Today’s economic data release paints a concerning picture of the U.S. economy heading into 2026. GDP Growth Slows Sharply According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) advance estimate, U.S. real GDP grew at an annualized rate of 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025 (as of February 20, 2026). That marks a significant slowdown […]
Tag Archives: economy
Trump — One of the Largest Sewage Spills in US History
This is exactly the type of cascading infrastructure failure I addressed in our paper, “Systemic Infrastructure Risk in a Nonlinear Climate: Economic and Public Safety Implications for the United States.” The paper was intentionally non-partisan, so the implications may not have been obvious to some readers. But once the public narrative shifts into political blame […]
Posted in Business, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Law, liberty, Politics, Science, Security, Society
Also tagged climate change
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Pennsylvania Considers PJM Exit Amid Rising Power Demand and Data Center Growth
In a February 11, 2026 interview, Governor Josh Shapiro said Pennsylvania is considering withdrawing from PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission organization that manages the electric grid across 13 states and the District of Columbia in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The comments come amid growing concerns about rising electricity demand, price volatility in capacity markets, and […]
Posted in Business, Energy, Environment, Finance, Global Warming, Government, Politics, Science
Tagged economy
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AI, Data Centers, and Electricity Prices: Separating Grid Economics from Hype
By Daniel Brouse There is widespread confusion about artificial intelligence, data centers, and rising electricity prices. The relationship is more nuanced than many headlines suggest. In many states, large industrial electricity users — including data centers — actually help stabilize or lower residential rates by absorbing a significant share of fixed grid costs. In other […]
Posted in Business, Energy, Environment, Finance, Global Warming, Government, Law, Politics, Science, Society
Tagged economy
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Climate Risk, Denial, and the Return of Negative Equity in U.S. Housing Markets
by Daniel Brouse Abstract As of late 2025 and early 2026, negative equity—homes worth less than the outstanding mortgage—has reached its highest level since early 2018. While national averages remain relatively modest, localized distress is accelerating in several rapidly expanded Sunbelt markets. The primary drivers are declining property values in high climate-risk regions, surging insurance costs, […]
Posted in Business, Energy, Environment, Finance, Global Warming, Government, health and wellness, Politics, Science, Security, Society, taxes, weather
Also tagged climate change, real estate
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Systemic Infrastructure Risk in a Nonlinear Climate: Economic and Public Safety Implications for the United States
Daniel Brouse and Sidd MukherjeeFebruary 8, 2026 Abstract One of the largest and fastest-growing economic costs of climate change in the United States is infrastructure degradation and failure. Intensifying extreme weather events — including flooding, windstorms, heat waves, and heavy precipitation — are stressing systems that were designed for a more stable 20th-century climate. Because […]
Posted in Agriculture, Business, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, freedom, Global Warming, Government, health and wellness, liberty, Medicine, Politics, Science, Security, Society, taxes, Trees, weather
Also tagged climate change
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Demographics, Automation, and the Fragility of Growth Capitalism
By Daniel Brouse Modern capitalism, particularly in its post–World War II form, has depended on growth — growth in productivity, growth in consumption, and critically, growth in population. Programs such as Social Security and Medicare are not pre-funded savings accounts; they are transfer systems that rely on a sufficiently large base of current workers paying […]
State Capitalism in America? Price Controls, Golden Shares, and the Reordering of U.S. Markets
Trump has repeatedly promised to dismantle the existing global economic order. Ironically, many of the policies advanced under that banner do not represent a return to free-market capitalism — they signal a shift toward a more state-directed economic model. Globally, the administration has escalated trade conflicts, withdrawn from negotiated trade frameworks, and imposed historically high […]
Price Floors and Power: When Free Markets Give Way to State-Directed Capitalism
U.S. Vice President JD Vance told a meeting of more than 50 countries focused on expanding access to critical minerals that the United States plans to establish a system of price floors for those commodities — a significant intervention in markets traditionally governed by supply and demand. A government-imposed price floor for critical minerals is […]
Posted in Finance, freedom, Government, International, Politics, Security, Society, taxes
Tagged economy
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Economic Collapse and the Trump Card: When Leverage, Confidence, and Credibility Fail
by Daniel Brouse February 4, 2026 Past Performance Does Not Necessarily Predict Future Performance Every prospectus carries the familiar warning: “Past performance does not guarantee future results.” It is a mandatory SEC disclosure reminding investors that historical returns — whether strong or weak — do not reliably predict what comes next. That disclaimer guards against […]
Posted in Agriculture, Business, Energy, Environment, Finance, freedom, Global Warming, Government, History, Law, liberty, Politics, Science, Security, Society, taxes
Also tagged climate change
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