Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul Mueller
“Does the Fed need 24,000 employees? A leaner, more automated institution could reduce costs and improve transparency.” (03/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/bigger-isnt-better-a-case-for-downsizing-the-federal-reserve/
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“There is ‘no assessment to substantiate’ Israel’s claim that Iran has long-range missiles capable of reaching London, a UK cabinet minister has said. Housing Secretary Steve Reed told the BBC there was ‘no specific assessment that the Iranians are targeting the UK – or even could if they wanted to,’ after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that Tehran had weapons that could reach up to 4,000km (2,485 miles). It comes after it emerged Iran targeted the joint US-UK military base on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, around 3,800km from Iran. Reed refused to say how close the missiles came to the British overseas territory, saying he could not share ‘operational details.'” (03/22/26)
Source: The Hill
“Niall Stanage gives his notes on President Trump’s insistence that other countries help the U.S. with the war in Iran, particularly with reopening the Strait of Hormuz.” (03/202/6)
Source: EconLog
by Jacob Sider Jost
“Smith’s famous sentences about the butcher, brewer, and baker have often been taken to place interest (often silently emended to ‘self-interest’) at the root of human activity. Gregory Mankiw’s widely used introductory economics textbook glosses them in just this way: ‘Smith is saying that participants in the economy are motivated by self-interest.’ Smith could have said this. His famous sentences might have read ‘The butcher, brewer and baker provide us with dinner not out of benevolence, but out of self-interest. They act not out of humanity, but out of self-love, and seek their own advantage.’ But this is not what Smith wrote.” (03/20/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/bargaining-with-the-butcher-baker-and-brewer
Source: Common Dreams
by Toby Miller & Joan Pedro-Caranana
“Seemingly endless recitations throughout history of what constitutes virtuous citizenship emphasize military life. A specifically masculine heritage of violence in the service of the nation oversees and delimits democracy and authority—a privileged area of social welfare in contrast to health, education, the environment, or poverty. Much classical and modern political theory assumes and even endorses domestic violence, bellicose masculinity, and the notion that ‘real’ politics is generated, discussed, and concluded between men. The idea that male virtue is tied to violence, whether in defense of faith, family, or the border, is immensely strong. From individual duels to national campaigns, the ‘right’ way to engage in violence has given rise to ideas of nobility. Masculine worth is supposedly incarnate in bloodshed and authoritarian leadership, embodied in the military as a righteous national embodiment of power, spirit, religiosity, and victory.” (03/21/26)
Source: The Atlantic
“How AI Is Reshaping the Battlefield.” (03/20/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/03/how-ai-is-reshaping-the-battlefield/686476/
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Former Mises Caucus PARTY WRECKERS mount NARCISSISTIC Attempt to Dissolive the LP of Washington.” (03/20/26)
Source: Show-Me Institute
by David Stokes
“Missouri’s property tax system works best when the assessments are accurate, the tax base is wide, and the rates are low. That combination will help grow Missouri’s economy for everyone while properly funding the necessary functions of local government. However, a radical change in the system is being put before voters in St. Charles, Jefferson, and Franklin counties in April. These three counties will vote on whether to prohibit any property tax increases due to reassessments. Current law requires local governments to roll back tax rates as assessments increase, but we all know that taxes still go up, sometimes substantially.” (03/20/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/taxes/the-wrong-way-to-fix-property-taxes-2/
Source: The Realist Review
by James W Carden
“As I pointed out exactly three years ago, on March 20, 2023, in the pages of The Spectator, the idea that there is a brewing ‘civil war’ within the Republican Party over foreign policy would be nice, if it were actually true. Then as now, stories appeared in Beltway broadsheets claiming that the GOP was at war with itself over foreign policy. … What is now unfolding isn’t a GOP civil war over Iran — it is simply a reassertion of control by the people who actually control the Republican Party. We should understand this group as distinct from Republican voters, who most assuredly do not control the President or the Party apparatus on Capitol Hill.” (03/20/26)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/this-isnt-a-gop-civil-warits-a-reversion
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Though introduced to improve the lives of society’s most vulnerable workers, mandated minimum wages often have the opposite effect, especially if increased at the rate seen in Spain over the previous six years. When labor becomes more expensive, companies, in particular smaller ones, try to reduce their staff bills, either by cutting hours or laying people off. Often, they fire the least-skilled in order to retain the better-skilled. That’s if they choose to pay the minimum wage at all, which is far from guaranteed in sectors with the highest concentration of workers on the SMI.” (03/20/26)