What Does a Barrel of Oil Cost—and What Does It Mean to You? When you hear the price of oil reported on the news, you are usually hearing the futures price. But what does that number actually mean? The futures price is essentially a “paper” price. Very little physical oil actually changes hands through the […]
Category Archives: Politics
About the Price of Oil: The Price You Don’t See
Also posted in Business, Energy, Finance, Government, Security, Society, War And Peace
Tagged economy
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Inflation Is Moving From Diesel to the Consumer
esterday brought the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) measure of inflation. Today, the focus shifts to consumer inflation. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the August 2026 Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, showing headline consumer inflation rising 0.4% in August on a seasonally adjusted basis and increasing 3.4% over the past 12 months. Core […]
Inflation’s Fiscal Engine: How Government Spending Keeps Price Pressures Alive
How Fiscal Policy Is Becoming a Driving Force of Inflation The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its August 2026 Producer Price Index (PPI) report on September 10, revealing a renewed acceleration in wholesale prices. According to the report, headline PPI rose 0.4 percent month over month and climbed 5.4 percent over the year, […]
The Economics of an Ultimatum: Trade Deficits, the Fed, and the Price of Political Pressure
On September 4, 2026, President Donald Trump escalated his ongoing pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve following a stronger-than-expected August jobs report. The unexpectedly strong labor-market data increased market expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates as was already expected. Trump responded with a sweeping threat on Truth Social: if the Federal Reserve […]
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How Is Climate Energy Hitting You? Socio-Economic-Ecological Feedbacks
by Daniel Brouse From Biodiversity to Monoculture: The Socio-Economic-Ecological Feedback Loop Climate change is often described as a problem of rising temperatures, but temperature is only one expression of the additional energy entering the Earth system. That energy moves through the atmosphere, hydrologic cycle, soils, vegetation, ecosystems, agriculture, forests, and human economies. As each system […]
Also posted in Agriculture, Business, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Science, Society, Trees
Tagged climate change, economy
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Where’s the Beef? Tariffs, Inflation, and the Climate Cost of Meat
On August 21, 2026, President Donald Trump announced a temporary 90-day waiver of out-of-quota tariffs on imported ground beef, allowing up to 300,000 metric tons to enter the U.S. market tariff-free in an effort to reduce grocery prices. The president said he had secured a commitment that the imported meat would be sold at 25% […]
Also posted in Agriculture, Business, Environment, Finance, freedom, Global Warming, Government, Science
Tagged climate change, economy
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Treasury Doubles Bond Buybacks as U.S. Bond Market Volatility Deepens
The U.S. Department of the Treasury intervened on August 19, 2026, announcing that it will at least double the size of its liquidity-support bond buyback operations in an effort to calm a highly volatile Treasury market. Under the direction of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the maximum repurchase limits for longer-dated nominal coupon securities will increase […]
Demand Destruction: Bad News for the Economy, Good News for the Environment
U.S. retail sales fell unexpectedly by 0.6% month over month in July 2026, coming in well below the forecast of a 0.1% increase. The data, released this morning, points to a significant slowdown in American consumer spending and a reversal of the momentum seen in previous months. Key Figures From the July Report Bad News […]
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Tagged climate change, economy
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U.S. Fiscal Deficit Surges as 30-Year Treasury Yields Hit 25-Year High
by Daniel Brouse The U.S. federal budget deficit reached a record $432 billion in July 2026, the largest deficit ever recorded for the month of July and the widest monthly shortfall since March 2021. The July surge pushed the cumulative deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2026 to approximately $1.8 trillion—already exceeding […]
Money Moves People: Why Demand Destruction May Be the Fastest Path Beyond Fossil Fuels
by Daniel Brouse 2026: The New Economic Reality Money moves people. The climate costs of fossil-fuel dependence are increasingly outweighing its benefits—not in some distant future, but here and now. We are moving beyond arguments about what climate change might cost decades from today. Across the Western world, climate impacts are already imposing costs of […]
Also posted in Agriculture, Business, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, Global Warming, Government, health and wellness, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Security, Society, taxes, Trees, weather
Tagged climate change, economy
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