Saturday, April 4, 2026
<.a>Iran War: Disaster in Iran as Multiple Aircraft Downed, Pilot Missing; Iran Pounds Israel Hard After Trump Asks for 48 Hour Ceasefire; Concerns in Military and Congress Over Purge of Reality-Grounded Officers
Today’s Iran war update: aircraft downed and at least one pilot missing in Iran follows a Saturday Night Massacre-style military purge
Prediction Markets Make a Bet Against Public Health
Online prediction markets evade safeguards against gambling and risk normalizing addictive behaviors.
Coffee Break: The Fallacy of ESG, Baseball, Deep Education, and More AI Follies
Good afternoon. Time for a break. Given the wall-to-wall coverage by Yves and others here, nothing explicit on this Good Friday about the Ramadan War in West Asia. Instead, herewith a few reflections during holy season of the three great Abrahamic traditions. Part the First: Ethical Capitalism? Some argue about whether business can be ethical. […]
What’s Cheaper: Fueling Your Car With Gas or Electricity?
A comparison on EV charging expenses state by state in the US. Any similar data in other countries based on recent electricity costs?
Iran War: US Continues Escalation by Striking Iran Bridge, Opening Way for Iran Destruction of Critical Links; Iran Moving to Attack Economic Targets
Today’s Iran war update: The US continues its escalation with a strike on Iran’s biggest bridge even as Mr. Market starts a belated protest.
Keir Starmer’s Schrödinger’s War
Is the United Kingdom at war with Iran or not?
AI’s Fluency in Other Languages Hides a Western Worldview That Can Mislead Users
Quelle surprise! AI, as in LLMs trained on English data sets, are not so hot when faced with non-Western cultural issues.
How the Iran War Could Reshape the Global Cultural Order
The Iran War and the Hormuz struggle could end U.S. oil and financial unilateralism, ultimately dismantling Western cultural dominance
Will Trump’s Idiotic Iran War Spell the End of NATO?
Trump attacked on Iran with no consultation with NATO allies, doing them great harm, yet angrily demands help. Who wants an ally like that?
Iran War: Iran Pounds Israel with Huge Missile Barrage Just Before Trump’s Unhinged Speech Doubling Down on Failed Escalation; US Greatly Exposed to Shock as Inventories Depleted During April
Today’s Iran War update: Trump doubles down on failure as investors and pundits wake up to the economic consequences of Iran’s victory.
Satyajit Das: The Wages of War
War is not only bad for living things, but is also not-so-hot for economies and of course, societies.
Beyond Oil: The Macroeconomic Impact of Commodity Supply Disturbances
Economists typically ignore the impact of non-oil commodity shocks. They look to be at least as damaging as energy shocks.
