A New Iran (Military?) Base Case

The Frozen Market For Homes Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times, Mortgage rates on a 30-year loan just hit 7 percent, intensifying problems on the demand side. Mortgages plus insurance—which turns a half-million dollar house into a $1.2 million house plus property taxes—became unaffordable for another class of buyers while already out of reach for most people. On the supply side, millions of existing homeowners are locked into COVID-era mortgages of 3 percent or lower, which makes them negative in real terms. That’s a great deal unless you sell and...

The Great American Squeeze Of 2026 Authored by MN Gordon via Economic Prism, Does your American dream feel like it’s being put through a hydraulic press? If so, you’re not alone. Between rising rent and gas prices, escalating grocery bills, and sky-high health insurance premiums, Americans are feeling a relentless squeeze from all directions. That’s the painful reality. Recent economic numbers point to a weary consumer. In fact, consumer sentiment is at a 74-year low. To put that in perspective, Americans feel more pessimistic about the economy today than they did during the 2008...

US Lifts Restrictions On Anthropic's Fable, Mythos AI Models The US government removed foreign access restrictions on Anthropic’s Fable and Mythos AI models, clearing it for wider distribution after the AI company resolved the Trump administration’s safety controls, less than ‌three weeks after the company was ordered to suspend access to its most advanced AI models over national security risks. On June 12, the Commerce Department imposed an export control rule via a private letter requiring the company to obtain US permission before allowing any foreign national, regardless of location, to access...