Media worth consuming – June 2026

Top five articles

Trump wants interest rate cuts but needs a Fed Governor to reduce inflation. Kevin Warsh looks like the right man for the inflation job.

Short seller Andrew Left was found guilty on 13 charges in a case that pitted market manipulation allegations against claims of free speech.

A United Nations report on how to eliminate poverty would all but guarantee increased poverty if enacted.

The number of people working in Autism therapy in the US has grown from 150,000 in 2019 to 654,000 in 2025, with providers taking advantage of generous taxpayer funded programs.

After an English man organised volunteers to clean up rubbish from a local river, he was rewarded with a letter from the Environment Agency telling him he was under investigation for failing to obtain a permit.

Finance

With rising interest rates, higher government debt levels and the AI capex boom, the era of cheap capital is over. Stock indices are breaking their own rules to include SpaceX soon after its IPO, a move that will boost demand for SpaceX stock but could trash the credibility of indices. US microcaps are outperforming large caps, but allocators face significant pressure to invest in large caps or risk underperforming their benchmarks. A good historical analysis of which assets tend to be more or less correlated during drawdowns.

The de-dollarization story is primarily about investors selling Treasuries and buying hard US dollar assets, seeking to avoid inflation and default risks as the US government runs enormous deficits. If you own standard government debt, you are effectively subordinated in a distressed scenario when someone needs to be squeezed to balance income and expenditure. Declining tobacco usage has led to the first ever default on an American municipal tobacco revenue backed bond. Rating agency KBRA has seen rising defaults and falling recovery rates on private credit this year. Fitch’s private credit default rate is at 6%. Smaller private credit funds average 12% of their loans priced below 50% of face value with larger funds averaging 8%.

The world’s largest private credit fund, BCRED, capped quarterly redemptions at 5% after receiving redemption requests for 10% of the fund. Partners Group shares fell 18% in a day after it revealed it had limited redemptions on a private equity fund to 5% for the quarter compared to the 9.8% requested. DE Shaw is closing two funds and imposing individual client redemption limits on several others.

Joe Aston’s critique of Metrics Credit Partner’s related party lending. The former head of marketing for the CFA Institute has been sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison for defrauding the organisation of $5 million. Australia has a lot to learn from the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Japan’s trade commission has raided six ice cream makers over price fixing allegations.

Politics & culture

The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning Xi Jinping for “deceit, undermining prospects for peace and security, and orchestrating crimes against humanity”. Angela Merkel has been awarded the European Order of Merit, with her track record of minimising the rights of nations and citizens making her a deserving winner.

Alaska’s electoral office disqualified a candidate from running for a federal senate seat due to the potential to mislead voters, as he has the same name as the incumbent. University of California professors are asking their employer to reinstate the requirement for university entrance tests, with almost one-third of students having “severe preparation deficits”.

A Pennsylvania minor league baseball team forfeited a home game after several players refused to wear Pride themed uniforms. Major League Baseball is being investigated for religious discrimination after it warned players for writing Bible references on their Pride themed caps. North Yorkshire police have settled with a former employee who was suspended and then reinstated upon appeal for asking forthright questions about Islam during a “safe space” discussion. Despite the prosecutor recommending acquittal, a Brazilian couple has been sentenced to 50 days in prison for failing to teach their high achieving children “diversity” and “culture” as part of homeschooling,.

Renowned tax minimiser, Lewis Hamilton, advocated for a cap on personal wealth prompting hilarious responses. Warren Buffett continues to make deceptive statements about the taxes that companies and wealthy individuals pay. Some European countries force parents to bequeath most of their wealth to their children, limiting what parents can give to charitable causes.

Australia’s poor record with wage theft means the Australian government can’t clearly argue against the hypocritical allegations of modern slavery made by the US government. Australia’s subsidies for childcare cost taxpayers $9,000 per year for every child under six but have failed to deliver quality childcare. Commentators calling One Nation a fringe political party misunderstand that some of its views are entirely mainstream and their own progressive views are not.

Economics & work

Cuba is a socialist paradise with the dire economic outcomes to prove it, but the government is now proposing a swathe of free market reforms to deal with its economic collapse. Germany’s energy transition has been an economic disaster, Australia might be taking the same road. If the demand for South Korean technology holds up, their two largest companies are set to become enormous taxpayers.

By overstating affordability and poverty issues, the political focus is shifted away from problems that can be solved and people more deserving of help. Thomas Piketty’s plan to address inequality would end up making almost everyone poorer. If you read economic history with a Hayekian view instead of a Marxist view, you reach very different conclusions of what happened and why, and what to learn from it.

Miscellaneous

Recent studies point to the shingles vaccine having the bonus effects of reducing ageing and dementia. The long story of how the US came to have a year-round supply of avocados. Nicotine use in Australia is growing, with the ABS estimating that 80% of tobacco sold is illicit. Canadian airport workers have been switching bag tags to transport drugs, with at least 17 innocent passengers being accused of drug smuggling.

A man who legally changed his name to “Loony Toon” has been sentenced by an Oregon court to 20 years’ imprisonment after leading police on a car chase and shooting at police while driving. A drunk Pennsylvania man used a bobcat to tear chunks off the roof of his house after arguing with his wife. US data shows that crime rates decrease as citizens legally carry concealed handguns increase, with a stronger benefit from women carrying firearms. After an Oklahoma family built their house over an old oil well, it burst flooding their house with oil, leaving them to fight with their insurer and the government regulator over who will pay for their relocation.

An Oregon family is suing for damages after a hospital installed a heart valve in their daughter upside down, which was only discovered and corrected after they sought a second opinion. British societies for blind and deaf children are against their country’s proposed social media ban for children under 16. Ryanair’s policy of charging parents an extra fee to sit next to their children is likely to be challenged. A painting that won a $20,000 prize in 2025 has been found to be a copy of a 2011 painting by an Archibald winner. A Sydney University student got an unexpected opportunity to play in the orchestra for a musical he was attending after the regular keyboard player fell ill.