[Cronyism: Rise of the Corporate State 1849-1929 by Patrick Newman (Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2026; 412 pp.)]
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” — Thomas Sowell
The federal government is expanding its ownership of the means of production. Marx would approve.
Long ago, great Senators existed. Resolute and accountable, they represented their governors and state legislatures and asserted those interests in Washington. They aspired to conduct themselves as statesmen; we the people expected statesmanship. We the people also hoped they would be better than we could be, while we agreed with the fundamental truth of Colonel Ludlow in Legends of the Fall.
Reserve money in Zimbabwe expanded 51 percent year-on-year to April 2026. Month-on-month growth hit 10 percent—a pace that would annualize above 200 percent if simply repeated rather than compounded. Broad money, M3, grew 46 percent year-on-year over the same period, the fastest since the current central bank governor took office. Strip away the technical vocabulary and one plain fact remains: Zimbabwe’s central bank has rediscovered the inflationary printing press.
“Polymarket and Palantir are partners... The goal is not just … mass surveillance ... It’s predictive policing. ...This is the privatized panopticon.”
This is not a frivolous claim, but the sure way to destroy a prosperous nation is to debase the currency. History is full of examples—from ancient Rome to the nascent French Republic to Weimar Germany. The US and the West, fiat currency regimes all, are irrevocably destined to join this sorry club.
I wrote this piece on socialism almost 10 years ago and with the rise of socialism again in the US, this article has become even more important in describing the real goals of socialists. Socialists are not seeking alternative means by which to better serve their fellow Americans.
