AI and the Legal System

Is A.I. Above the Law?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/09/28/is-ai-above-the-law
Our legal system isn’t ready for machines that act on their own. 

Does Claude Have Rights?
https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/anthropic-training-claude-to-believe-it-may-have-rights-by-mustafa-suleyman-2026-09
Given the many differences between brains and LLMs, claiming that an AI is or might be conscious requires a high bar of evidence. But Anthropic’s constitution for Claude brushes that caveat aside, suggesting that we attribute sentience to non-biological beings. 

Measuring Inflation

How the Fed should measure inflation
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/09/24/how-the-fed-should-measure-inflation
Pinning down the underlying rate may be harder than Kevin Warsh thinks. 

Future of Digital Finance

The future of digital finance rests on public money, not private
https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2026/09/21/the-future-of-digital-finance-rests-on-public-money-not-private
Central banks will be needed to maintain trust and ensure interoperability, argues Piero Cipollone. 

America and the Middle East

America is stepping back from a region it never managed to remake
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2026/09/23/america-is-stepping-back-from-a-region-it-never-managed-to-remake
It is giving up the job of running the Middle East. 

A Big (and Risky) Bet on AI

The AI Build-Out Is Becoming the Biggest Economic Bet in U.S. History
https://www.wsj.com/economy/the-ai-build-out-is-becoming-the-biggest-economic-bet-in-u-s-history-c60716dd
Data-center spending is greater than that for canals, railroads and grid combined—creating jobs and stock-market wealth, while boosting inflation and crowding out housing.
 
We're All AI Investors Now, And That's Risky
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/we-re-all-ai-investors-now--and-that-s-risky-88546.html
Like it or not, we are all betting on AI taking over the economy. In the last 40 years, the U.S. has become a nation of stock investors. On the whole, it has made Americans rich. Now the stock market is soaring on the hopes that AI will make everyone more productive—and if that doesn’t work out, we all may learn the definition of a bad tail risk. 

What Happens if the A.I. Bubble Bursts
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/opinion/ai-bubble-banking-crisis-too-big-to-fail.html

Related:

The AI bubble could be worse than the dot-com bust by Vivekanand Jayakumar, The Hill - 06/16/26
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5925202-tech-bubble-ai-driven-growth/

Time to Buy Bonds?

A Perfect Storm Is Raging in the Bond Market
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/a-perfect-storm-is-raging-in-the-bond-market-43d9b44b
The benchmark Treasury yield jumped above 5.1%, posting its biggest one-day rise in more than a year.
 
It’s a Good Time to Buy Bonds
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/its-a-good-time-to-buy-bonds-94e1c93e 

The Problem Is Where Interest Rates May Go, Not Where They Are Now
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/business/interest-rates-economy-markets-inflation-mortgages.html
History shows that the markets and the economy flourished when rates were even higher than today’s. But, our columnist notes, those times didn’t last.

Demise of the Rules-based Order

How to Survive in a World Without Rules
https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/09/hal-brands-rules-based-order-great-power-politics-geopolitics/
Hal Brands:
Not so long ago, it seemed that the world was becoming more civilized. The end of the Cold War was supposed to bring the triumph of the rules-based order. Enlightened norms and cooperation, buttressed by a broad-minded superpower, would supplant anarchic patterns of the past. It was an inspiring vision—and, alas, an illusion.
Now, all around the world, rules are in retreat. Aggression and conquest are surging; economic coercion and predation are rampant. Respect for international law and organizations is cratering; arms control is in decline. Great powers are reviving dreams of empire; the United States is tempted to seek narrow national aggrandizement at the cost of world order.