Cerebral Rectum

05/16/2026

'Increasing public involvement is objectively a good thing, but it cannot compensate for the crime of vote rigging,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

05/04/2026

05/02/2026

Members of both parties are egging on a nationwide tax revolt—and if the economy were to tank, the country could end up with a toxic combination of widespread joblessness and rampant inflation, Annie Lowrey argues. https://theatln.tc/JJ9QCpkd

The IRS collected an estimated $5.2 trillion in taxes in 2025 from businesses and households. But Congress is spending $7 trillion a year, pumping out as much fiscal stimulus as it did during the Great Recession. All of those excess dollars are spurring retailers to raise prices and the Federal Reserve to slow down interest-rate cuts.

Congress is also creating long-term risks. In the coming years, a smaller share of Americans will work, but a larger share will require Social Security payments, Medicare, disability-insurance coverage, and long-term care. “More mandatory spending plus less revenue plus soaring interest costs on a hefty preexisting debt load add up to a big problem,” Lowrey writes.

Instead of doing something about it, Republican and Democratic politicians are slashing rates and spinning loopholes. “They’re telling workers that they shouldn’t have to pay for social services, and that even prosperous Americans are overtaxed,” Lowrey writes. “In doing so, they are imperiling the country’s financial security and making it harder for future politicians to pass transformative initiatives.”

“Uncle Sam is going to need to raise some money,” Lowrey continues. “And that’s going to be hard to do if Americans see their tax returns not as a fair contribution to the greater good but as a punishment or an injustice.”

Read more at the link.

🎨: The Atlantic. Source: Getty.

04/23/2026

Satoshi Nakamoto left his final message 15 years ago today.