While April’s reading was slightly improved from the preliminary reading, it remained the lowest in data back to 1978.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — rose more than 3 basis points to 4.325%.

Perhaps Thiel will help build a surveillance state for for the Argentine regime similar to the American spy state that Trump and Thiel wholeheartedly support. 

It’s unclear if the move will clear the way for Kevin Warsh’s nomination as new Fed chair. 

The Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon (which includes many Christian communities)  subjects the locals to routine looting and desecration of religious sites. 

Jeff McMahan wrote a genuinely revolutionary book, Killing in War (OUP, 2009), which uncovered a flaw in standard just-war theory. The standard view sharply separates the morality of going to war—jus ad bellum—from the morality of warfare—jus in bello. Whether or not a war is just does not affect the morality of how war is to be conducted.

While this topic is vast and we cannot do it full justice, we have to understand something of the history of taxation to help us understand the nature of taxes and the state.

In short, and necessarily oversimplified, taxation often originated in systems of war, conquest, and tribute, and over time became institutionalized within states that claimed a monopoly on force, evolving into more complex systems that combine coercion with varying degrees of legal legitimacy and public provision.