A plea for rhetorical disarmament. Great piece. The Uses and Abuses of Political Violence by Gerard Baker wsj.com/opinion/the-us… via Wall Street Journal Opinion

“…to see stringent non-competes as straightforwardly pro-employer would be a mistake. It would be better to say that they are pro-incumbent employers.” The scourge of the non-compete clause ft.com/content/0c9e4a… via @ft

Punishing 57,000 Texas students isn’t fighting discrimination wapo.st/3G63kHS

I ask tech leaders what happens to the post-AI workforce. They answer Universal Basic Income (UBI). I ask if they are willing to pay the taxes to make that happen, I get reticence.  Bosses want you to know AI is coming for your job wapo.st/45PvAcz

Yet another example of how Wall Street decries deficits, yet aggressively pursues its own self-interested tax benefits. Congress weighs multibillion-dollar tax cut for private credit investors ft.com/content/1e633d… via @ft

Since big banks are NOT constrained by the SLR, and the vast majority of the capital reduction is for their insured bank subsidiaries which do NOT make markets in UST, what is the reason for doing this? Wall Street’s Regulatory Reins Start Loosening as Fed Proposes New Rule

Some underperforming government agencies should be restructured rather than closed. This is true of the Office of Financial Research, write Sheila Bair and Lawrence Goodman on.wsj.com/3GcyihK

Not all tariffs are bad… These companies encourage teens to buy on impulse junky clothes they don’t need with money they don’t have. Glad shoppers are turning away. SUS shoppers ditch Shein and Temu as Trump closes tax loophole ft.com/content/eadd4e… via @ft

I agree with Greg Ip that a central bank shouldn’t run monetary policy to lower government interest costs. But that is precisely what the Fed is doing through regulatory policy: proposing to cut big bank capital requirements to incentivize more buying of UST. Greg Ip writes.

Given that Congress just passed legislation that will make Social Security insolvent even sooner, we better get to work fixing it asap. dallasnews.com/opinion/commen…

Osprey enjoying the afternoon sun in our yard. Check out those wings.

Amazing. Now what JPM really needs is a loosening of bank capital rules so it can grow even bigger… bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Wall Street to trump Main Street with new bank rules - FT oped by former FDIC chair Sheila Bair on a weakening of a key leverage ratio for the big banks ft.com/content/553c0b…

Public comment on Proposal to Weaken Capital Rules for G-SIBs by Sheila Bair, Tom Hoenig, and Thomas Curry. finregrag.com/p/comment-on-p…

Pleased to join Tom Hoenig and Tom Curry in commenting on the inter-agency proposal to weaken G-SIB capital requirements which will increase mega banks’ market dominance and the risk they could fail. regulations.gov/comment/OCC-20…

Lovely tribute by Christine Harper. In fending off political pressure he faced, legendary Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker drew inspiration from George Washington, says Christine Harper bloomberg.com/opinion/articl… The Volcker Alliance

Robinhood now offers sports betting as if it is another form of investing. You can buy a contract on the app that pays out based on a sports outcome as easily as buying stock. It is another step to conflating the concepts of short-term gambling and long-term investing. 13/n

As a fellow “oxymoron”, loved this andy serwer interview with Sen. Cassidy. Moderate Republicanism is not dead! Sen. Bill Cassidy Explains His Plan to Fix ‘Mostly Dead’ Social Security. Plus, the Big, Beautiful Bill and RFK Jr. barrons.com/articles/senat… via @BarronsOnline