Will the US Government Try to Inflate Away its Debt Burden?

Trump just soft-launched higher inflation as the new solution for rebalancing the $40 trillion U.S. national debt
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/trump-just-soft-launched-higher-111017831.html

What bond market reveals about Congress and the debt
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/bond-market-reveals-congress-national-094500766.html

 
Related:
Investors beware: Fiscal dominance and financial repression ahead by Vivekanand Jayakumar, The Hill - 07/13/25
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5397963-fed-keeping-rates-low-trump-administration/ 

Race, Politics, and Meritocracy

The Mainstreaming of Anti-Indian Bigotry
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/10/french-rufo-meritocracy-race/688870/
A Republican schism over a social-media post by a Texas politician revealed that the party’s defense of a color-blind meritocracy has its limits. 

Marketing in the Age of AI

As A.I. Agents Begin Shopping, Brands Are Changing Their Sales Pitch
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/business/dealbook/ai-agent-marketing.html
Faced with bots immune to traditional marketing tactics, marketers are racing to win them over with logic and data.  

Unintended Consequences?

Russians Snap Up Chinese E.V.s as Ukrainian Attacks Make Fuel Scarce
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-ev-sales.html
As Ukraine increasingly takes the war to Russia, the effects may be most visible on the roads.  

A Financial Crisis in Turkey

Explainer: How Turkey's investment fund bubble burst
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-turkeys-investment-fund-bubble-burst-2026-10-02/
Regulators ordered the liquidation of 131 funds managed by seven asset managers as politicians, former officials and celebrities piled in. Turkish authorities alleged that some funds were being used for market manipulation.  

Tangible versus Intangible

‘If you can’t hold it, you don’t own it’: why media fans want to escape algorithms with CDs, DVDs and vinyl
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/oct/02/physical-media-fans-streaming-algorithms-cds-dvds-vinyl
People describe their return to physical media – whether to protect data, support artists, or retain control of one’s choices. 

Low Fertility in High-Income Countries

What’s Really Behind the Baby Bust?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/09/28/inconceivable-the-impossibility-of-family-in-an-age-of-uncertainty-anna-louise-sussman-book-review
People say they want more children than they’re having. Is modern life stopping them—or have our ideas about a good life changed?
 
Kearney, Melissa S., and Phillip B. Levine. 2026. "Why Is Fertility So Low in High-Income Countries?" Journal of Economic Literature 64 (3): 907–49.
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/jel.20261786