Author: nick

U.S. producer prices rose in March less than economists expected, despite energy costs surging as a result of the war with Iran. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday that the annual producer price index for final demand increased 4 percent. Despite beating projections, this hike remains the largest annual increase since February 2023. The index is up 0.5 percent last month against an expected hike of 1.1 percent; the increase matches the 0.5 percent increase in producer prices in February. Goods prices jumped 1.6 percent, led by an 8.5 percent increase in energy and a 15.7 percent surge in…

For the mainstream media, a horrific murder in Florida is horrific only because the president called attention to it. Source link

In his new memoir, Changpeng Zhao reveals he signed the FTX letter of intent as a formality and calls Caroline Ellison’s $22 floor price offer a “fatal mistake.” What to know: Zhao says he never seriously considered buying FTX, describing SBF’s approach as “indirect and wishy-washy” and the LOI as a pure formality to assess whether users could be protected. He identifies Caroline Ellison’s public offer to buy FTT at $22 as the moment FTX was doomed, arguing that it gave professional traders a floor price to short. A Signal group called “Exchange Collaboration,” set up by FTX’s Zane Tackett,…

Turning Up the Economic Heat on Iran Source link

U.S.-Iran Talks Falter as Logic of Escalation Is Taking Hold Source link

First, they came for the writers, but I could not read. Then, they came for the artists, but I could not see. When they came for the musicians, I was unwilling to hear. Eventually they came for me, but I could no longer think. Source link

Individuals and corporations alike can spend infinite sums of money to influence elections and push candidates that will support and – at the very least – not oppose their interests. The Supreme Court protected such unlimited spending in its Buckley v. Valeo (1976) decision by classifying independent expenditures – which support or oppose a clearly identifiable candidate but are not made in coordination with a candidate – as constitutionally protected speech. The Court spread that right from individuals to corporations and unions in Citizens United v. FEC (2010). Money currently dominates American politics: + The presidential and congressional elections in…

Why EU Inc. Could Be a Boon to Startups–or Another Flop Source link

In October, I wrote a column in Civitas Outlook about how President Trump was refighting the wars that the Watergate Congress waged against President Nixon. That piece concerned the spending power. In a follow-up column, I write about a recent opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel concerning the Presidential Records Act. Here too, Trump continues that fight. In our current chaotic legal order, it is easy to get lost amid short-term controversies that will likely not endure beyond the present moment. Other far more enduring issues, however, often fly below the radar and garner little interest. Specifically, tensions between the…

Remember The Last Starfighter from 1984? In that movie a trailer-park kid with limited prospects spends his time on an arcade-style video game, Starfighter. He plays the game so much that he beats the final level, and it turns out he is the first person to ever do so. He is heavily criticized for spending so much time playing a game, which is seen as a sign of boredom and lack of ambition – a waste of time. The twist (42 year old spoiler incoming) is that the game was actually a test (the Excalibur test – a deliberate reference…