Monthly Archives: August 2026

Shopper holding sandwich beside screen reading SURVEILLANCE PRICING: $5.99 standard price, $9.20 your price based on shopping pattern and behavior today, with DECLINE button.

Surveillance Pricing: You Pay Up because of Who You Are

Leave a reply

Varying prices down to the individual level has long been the holy grail of marketing, but it has become a politically charged tactic. Companies collect vast amounts of data about consumers, including browsing history, location, device type, purchase patterns, and even how long a cursor hovers over a product. Software that automates price-setting—often driven by AI—can quickly turn that data into tailored pricing… Instacart was revealed to have allowed retailers to use its software to vary prices for individuals across four cities who added the same items simultaneously to their shopping carts. Instacart said the experiment helped retailers understand consumer preferences but scrapped the tests after customer pushback.

The FTC said in its statement on August 19, 2026 that a “food delivery company quoting a higher price to consumers on the basis of data personal to those consumers” would require disclosure. So would ride-share companies that charged a user more based on knowledge that the passenger didn’t have a competing app on their phone. The statement goes on to note that the undisclosed collection or use of personal data for the purpose of personalized pricing could violate the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices in the marketplace.

Excerpt from Dave Michaels, FTC Warns Retailers on Using Private Consumer Data to Raise Prices, WSJ, Aug. 19, 2026

See also the statement pdf

Futuristic illuminated city with elevated circular spaceport at twilight

What is Wrong with American Capitalism

Leave a reply

From a Wall Street Journal Editorial: The widespread popular dissatisfaction with the working of modern American capitalism may be the product of some real, objective problems in the way American capitalism is working:

  1. income and wealth inequality on a scale not seen in a century;
  2. the concentration of economic, cultural and increasingly political power in a class of technology leaders whose products are dissolving the bonds that keep society together;
  3. the tightening nexus between business elites and the people who control the political process;
  4. rampant corruption and a political establishment that doesn’t seem interested in accountability;
  5. the revival, after decades of stable prices, of inflationary pressures that are pushing the cost of living to painful levels…

Inequality is a feature of capitalism and a sign of its health. It isn’t only functionally efficient but morally proper that rewards for talent, hard work, risk-taking and luck are distributed proportionately to those who possess them…But it’s also empirically obvious that the wider the inequality, the more social solidarity diminishes. At some point disintegrating cohesion produces costs…that undermine the benefits of the inequality…By almost all measures, American income and wealth inequality have been increasing sharply in recent decades and social and economic mobility falling. The New York Federal Reserve reported in June 2026 that the labor share of income—wages and salaries—fell to its lowest level in 80 years as returns to capital continue to soar. Studies of intergenerational mobility suggest the inequality is becoming embedded in what looks increasingly like a class-based socioeconomic model. The proportion of Americans earning more than their parents has dropped precipitously in the past 50 years and is expected to drop further. 

Excerpt from Gerard Baker, Socialism is the Wrong Answer, but the Questions are Real, WSJ, Aug. 10, 2026

Last Women Standing

Leave a reply

Barre knows the central irony of her situation: Just because she and her mother are refusing to sell their farmland that doesn’t mean the data center won’t be built. It might even mean that they will soon be living near one but receive no compensation for the burden of doing so. “On the Judgment Day, I’m only called to account for what I was supposed to be responsible for,” she said. “That’s the only way it can go on Judgment Day. What were you responsible for?”

Excerpt from Erich Schwartzel, A Kentucky mother and daughter turned down a life-changing offer for their farmland. The ensuing drama has left the town divided, WSJ, Aug. 15, 2026

Two damaged armored robots lying in rubble after battle

You Can’t Win but Can’t Afford to Lose: Project Blood Vengeance

Leave a reply

“Tehran has drawn a simple lesson from every game of chicken with Washington: Hold your nerve long enough, and America swerves first,” said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group. “For a system that believes it is fighting for survival…existential threats tend to harden resolve, not impose a price ceiling on resistance.”…

Trump began the war declaring that his goal was to force Iran into a deal that would prevent it from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon. But as the conflict has worn on, and Tehran has asserted control it didn’t have before over global energy flows in the strait, his priorities appear to have shifted. The White House has become increasingly pessimistic…about achieving a final nuclear settlement with Tehran. Instead, Trump has focused on squeezing Iran’s battered economy so the regime does a deal to open the waterway that would let him declare victory in the war and move on…

People close to Iran’s top negotiators have warned peace talks could be just an interlude before more conflict. Mehdi Mohammadi, a strategic adviser to chief Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, described the current situation as the calm before the storm…In an social-media post, Mohammadi said the drivers of continued conflict include a “generational project for blood vengeance” for the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. “The Iranian nation still has much unfinished business with Trump,” said Mohammadi, who is also a member of Iran’s negotiating team. “Iran is prepared for the great confrontation.”

Excerpt from Georgi Kantchev et al., The Iran War Is Now About Who Blinks First Under Economic Pressure, WSJ, Aug. 14, 2026

Excerpt from Benoit Faucon et al., Iran’s Secret Plan to Escalate the War, WSJ, Aug. 16, 2026

Hands tearing apart a chain made from dollar bills

How A7 Plans to Liberate the Slaves of the West

Leave a reply

Russia’s war effort in Ukraine might be faltering, but the Kremlin has a high-tech superweapon to neutralize Western sanctions. It is called A7. The state-backed payment network moves money in and out of Russia, defying U.S. and European efforts to isolate Moscow from the global banking system. A7 helps Russia pay for everything from military-drone parts to luxury cars to imported fruit, using a mix of cryptocurrency transactions and more-traditional banking methods…Behind its rapid rise is a convicted money launderer. A7’s founder, Ilan Shor, is best known for his role in one of the biggest bank heists in history: a complex scheme to extract $1 billion from three banks in Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, in 2014. A Moldovan court convicted him of fraud and money laundering for helping orchestrate the theft, but he fled the country while under house arrest. Shor has denied the allegations and called them politically motivated…

Founded less than two years ago, A7 says it handles nearly 20% of payments in Russian foreign trade, or more than $100 billion annually. President Vladimir Putin gave it his blessing in 2025, taking part by video link in the opening of an A7 branch office. Now, A7 is planning to take its services global and fulfill Putin’s vision of an alternative financial system outside the control of Washington or Brussels. Having recently opened its first offices abroad, in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, A7 says it is eyeing expansion into Latin America and the Middle East. Executives don’t hide their desire to serve countries seen as pariahs in the West. “Before, the Western system essentially enslaved the whole financial world, allowing the West to flip a switch at any time and stop any country from being able to make payments,” Shor told TASS, the Russian state news agency, in July 2026. “We give companies and countries freedom, because our system is immune to sanctions.” The U.S., U.K. and European Union have all sanctioned A7.

To skirt sanctions, A7 moves money through a network of shell companies in places such as Kyrgyzstan, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Open Source Centre…Crypto is the other main tool that A7 uses, allowing it to bypass banks entirely. A7 backed the 2025 launch of A7A5, a digital token pegged to the value of Russia’s currency, the ruble. Blockchain analysts say A7A5 is used to pay for sanctioned goods by swapping it for U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins, such as Tether. More than $2.2 billion has moved through one such A7A5 swapping service,,,

Excerpt from Alexander Osipovich, Russia’s Hottest Startup Is a State-Backed Sanctions Evasion Network, WSJ, Aug. 7, 2026

The Question Is Not Whether, It’s When: on Cockroaches and Parasites

Leave a reply

Following, the Cockroach movement in India, I had a flashback of a scene from the movie “Parasite.” In that movie, the “smell” represents the invisible, inescapable barrier of class. Mr. Park (the wealthy urbanite) complains that his driver Mr. Kim has distinct smell of someone who rides the subway or lives in a basement. During the chaos of a violent emergency, Mr. Park instinctively pinches his nose in disgust at the smell of the attacker. Seeing this, triggers Mr. Kim to stab Mr. Park, realizing the wealthy will never see him as a human.

Just Because It’s Legal Does Not Mean It’s Not a Scandal: The U.S. Presidency as a Commodity

Leave a reply

According to BBC, Trump made more than $1bn from crypto in first year back in office

On Super-Yachts and Various Deaths

Leave a reply

The billionaire founder of one of the world’s most valuable startups bought a superyacht in 2026 worth an estimated $400 million, replete with a glass-bottomed swimming pool and helipad.One thing he didn’t pay: a broker’s fee. That is according to a top luxury yacht broker who is now suing Nik Storonsky, a co-founder and chief executive of digital-banking giant Revolut, alleging the entrepreneur “went behind their back” to avoid paying commission on a purchase they had worked on. Cecil Wright & Partners, a luxury yacht broker, filed the legal action in London’s High Court over Storonsky’s acquisition of Nixie, a 102-meter vessel with four terraces and an Indian teak deck.

Excerpt from Julia Amann, Fintech Billionaire Sued Over $400 Million Superyacht Deal, WSJ, Aug. 4, 2026

In the Meantime….

As of May 2026, at least 75,811 people (73,770+ Palestinians and 2,039+ Israelis)have been reported killed in the Gaza war according to the Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including 270 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, and over 560 humanitarian aid workers, a number that includes 391 employees of UNRWA. A study by OHCHR found that 70% of the Palestinians killed in residential buildings or similar housing were women and children. (see wikipedia)

And the Russia-Ukraine war keeps going strong: Total deaths in the war in Ukraine exceed hundreds of thousands, with estimates pointing to over 125,000 to 150,000 Ukrainian troop deaths, hundreds of thousands of Russian troop deaths, and more than 16,000 civilian deaths verified since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022.

Natural gas plant with steam emissions and active flare at sunset

How the U.S. Forced Europe to Change its Climate Rules

Leave a reply

The European Union wants to suspend penalties for companies that breach new rules aimed at curbing global warming, after the Trump administration and industry groups said they were too hard to comply with and could lead to energy shortages. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, recommended in July 2026 that EU countries delay noncompliance penalties that had been set to take effect in 2027. The fines, which can be as high as 20% of a company’s annual revenue, wouldn’t come into play until 2030, the commission said.

The EU requires companies to monitor and report on methane emissions for oil, natural gas and coal they import, and is set to eventually cap the amount of methane that can be emitted for each unit of imported energy. The bloc wants to reduce emissions of methane because it is a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

Disruptions to oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have added to concerns in import-reliant Europe, where high prices are kneecapping companies’ ability to compete with the U.S. and China. The U.S. and other energy-exporting countries have pressed the EU to ease its methane rules. Some American multinationals such as Exxon Mobil have subsidiaries in Europe that import energy from outside the bloc, meaning the rules would apply to them, too.

In a joint letter in June 2026, the energy ministers of the U.S., Qatar, Algeria and Nigeria said they saw “no viable path to compliance” with the EU’s methane regulation, and called for a delay to the penalties and changes to the law.

Excerpt from Kim Mackrael, EU to Ease Methane Rules After U.S. Pressure, WSJ, July 20, 2026

How NGOs are Used in the AI Propaganda Wars

Leave a reply

The artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic is doubling its spending on the midterm elections in the United States to $40 million by contributing to Public First Action, a political group pushing for government-imposed safeguards on powerful AI models….Public First says it is a counterweight to the other major AI spender, Leading the Future, which is funded by tech titans including a top executive at OpenAI and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. Leading the Future is more aligned with the White House’s views on AI, pushing for industry-friendly rules that would allow AI to develop with fewer barriers….

Critics of Anthropic have said the company wants to use regulations to hurt competitors. They argue that Amodei, the founder of Anthropic, is hypocritical for warning about AI’s dangers while continuing to develop better models. Amodei and the company say their focus on model safety is genuine.

The clashing political groups, through networks of super PACs**, have spent millions of dollars on advertising in dozens of U.S. primaries. ..Leading the Future, which is reusing parts of a political playbook deployed by a pro-crypto super PAC network tin 2024, has reported raising about $75 million but has announced millions more in pledges. Public First said at the end of June it had raised $80 million.

Excerpt from Laura J. Nelson,Anthropic Doubles Midterm Spending to $40 Million to Push AI Regulation, WSJ, July 22, 2026

++Independent expenditure-only political action committees, commonly known as super PACs, are a type of political action committees (PACs) in the United States. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are legally allowed to fundraise unlimited amounts of money from individuals or organizations for the purpose of campaign advertising (see wikipedia)