Citizen Writers Fighting Censorship by Helping Americans Understand Issues Affecting the Republic.
Cheap, abundant oil lubricates the economy. Gasoline and diesel is cheaper. Which means everything delivered in vehicles running on gasoline and diesel is cheaper. Which is pretty much everything.
The price of a gallon on gas is not set by multi-billion-dollar corporations. It’s set by local businesses.
Oregon’s small-business scene just lived through its roughest year in more than a decade, and Portland-area operators are feeling it on every block. A spike in bankruptcies in 2025 hit storefronts, suppliers and nonprofits alike, squeezing already thin margins for mom-and-pop shops.
Let’s retire the fairy tales.
The U.S. dollar is not backed by gold. It’s not backed by “faith.” It’s not backed by vibes. It’s backed by power — specifically the kind of power that sails in carrier strike groups, negotiates trade deals, controls sea lanes, writes sanctions law, insures shipping, and can ruin your economy before your stock market even opens.
American businesses are managing the changing tariff landscape by attempting re-shoring projects, but in their hurry, are they remembering to fully manage the other issues raised by re-shoring?
The cost of military action is real. But there are times – and the Iran situation is exactly such a time – when the cost of inaction is infinitely greater than the cost of action.
The reciprocal and fentanyl tariffs have been overturned, and the Trump administration is responding. How should the individual business respond to this latest disruption?
There’s stolen valor — the guy at the bar wearing medals he never earned, hoping nobody asks what unit he was in. Then there’s stolen charity — the polished executive in a tailored suit wearing patriotism like a lapel pin while cashing checks “for the troops.” One lies about serving. The other lies about serving those who served. Both are frauds. Only one gets invited to donor banquets.
So we keep building Towers of Babel—just with better branding, larger budgets, and more acronyms. Corporations, governments, military bureaucracies, international institutions—all convinced that if we just add one more layer, one more committee, one more compliance office, the tower will finally reach heaven.
Soon, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on President Trump’s use of IEEPA provisions in the creation of “reciprocal tariffs.” How they rule is at least in part based on a single question: Does the current state of the American economy constitute an “emergency?”
I am a conservative, who thinks decades’ worth of a lack of proper antitrust enforcement – has been a key component in the downfall of America.
Oil was a critical resource we were running out of, until we were not running out. Same with Lithium.
asAs someone who has a great fondness for newspapers — I delivered them when I was a teenager, and, being mostly deaf now, I have to read the news, not watch it on television — I was greatly pleased when billionaire Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post from the Graham family, which could no longer …
As people yell about the lack of “affordable housing” I see an interesting difference between my good friend — OK, OK, I’ve never actually met him in real life! — Architectolder, who posts a lot of pictures concerning houses interiors and exteriors, and Alicia, the Courtyard Urbanist, whom I have previously mentioned. Each have differing …
History has a sense of humor, and it’s rarely kind. As the United States barrels headlong into a Fourth Turning crisis—complete with generational rage, institutional distrust, ritualized protest, economic anxiety, and ideological self-harm—China isn’t protesting anything. It’s watching. Quietly. Patiently. With a spreadsheet.
As part of his strategy for isolating the radical mullah-ruled government of Iran in the world community, President Trump has announced plans to issue a 25% tariff against all countries that continue to do business with the current Iranian regime. This is a counterproductive approach for three reasons. First, and most immediately, this kind of …
College football didn’t just lose its way—it pawned its compass, financed a leased Lamborghini, and told tradition to hit the transfer portal.
The news stories at the end of the calendar year are different from the news stories the rest of the year. From mid-December through mid-January, there’s a different kind of article that fills the newspapers and floods our websites: the year-end summary.
I have long held that the reason the Arabs stopped fighting Israel was the Arabs were losing money and prestige. Wars are expensive and unless you have a surplus of military-age men that you want to get rid of, you don’t go to war.
Democrats have found the new Golden Goose for the elections. Affordability. If they win, I would not hold my breath for prices to drop.