The rising popularity of politicians on the American left who either explicitly identify as socialist or, at least, don’t shy away from or disavow the term appears to be causing genuine concern within the Washington establishment.

Garrett Langley is the CEO of Flock Safety, and he wants a whole lot of your tax money. Although he claims to be a CEO of a private business, it’s not actually private in any meaningful sense. Flock has essentially one kind of customer: government agencies. Flock Safety, of course, is the company that’s been putting up most of those ALPR (Automated License Plate Readers) cameras across the United States. There are now at least 120,000 of them. They are funded by tax dollars. 

When long-term Treasury yields rise, one explanation is often given: investors expect more inflation, so lenders demand a higher nominal rate to offset the future loss of purchasing power. Expected inflation is treated as an addition to an otherwise “real” rate. Murray Rothbard argued that this begins in the wrong place.