Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott
“What connects Thailand’s surprisingly strong economic performance in the first quarter of 2026, and its simultaneous diplomatic push to reintegrate Myanmar into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)? On the surface, not much: one is an economic story centered on GDP figures, exports, and growing domestic demand; the other is a tense geopolitical story involving civil war, diplomacy, and regional security. Under the surface, however — and you don’t need to scratch much to get there — the two are closely connected. Thailand’s Myanmar policy is not only about ASEAN unity, but reflects a broader effort by Bangkok to stabilize the regional environment that remains more fragile than the headline figures suggest.” (06/02/26)
“Walgreens didn’t leave the South Side of Chicago because they hate Black people. They left because we made it impossible for them to stay. Just recently, another Walgreens shut down on Cottage Grove, and once again the public conversation turned in the wrong direction. People started blaming the company, blaming corporate greed, blaming everything except the conditions on the ground that made staying there untenable. But businesses do not keep stores open out of charity. They stay where people shop, where customers feel safe and where theft and disorder do not make daily operations a losing proposition. At that Cottage Grove Walgreens, the theft was off the charts. By local reports, the store lost more than a million dollars to theft in a single year.” (06/02/26)
“If natural selection rewards traits that maximize individual fitness, why doesn’t behavior collapse into constant defection? In a world shaped by selfish replicators, what explains the persistence of cooperation — and how is it sustained across animal communities and human societies?” (06/02/26)
“Tonight will be less about the countdown for polls to close and more about what individual races mean — for party factions, and for President Donald Trump, looking toward November.” (06/02/26)
“Consider the markets for fresh vegetables and instant noodles. Assume that fresh vegetables are a normal good, while instant noodles are an inferior good. Suppose Congress bans a commonly used fertilizer and pest-control chemical in vegetable farming. Without this input, vegetable yields fall and there is increased spoilage from pest damage.” (06/02/26)
“While Hamas has previously stated, on numerous occasions, that it would lay down its weapons in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, Israel has repeatedly rejected such an offer. In fact, the IDF has pushed deeper into Gaza since the ceasefire was signed and now occupies 60% of the strip instead of the 53% that was originally agreed on. By refusing to consider Hamas’s core demand, a mutually respected long term peace deal becomes difficult to envision.” (06/02/26)
“The conservative influencers have spoken: Harley-Davidson — whose motorcycles helped create the paradigm of American masculinity — is in fact woke and gay. The past week has seen wave after wave of MAGA personalities and meme accounts decide, seemingly out of nowhere, that Harley-Davidson was company non grata. MAGA influencer Priya Patel declared the manufacturer ‘fundamentally anti-American,’ while Hercules actor-turned-tweeter Kevin Sorbo said his friends were abandoning Harley-Davidson en masse. Conservative meme account ‘Prison Mitch’ told his more than 100,000 followers that Harley-Davidson is ‘woke and gay’ then posted a picture of a man in a biker’s vest having gay sex (jarring but basically SFW), quipping that Harley-Davidson riders rode a very different kind of ‘hog.'” (06/01/26)
“While Washington’s war with Iran drags on, month after month, without any end in sight, the world is witnessing the very real limits of U.S. global power. As President Donald Trump lurches repeatedly from threats of devastation to promises of peace, it’s becoming increasingly clear that U.S. military might is no longer capable of subduing even a mid-sized power like Iran, much less holding the rest of the world in its thrall. Amid all the drama of air raids, drone strikes, and naval blockades, there are deeper geopolitical forces at play that lend a lasting historical import to events in the Persian Gulf — dynamics best seen by comparing two newspaper editorials with revealing similarities despite the 80 years separating their publication.” (06/02/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“In the natural rights tradition, the rights to life, liberty, and property are inherent and inalienable. They are not “created” by the Constitution but are recognized and protected by it. It means each and every individual has these rights even if the law might deprive them of their rights. Justice Thomas explains how he learned this from his grandparents, who raised him, in Savannah, Georgia …. Justice Thomas was right to say that equality in this sense is a universal ideal, but he went astray when he attempted to ground this ideal in the Declaration of Independence.” (06/02/26)
“There is a high likelihood that due to the past large decline in the yearly growth rate of the money supply, the US economy is heading towards an economic bust. Note that the yearly growth rate of money supply fell from 79% in February 2021 to minus 7% by May 2023. The sharp decline in the yearly momentum of money supply is starting to hurt various activities that emerged on the back of the huge increase in the money supply yearly growth rate between August 2019 and February 2021 – from minus 1% to 79%. It is likely that the effect of this massive increase is still dominating the present state of economic activity.” (06/02/26)
