Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley

“New standards for replacement automobile tires will ‘save California drivers nearly $1 billion per year in gasoline and electricity costs, putting money back in their pockets. The standards will also reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2 million metric tons per year, equivalent to taking approximately 400,000 gasoline cars off California roads.’ That is the claim of the California Energy Commission …. The Commission seems unaware that tire manufacturers strive to deliver the best possible mileage. Unelected government commissions played no role in that process, and drivers are fully capable of selecting the tires that best meet their needs.” (09/01/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/01/californias-tire-regulation-put-government-drivers-seat/

Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone

“People who believe capitalism is working out great are just sloppy thinkers who’ve fallen victim to survivorship bias and the just-world fallacy. Survivorship bias is when your analysis focuses on those who made it while ignoring those who didn’t. You got a decent job, bought a house, and are now living comfortably, which means the system works fine and there must be something wrong with anyone who can’t thrive under it. All the people who work just as hard as you do but still find themselves struggling go completely missing from your perspective. All the people who are just as clever and resourceful as you but haven’t found financial stability are conveniently overlooked.” (09/01/26)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/09/01/supporters-of-capitalism-are-victims-of-their-own-cognitive-biases/

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“It’s important to remind ourselves that the Pentagon’s new socialist and imperialist deal to extract oil from Venezuela isn’t the only unconstitutional overseas endeavor of the U.S. national-security state. Nor are the Pentagon’s assassinations of drug-war suspects on the high seas. Nor are the Pentagon’s undeclared wars of aggression in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and other countries. There is also Guantanamo Bay, the imperialist U.S. military base that was acquired in a strikingly in much the same way that the Pentagon is acquiring its socialist interest in Venezuelan oil — by using a puppet foreign regime to extract whatever U.S. officials want. But then there is also the blatantly unconstitutional ‘judicial’ system that the Pentagon established at Gitmo nearly 25 years ago in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.” (09/01/26)

https://www.fff.org/2026/09/01/the-pentagon-cia-constitution-free-zone-in-cuba/

Source: Niskanen Center
by Caitlin Rowley Gallamore & Lawson Mansell

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking the next step to reduce Medicare’s unnecessary spending in high-cost hospital settings. Medicare’s payment policies have profound impacts on the supply of healthcare — where, when, and how services are provided to patients across the country. Existing payment policies disconnect the value of healthcare services from their costs. And because much of the healthcare system uses Medicare prices as a baseline for payment, the ripple effects of these distortions spread far beyond into the private market as well.” (09/01/26)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/cms-takes-another-step-toward-higher-value-lower-cost-outpatient-care/

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Ninos P Malek

“On August 17, the California Energy Commission (CEC) approved the nation’s first energy-efficiency standards for replacement tires. Beginning in 2029, replacement tires sold for passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks in California will have to meet minimum standards for ‘rolling resistance’—the force that resists a tire as it rolls along the road. … The CEC estimates that under the first phase of the regulation, a set of four tires will cost consumers about $6 more while saving the average driver approximately $85 in fuel costs over the life of the tires. … Assuming those estimates are accurate, most people would probably say, ‘Sounds like a pretty good deal.’ But that raises an obvious economic question: If these tires are such a good deal for consumers, why does the government need to force people to buy them?” (09/01/26)

https://fee.org/articles/treading-on-the-market/