Source: The Daily Economy
by Taylor Millard
“While inflation ranges may offer technical advantages, they risk blurring accountability and weakening confidence in the Federal Reserve when clarity is most needed.” (02/17/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/inflation-ranges-and-the-feds-credibility-problem/
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“In many ways the Trump administration’s hostility to vaccines is similar to its hostility to clean energy, which I wrote about yesterday. Both policy swerves will kill Americans. If Trumpists succeed in forcing the U.S. to burn more coal, thousands will die from air pollution. Only a year into the Trump 47 administration, there is already a resurgence in almost conquered diseases due to the anti-vax MAGA crusade. Both these sudden policy serves are economically destructive: A 2024 report from the Centers for Disease Control estimated that each dollar spent on childhood vaccination has saved around $11 in societal costs. Moreover, the Trumpists aren’t content with just cutting off federal funding — they’re determined to stop anyone else from doing the right thing.” (02/17/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/how-the-kakistocracy-became-a-quackistocracy
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“The department’s pattern of dishonesty supports a presumption of irregularity.” (02/17/26)
Source: Cobden Centre
by Tim Price
“We don’t usually comment on day-to-day price developments as a) our interpretation of events may well be wrong, and b) by the time we’ve shared them with readers, the markets have moved on in any case. But the magnitude of the moves in the prices of gold and silver on 30th January warrant some further analysis. The financial media were quick to report, firstly, the apparent end to the precious metals ‘bubble’ and, secondly, to blame the new nominee for Fed chairman, Kevin Warsh, for its climactic explosion. Well, as the noted law enforcer ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan once opined, opinions are like assholes — everybody’s got one.” (02/17/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/02/weird-scenes-inside-the-gold-mine-2/
Source: Common Dreams
by Richard Heinberg
“In a recent article I argued that the world is now crossing a threshold from decades of growth and increasing integration to decades of economic shrinkage and political breakdown. This shift will create stresses that extend in scale from ecosystems and international relations down to households and individuals. Everyone will be personally (and likely profoundly) impacted by the polycrisis. There are three components to this tectonic shift: environmental, economic, and political. It’s useful to think of this in terms of disasters, e.g. natural disasters, economic calamities, and government repression or civil war. Every disaster is unique, but some general observations apply. When a disaster happens, our normal sense of time is interrupted and our priorities get scrambled. Suddenly, nothing matters but the immediate necessities of escaping harm and helping others to safety. People’s attitudes tend to be sober, purposeful, and helpful; hysteria is rare.” (02/17/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/mutual-aid-minnesota-crisis
Source: Liberal Currents
by Zeb Larson
“MAGA is actively seeking to immiserate the country in order to cement their power over the rest of us.” (02/17/26)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by RT Hadley
“Mass deportations poll well, in part because many Americans believe immigrants should ‘get in line’ and follow the law. However, the core issue isn’t a nation’s right to enforce its borders. When people are willing to overlook constitutional violations to ‘solve the problem,’ they reveal a deeper disregard for the principles of liberty and individual rights that define America. If we abandon those first principles in moments of fear or frustration, we have to ask whether we still deserve to call ourselves a free society. Regardless of one’s views on immigration levels or deportation policy, constitutional rights cannot be suspended to achieve policy ends. The Constitution applies to everyone within U.S. borders—citizen and non‑citizen alike.” (02/17/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/ice-is-freezing-out-the-constitution/
Source: Independent Institute
by Daniel B Klein
“Adam Smith expressed his antipathy to hegemonic domination in The Wealth of Nations and other works. I highlight his rebuke of slavery, his paragraph calling for Britain to relinquish her colonies, his comments on the vanity and amusement of newspaper readers, his condemnation of the East India Company, his paragraph naturalizing multipolarity, and his remark about the real mediocrity of Britain’s circumstances. I close by reflecting on the enduring relevance of the anti-hegemist spirit of ’76.” (02/17/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/17/adam-smiths-anti-hegemist-spirit-of-76/
Source: Quillette
by Tomislav Kardum
“Populist rhetoric is exceptionally effective for pursuing and gaining power, but it provides no program for the complexities of actual governance.” (02/17/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/02/17/populisms-self-defeating-trap-trump-europe-dostoevsky/
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“People should be free to talk to each other about whatever they want as long as they’re not thereby conspiring to rob and murder and so forth. They should even be able to give advice. Including legal advice. New York State disagrees. The Institute for Justice is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let the non-lawyer volunteers of a company called Upsolve keep giving advice to people facing lawsuits to collect debt.” (02/17/26)