Saturday, August 22, 2026

Links 8/22/2026

Michael Hudson and Steve Keen: The Federal Reserve, the Constitution, and the End of US Hegemony

Steve Keen and Michael Hudson discuss empire, finance, and the coming crises.

How Living in a ‘Digital First’ World Has Made Our Lives Smaller

We are stuck in digital bureaucracies— more effective than real life ones at runarounds, time-wasting, and conditioning for resignation

Coffee Break: Notes on the Surveillance State, AI, and Scientific Communication

Part the First: Is There No Place to Hide, or Just Be Yourself? Caitlin Johnstone points out once again that while we have been snoozing happily in a virtual haze, we are being followed by the latest incarnation of Big Brother to come along.  From Today in Dystopia: We Have Cameras Everywhere in that Town: […]

‘Utterly Unsustainable’: Employer-Sponsored Health Care Costs Set to Keep Surging

Health care costs are out of control. Medicare for All would help but is not a sufficient remedy.

Links 8/21/2026

The EU Commission’s Secret Plan to Share EU Citizens’ Most Sensitive Data With Israel

For three years the Von der Leyen Commission has been secretly negotiating to hand over its citizens’ data to a state committing a genocide.

Iran War: Bessent Effectively Admits New Ferocious Iran Sanctions Likely to Fizzle as Treasury Intervention Fails; More Evidence of US Military Impotence; Ansar Allah Makes Drone Strikes Into Saudi Arabia

Today’s Iran war news: As Bessent and Trump flail about, a discussion of what the coming crisis might look like.

Why Working‑Class People Account for Around 1% of Lawmakers in the US – and Only 2% in the Average Democracy Around the World

Working-class members are less well represented in politics than most imagine.

An ‘Islamic NATO’ Without Iran Is Symbolic: That’s Its Purpose and Its Problem

The U.S. and Israel achieved what Iranian propaganda never could: they legitimized Iran in the eyes of many Sunni Muslims

Pro-Israel Pressure Group Honest Reporting Received Grant from Knight Foundation

DropSite News exposes how the too-cutely-named Israel front Honest Reporting managed to secure funds from the Knight Foundation

Links 8/20/2026

Iran War: Further Admission of Weakness With New Super Duper Trump Sanctions Threat; Israel Moves Against Turkiye Risk Broader Conflagration; Bessent at Odds with Fed in Move to Contain Longer-Dated Treasury Yields

Today’s Iran war news: More proof of Trump impotence via sanctions huffing and puffing, plus Bessent weirdly going to war with the Fed.

Michael Hudson: U.S. War Against Russia Has Blocked Black Sea Grain Transport as Well as the Persian Gulf Oil Trade

Russia’s blockade of Odessa, which will have a global impact on grain supplies, is not getting the attention it warrants.

Personal Bankruptcy Filings Are Soaring in 2026, Signaling Growing Economic Distress

As bankruptcy rates rise, a primer on the process and some strategies that might hold the creditor wolves at bay.