Finance

What Happens When the World’s Breadbaskets Start Failing Simultaneously?

A look at the global food system focusing on the role of breadbaskets. Many disconcerting parallels to global financial crisis risks.

Supply of Existing Single-Family Homes at 10-Year High, Condo Supply at 12-Year High, Sales still in Freezer

Compared to May 2019, sales were down the most in the West (-32%) and Northeast (-31%), less so in the South (-15%) and Midwest (-17%).

Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Israel’s Buffer Defense Quandary

Israel's pursuit of security buffer zones reflects a rational response to decades of military threats, terrorism, and geographic vulnerability. Yet tactical success does not necessarily produce strategic success. As hostile forces regenerate beyond new frontiers, long-range weapons diminish the value of territorial depth, and regional powers react to expanding security perimeters, buffer defense may become increasingly costly and less effective.

Under Right to Record Act, People Could Sue Federal Agents for First Amendment Violations

Proof of eroding rights: new legislation is necessary to shore up the First Amendment right to record, typically of officials behaving badly.

Links 6/9/2026

A Collapse of State Power in Cuba Could Create a Dangerous Security Vacuum on US’ Doorstep, Warns The National Interest

"The US should be careful what it wishes for in Cuba."

Iran War: Israel Again Bombs Lebanon, Defying Trump and Killing “Deal”; Middle East Straits as Foundations for New Security Architecture; Alon Mizrahi’s Zionism Delenda Est; Debate Over Oil Cliff Timing

That halt of hostilities did not last long.1 I expected Israel to defy Trump and again strike Lebanon, but did not expect it to happen this fast, as within the same news cycle in which Trump claimed he told Israel that it was on its own if it hit Lebanon again and incredibly tried denying […]

MAHA’s Meat-Loving Industrial Farming Hypocrisy

MAHA touts are in denial that their support for meat-eating is tantamount to support for factory farming.

As Home Sellers Grapple with Reality, Listing Prices Fall by Most in at Least a Decade

But each market dances to a different drummer, and declines have been far bigger in many markets.

Coffee Break: The Dem Establishment Goes All-In Against Platner

The Democratic party establishment is neither feckless nor helpless when it comes to crushing opponents to its left, like Senate candidate Graham Platner.

5 Ways Data Centers Endanger Their Local Communities and the Country as a Whole

Yet more on why you should hate data centers.

Links 6/8/2026

Iran War: Iran Launches New Strikes on Israel After Netanyahu Humiliated Trump by Ignoring Demand to Stand Pat; Ansar Allah Attacks Israel and Saudi Base, Makes Red Sea Threat; South Korea Swoon Adds to AI Meltdown; BREAKING Bab el-Mandeb Closed?

Today's Iran war update: Iran and Israel exchange attacks rapidly as Trump blusters and the AI meltdown accelerates in global markets

‘Are We Really Such Idiots?’ US Increases Stranglehold on EU Energy Supply with Growing Role in Caucasus

The US is now effectively gatekeeper to EU energy supplies running through the Caspian and Black Sea regions, and hardly anyone in power seems to mind.

Reclaiming the Pursuit of Happiness

A reminder on the Declaration’s 250th anniversary of the lack of freedom due to poverty and wealth inequality.

Links 6/7/2026

The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Chariots Of Fire (1981) Run Time: 2H 4M Plus Bonus Documentary!

Chariots of Fire is a story of personal determination and the quest for victory.

The Impoverishing Thinking of Central Bankers Who Want Interest Rate Rises

Central bankers look to make a bad problem worse by trying to ensure wages and prices stay down even as energy costs rise.

There’s Trouble Brewing in the Treasury Market

Inflation is the bane of the bond market. And it is now demanding multiple rate hikes, starting late this year.

Links 6/62026

Michael Hudson: Geopathology and the Econopathology Behind it

How pervasive behavioral disorders among what passes for elites are destructive not just to the social order but ultimately to them too.

The Roots of the U.S.-Russia Rivalry

A deep dive into the history of US-Russia relations.

Semiconductor Stocks Roll Over, Micron & Broadcom Tank 20% in 2 Days, Drag Rest of Market Along

We’re looking for culprits.

Coffee Break: Theology at Work in the World, Eugenics Is Still Undead, Science Is Still Under Attack, and Ultra-Processed Foods in the Dock

Part the First: Pope Leo XIV and the Larger World.  Of the academic historians currently writing for both their colleagues and students and the general reader, Greg Grandin is among the finest.  In The Education of Pope Leo XIV he places the former Father Bob Prevost and current Pope Leo XIV in context of our […]