Democrats say Social Security is untouchable and have roped Republicans into saying the same. They also constantly lament the gap between returns to capital and labor. Stock buybacks and even dividends have come under fire, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying that buybacks—already subject to a new surtax—should be banned. Democrats’ dogged attachment to government-run investing undermines the goal of helping workers save for retirement. And fixing Social Security could help solve the capital-labor returns problem.

Read the full piece here.

Remember the hysteria when Japanese investors bought Rockefeller Center and threatened the American car industry with obliteration? Recent commentary served as the latest example in a long line of xenophobic scare tactics by claiming that “foreign adversaries” are funding “frivolous litigation” to “weaken critical industries” or to obtain trade secrets or intellectual property.

Read the full piece here.

On Nov.10, new Twitter Inc. owner Elon Musk reportedly told employees that bankruptcy was a possibility unless Twitter’s cash flow improved. But that cash flow already has been reduced considerably because advertisers are pulling away from Twitter.

Read the full piece here.

America is deeply polarized, increasingly split into two, roughly equal, political camps. Each side blames the other for causing the situation. In a speech last week, President Biden accused Republicans of being a threat to democracy itself.

Read the full piece here.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said this week that it has settled charges against Kim Kardashian for promoting a crypto investment on her Instagram page. In June 2021, Ms. Kardashian touted EthereumMax’s token, EMAX, to her 331 million followers, without disclosing she was paid $250,000 for the post.

Read the full piece here.

Among collectors, it is said that art is cheap; it is assurances that are expensive. What gets people to spend thousands on some dribbles on a canvas by a no-name is the promise — by a gallery owner or other “expert” — that the thousands will become millions.

The value of money is the same.

Read the full piece here.

Turf battles are nothing new in Washington, but the one currently raging over which federal agency has authority to regulate the trading of digital assets reveals deep dysfunction in the modern administrative state. The battle goes far beyond which agency gets more power; the future of the internet may be at stake.

Read the full piece here.

“Land acknowledgements” are all the rage. For those who haven’t been to a graduation or university lecture in Blue America, a “land acknowledgment” is the practice of starting an event with a statement that the land on which the event is taking place once belonged to particular groups of Native Americans. It is easy to dismiss these as ahistorical nonsense, laden with sentimentality. But there is another way to look at these statements that demonstrate American exceptionalism.

Read the full piece here.

Twitter has sued Elon Musk, seeking to compel him to buy the company for $54.20 a share. Many observers think the company will prevail, or that Mr. Musk is likely at least to pay the $1 billion breakup fee. They’re wrong. He is likely to walk away largely unscathed, a belief reflected in Twitter’s stock price. This case will be a good lesson on the limits of boilerplate merger agreements and the difference between a corporation and its shareholders.

Read the full piece here.