Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton

“Inflation is indeed a killer. It is only the incredible productivity of even our badly-perverted and severely-damaged free market economy that makes a Quarter-pounder meal cost ‘only’ somewhere between $9.00 and $12.00 (well, FRNs). Plus sales tax, as government rip us off for another 6-10% (between 54 cents and a dollar-twenty more). We can count our blessings that we are only paying TEN times what that same food cost a half-century ago.” (02/05/26)

https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/02/05/the-killing-nature-of-inflation/

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“A recent rise in anti-corruption movements in Europe has upended politics from Serbia to Bulgaria to Romania. Now, one of the continent’s most entrenched leaders, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, faces a serious challenge this April in a parliamentary election that could be determined by what one commentator calls a public ‘yearning for integrity’. For the European Union, too, the stakes in the election are high. Mr. Orbán and his ruling populist conservative party, Fidesz, have often obstructed the 27-member bloc in helping Ukraine and countering Russia. The EU has also held back funds for Budapest over its shrinking rule of law. After nearly 16 years in power, Mr. Orbán has left Hungary with the lowest household living standards in the EU. The country of 9.6 million people has experienced three years of economic stagnation.” (02/03/25)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0203/Europe-s-future-pivots-on-a-Hungarian-election

Source: Niskanen Center
by Jenny Schuetz

“State and local policymakers urgently need to know how well pro-housing policies are achieving their underlying goals. Have they resulted in higher quantities of new construction, especially in targeted locations and structure types? Have development timelines been shortened, yielding cost savings for new homes? Are there spillover effects on the rents and prices of existing homes, or other changes in key housing market outcomes, such as vacancy rates?” (02/05/26)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-to-evaluate-state-pro-housing-policies-mind-the-empirical-pitfalls/

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Aaron Day

“The original vision for Bitcoin was simple: peer-to-peer digital cash, free from banks and government. However, the document argues that this vision was deliberately ‘hijacked,’ as Bitcoin is now pushed as ‘digital gold,’ a scarce asset for Wall Street, with slow and expensive transactions for everyday use. This shift began with the 2015-2017 Block Size Fight, where a group won the argument to keep transaction blocks small, making the main network costly. The promoted ‘fix,’ the Lightning Network, is a faster system but relies on middlemen (hubs), fundamentally changing it from true P2P cash. The funding for this change is linked to Jeffrey Epstein.” (02/05/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-hijacking-of-bitcoin/

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“There are, broadly speaking, two different types of people who are calling attention to the Epstein files right now: (A) those who hope the revelations lead to high-level prosecutions and major institutional changes in the US government, and (B) those who know this will never happen but hope the revelations will help radicalize people toward truly revolutionary politics. Those in category (A) believe the system is broken and needs to be fixed. Those in category (B) understand that the system is working exactly as intended and needs to be destroyed.” (02/05/25)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/02/05/new-issue-of-johnstone-the-system-is-working-exactly-as-intended/