Source: The Hill
by Antony Davies & James R Harrigan

“When the federal government starts coming apart at its fiscal seams, Social Security will be the first thing to unravel. It is among the country’s largest financial challenges at over $50 trillion in unfunded obligations — Medicare is the largest. The Social Security Board of Trustees predicts that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund will become insolvent in 2033. Social Security cannot continue as it is. Keeping at least a modified version will require either tax hikes, which millions of workers will oppose, or benefits cuts, which millions of retirees will oppose. But is there a third way? Hypothetically, if it were possible to phase out Social Security without cutting retirees’ benefits and without raising workers’ taxes, would Americans go for it?” (10/29/25)

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5576812-reforming-social-security/

Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen

“One of the things you used to hear conservatives say a lot is that they don’t want the government to ‘pick winners and losers’. That sentiment has been muted for the past nine months, because such choices have become the prime directive of the Trump administration. From taking stakes in companies, to dictating what kind of energy can get permitted, to going to bat for Big Tech in international trade deals, Trump has treated the U.S. economy like a personal plaything, and corporate success increasingly depends on proximity to the king. He didn’t raise $350 million for that White House ballroom because corporations think state dinner event spaces are a worthwhile investment. Last week, a rumor emerged revealing another example of Trump stage-managing the business world. Warner Bros. Discovery … has publicly announced that it is for sale.” (10/30/25)

https://prospect.org/2025/10/30/flaw-in-trumps-maga-media-empire-plot/

Source: Reason
by Jeff Luse

“Since President Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office, the federal government has trademarked its own version of Republican socialism by nationalizing steel production and taking equity stakes in chip manufacturers and mining projects. Now, it’s getting involved in the nuclear power sector. On Tuesday, Westinghouse Electric Company announced that it had entered ‘into a strategic partnership’ with the federal government, Brookfield Asset Management, and uranium fuel supplier Cameco Corporation to build ‘at least’ $80 billion worth of Westinghouse’s AP1000 nuclear reactors across the country. … Nuclear power is clean, reliable, and safe, but forcing taxpayers to bet on its future success is risky.” (10/29/25)

https://reason.com/2025/10/29/republican-socialism-goes-nuclear-trump-bets-80-billion-on-government-backed-energy/

Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison

“Some opponents of regime change policies often cling to unreasonable hopes that a president will turn against the very hardline advisers and appointees he picked to implement his policies. They can see that the administration is stacked with regime changers, and they know that the president put them there, but they still try to appeal to the president as if he weren’t fully on board with his own insane policy. The appeals always fall on deaf ears because the regime changers work for the president.” (10/29/25)

https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-regime-changers-work-for-the