Britain and the United States are often described in the same breath: advanced economies that have moved beyond industry into services, finance, and knowledge work. On paper, the similarity looks strong. Services dominate employment and output in both countries, manufacturing has receded, and global cities anchor national growth. Yet the resemblance is superficial. The kinds of services each country produces, and the economic roles those services play, are profoundly different.

[The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy by Peter Winch (Routledge, 2008 [1958]; xxix  +136pp.)]

The Supreme Court has struck down the Trump tariffs that he has been setting in the past year, claiming emergency powers. The majority found that the Constitution “very clearly” gives Congress the power to impose taxes, which include tariffs.

“The economy is actually booming.”—Richard Bernstein, guest on CNBC, January 15, 2026

“The US economy just delivered a shock. Third-quarter gross domestic product grew at a 4.3% annualized pace, far exceeding expectations and marking the biggest expansion in two years.”—Nicole Goodkind, “The Economy Is Heating Up. Why the Experts Keep Getting It Wrong,” Barron’s, December 24, 2025

When moving away from superficial, cartoonish, and caricatured history, the importance of context and distinctions becomes obvious. Part of the task of responsible history is to show how things are often more complicated than first assumed. The Civil War is an important historical event in which this is evident. Zooming in on just one aspect of the US before the Civil War, it is key to understand the role of the federal legal protections of slavery.

Palantir joins a growing tech migration to Florida. Unfortunately, the beleaguered people of Colorado will still be subject to the fed-funded dystopian techno-panopticon Palantir is building.