Fearless commentary on finance, economics, politics and power

OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman have put together a string of incredibly no good, terrible, horrible news cycles in recent weeks, and yet investors are pouring tens of billions more into the money pit even as safety researchers exit the company, the US Senate holds hearings, and proposes legislation, the company’s president scales back […]

Iran escalated dramatically in the Persian Gulf, Ansar Allah blasted Saudi airports and took a key city in Yemen, and Trump threatened a major escalation before the midterms in partnership with Israel.

Hudson and Desai discuss the probable AI crash in the context of US tech policy, historical bubbles, and the contrast with China’s approach.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, owners of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, have made an aggressive push into the AI market with Muse, an “agentic AI” product that is rapidly racking up downloads, claiming big user numbers and pushing past ChatGPT while it has safety experts warning of serious dangers to users.

A useful discussion of the key China policy measures that have enabled it to achieve and maintain a dominant position in exports.

We have discussed the science and art of diet and the science and technology of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) here several times before.  The arguments continue, as does the research.  On 29 September 2026 McGill University and the McGill Office of Science and Society hosted their annual Trottier Public Science Symposium: Ultra-Processed Foods: Processing the Facts […]

The Saudi counter-offensive is either stalling or progressing and Ansar Allah missiles are either hitting or missing Saudi airports. Iran is definitely hitting tankers in Hormuz and Trump is definitely running his mouth.

Debunking one of the pet memes of elite-serving finance orthodoxy: that national debt of a currency issuer should be seen as a problem.

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Russia’s Geran-5 bears a remarkable resemblance to Germany’s V-1 flying bomb, but eighty years of inexpensive electronics have transformed what such a weapon can accomplish. The result is an industrial contest in which drone interception rates matter less than whether destruction can be imposed faster than damaged capacity can be repaired or replaced.

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More on the debate over Persian Gulf oil exports as the Saudis launch an offensive to try to retake territory liberated by Ansar Allah.