As the author of Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom, I guess I should not be surprised to find myself squarely in the digital gulag—banished, perhaps permanently, from Twitter and Facebook. Twitter permanently suspended my account several weeks ago, mere days before Elon Musk took over the helm. Although I cannot be sure, I may have been banned because I suggested that the transgender movement is part of a multipronged neo-Malthusian depopulation campaign.

In the final Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the year, the Fed did what everyone knew they would. They raised rates. They then proceeded with the usual Fedspeak dance regarding projections for the upcoming year including inflation and rate hikes. The labor market doesn’t normally garner as much attention; but Chair Powell made several statements worthy of consideration.

According to Powell, things couldn’t be better. In his own words:

In last week’s column, I discussed Christophers Coyne’s excellent book In Search of Monsters to Destroy, a cogent account of America’s endeavor to build a “liberal” informal empire. Coyne shows the inherent contradiction of using brutal means to achieve humane values. This week, I’d like to discuss an even more deplorable part of American foreign policy, one which threatens the world with destruction.