In a candid interview with The Times of India, Steve Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins and Distinguished Senior Scholar at the Mises Institute, calls the Trump–Putin Alaska summit “a photo-op,” arguing Russia already holds the upper hand in Ukraine. He explains why Moscow has the leverage and what it means for U.S. strategy and global security.

“If government spending is cut too fast, we’ll end up in a recession,” is a popular warning against cutting massive federal spending. But is it true? Will cutting federal spending really sink the economy into a recession? To answer this question, we need careful economic analysis.

The price of table rice in Japan has skyrocketed. As of June 2025, the average wholesale price had reached 27,102 yen per 60 kilograms. That’s 452 yen per kilogram —or roughly $3.12 at the current exchange rate. In retail, the average price of a 5-kilogram bag had surpassed 4,285 yen ($29.50). Compared to 2021, the price of table rice had more than doubled, causing widespread unease among the Japanese public.

The passage of Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” has once again raised the issue of tax loopholes.

Founded in 1971, Amtrak set out on a bold adventure to see if passenger trains could be profitable. Fast forward to today, and this experiment has been unsuccessful. Politicians have often chosen routes to win votes rather than attract riders. As a result, Amtrak has been squandering taxpayer money for 54 years.

In his book Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, the Marxist historian Eric Foner advances a revisionist history of the Reconstruction Era. In his preface, he explains why revisionist history is important:

Zohran Mamdani, a self-identified democratic socialist, was asked directly whether “billionaires have a right to exist” and he responded to Kristin Welker on Meet The Press: “I don’t think we should have billionaires because frankly it is so much money in a moment of such inequality.”

Most people accept the moral prohibitions on lying, murdering, and stealing in their personal lives as well as in their business affairs. Why, then, does government—which is run by people—get a pass? Is ethics irrelevant in government affairs?

The Federal Reserve has what the New York Times called its “biggest shindig” of the year at Jackson Hole, Wyoming next week. Curiously, the once sleepy, small, mountain town area is now a playground for billionaires and (for our purposes) hosts the most important monetary policy conference in the world for central bankers.