Source: Semafor
by Liz Hoffman

“In the 1970s, if you wanted to understand a company’s worth, you could literally kick the tires. More than 80% of S&P 500 companies’ assets were, in accountant-speak, ‘tangible’ — buildings, inventory, land, and securities with measurable value. Today, it’s about 10%. The rest is a corporate ectoplasm of code, data, and brand power. Marriott is a hotel company that doesn’t own hotels. Delta Airlines’ credit card partnership is more profitable than its airplanes. This shift from hard assets to soft ones isn’t necessarily bad. It mirrors the broader pivot in the US economy from manufacturing to services, which are more profitable and less vulnerable to outsourcing. … But the wealth being created today is a haze of licensing agreements and magic beans.” (11/11/25)

https://www.semafor.com/article/11/11/2025/the-economy-is-running-on-magic-beans

Source: The American Prospect
by Kate Morrissey

“The Department of Homeland Security suddenly moved up the implementation of a rule change that gives the Federal Protective Service, the agency charged with protecting federal buildings, more power to charge people with crimes for a variety of activities on or near federal property. The regulation, which went into effect on Nov. 5, prohibits a wide range of activities, including creating a loud or unusual noise, distributing informational materials and flying drones. It makes it illegal for people to wear masks to conceal their identities if they break any federal or state law or local ordinance. It forbids obstructing access to federal property or impeding operations there and specifically calls out photography and videography. Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico Border Program, said he’s concerned that vague definitions in the regulations will give officers too much discretion.” (11/12/25)

https://prospect.org/2025/11/12/homeland-security-tightens-rule-on-anti-ice-activities/

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mani Basharzad

“As Peter Boettke argues, in a world where all means and ends are known, the only task left is an engineering one. That is, essentially, what students learn in Econ 101—a world of perfect knowledge, known preferences, known prices and calculable costs, where solving equations yields all the answers. But the real wisdom of economics lies in understanding deviations from this perfection.” (11/11/25)

https://fee.org/articles/adam-smith-vs-the-engineers-of-utopia/

Source: Antiwar.com
by Ron Paul

“I recall when then-President Barack Obama was planning to send troops to enforce his ‘Assad must go’ policy in Syria, many Republican US Senators passionately argued that the US President must come to Congress for approval before sending US troops into combat overseas. At the time, they portrayed themselves as brave defenders of the US Constitution. Last week, when the Senate held a vote to remind President Trump that he is required to seek approval from the Legislative Branch before launching an attack on Venezuela, only two Republican Senators stood up to defend the Constitution. Why? Perhaps because a Republican President was now in office. … We fought a war against George III to negate the ability of a king to take the people to war on his whim. Now, Congress scrambles to abrogate that hard-fought achievement in the name of political expediency.” (11/11/25)

https://original.antiwar.com/paul/2025/11/10/congressional-republicans-must-stand-up-to-the-president-on-venezuela/

Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer

“Yes the middle class is shrinking — because people in it are becoming richer. They are not (on average, certainly there are individuals who go up and down) getting poorer because the poorest band on this chart is shrinking even faster than the middle class. This is an enormous freaking victory for most everyone, but yet we are electing radical communists to tear down capitalism. Incredible.” (11/11/25)

https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2025/11/the-middle-class-is-shrinking-and-thats-a-good-thing.html