elites could no longer restrain themselves in any aspect of their lives. An elite so needy, greedy, and now so vulnerable can hardly be trusted to exercise good judgment.” (02/05/26)
