A proposed November 2026 California ballot initiative called “Save California Health Care and Public Education” is also the billionaires tax. The initiative is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW West).

In Washington, bad ideas rarely die—they rebrand. Industrial policy—long discredited in theory and practice—has returned under the more palatable language of “resilience” and “strategic supply chains.” The Trump administration’s proposed minerals consortium is the latest iteration. Sold as a necessary response to dependence on China for the processing of rare earths and other critical minerals, it promises coordination, investment, and independence. What it will deliver instead is distortion, waste, and a fresh round of politically-driven malinvestment.

Overall, 64 percent of respondents sad that Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was the wrong decision. 70 percent of Republicans approve. 

Please consider helping us publish these new books. Every donor of $600 or more will be listed in every book as a Patron. To become a Patron, click here. The deadline to be included is June 24.

Annual US public spending has been in deficit for decades. As a result, total US debt continues to increase year after year with no end in sight. The end may not be in sight but the debt cannot continue to grow forever. We just don’t know when markets will shed the dollar, although the process may already be underway. In this brief essay, I will not point out all the disastrous consequences except that they are disastrous and will happen.

It is maintained by most experts that a general fall in prices, called deflation, is “bad news” for the economy because it postpones people’s buying of goods and services. This, in turn, allegedly undermines investment in plants and machinery. All this sets in motion an economic slump. Moreover, as the slump further depresses the prices of goods and services, this intensifies the pace of economic decline. 

According to the former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke,