June 20, 2026

Socialism: On The March, Or Not So Much?

June 20, 2026/ Francis Menton

The famous quote from Winston Churchill about Socialism is as apt today as when first uttered in 1948: "Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy."
Forty-three years later in 1991, Churchill stood fully vindicated, as the Soviet Union fell, following decades of not just stagnation and decline, but immense human suffering and death. At the time I thought, no one could ever possibly again take this ideology seriously.
Well, here we are in the United States of 2026, and you could easily get the impression that Socialism is on the march. Politicians proudly claiming the Socialist (or even Communist) brand hold the mayoralties of all the largest cities, and their movement is the source of all the energy in today’s Democratic Party.

April 20, 2026

Could There Be Any Idea More Ignorant Than Government-Run Grocery Stores?

April 20, 2026/ Francis Menton

When I consider our new Mayor Mamdani and his legions of committed followers, the thought I can’t get away from is “How is it possible to be this ignorant?”
Right now here in New York, Mamdani is moving forward with his plan to open a chain of government-owned grocery stores, at least one for each of our five boroughs.
The underlying concept is that groceries have become too expensive for low income people to buy, undoubtedly due to evil capitalists siphoning off vast profits somewhere in the system. In the latest iteration of his proposal, Mamdani has said that the government stores will sell “basic” products like bread, milk and eggs at “guaranteed cheaper” prices.

April 04, 2026

April 04, 2026/ Francis Menton

Back in May 2024, I had a post titled “So How Are Things Going In China?” The post was inspired by a New York Times article of April 15 of that year that had reported that China’s economy had grown “more than expected” in the first three months of 2024; and by a just-issued IMF prediction that China’s economy would grow by 5% in 2024.
To believe the New York Times and the IMF, in 2024 the Chinese economy was growing at an annual rate of 5% or more. For 2025, China again reported a GDP growth rate of about 5%.
Meanwhile, the reported rates for U.S. GDP growth were 2.8% for 2024 and 2.1% for 2025. It looks like China is beating the pants off us. Surely, it can only be a few more years before China’s economy overtakes ours as the largest in the world.
Well, maybe things aren’t quite that simple.

March 29, 2026

March 29, 2026/ Francis Menton

When Vladimir Putin has been asked to justify his war for control over Ukraine, his answer is typically that Ukraine and Russia have always been one country.
And there is some truth to that. The Russian state traces its roots back to something called the Kievan Rus in the 9th century, with its capital at Kyiv. In the period prior to the 20th century, there were times when parts of today’s Ukraine were controlled by other states (like Poland or Lithuania), but never a time when Ukraine was a fully independent country separate from Russia.
And yet somehow a tremendous desire for independence from Russia seems to have arisen among the Ukrainians.

March 18, 2026

March 18, 2026/ Francis Menton

Word is that things are a little rough down in Cuba right now. In my post of February 23, I reported that Cuba had become the first nation in the world to achieve the climate activists’ Holy Grail of “Net Zero” carbon emissions.
I had looked around for news of the big celebration of Cuba’s achievement, but I couldn’t find any mention of it. If I had understood things correctly — and I think I had — Net Zero was supposed to deliver abundant and much cheaper electricity from the free wind and sun, lowering everybody’s energy costs and saving the planet in the process.
And yet, in a February 20 piece, the New York Times had revealed that the process of achieving Net Zero had somehow brought Cuba “to its knees.” Are we missing something here?
And then two days ago, March 16, the BBC (and many other sources) reported that the entire island of Cuba had been plunged into a blackout.

February 23, 2026

February 23, 2026/ Francis Menton

There it was on the front page of Saturday’s New York Times: with a small assist from the United States, the island nation of Cuba has almost entirely ended the use of fossil fuels. Finally, we have the first country in the world to achieve the climate movement’s Holy Grail and nirvana — Net Zero! Or at least a very close approximation.
This should be cause for a huge celebration.
You would think that the Times, which has been demanding the elimination of fossil fuels for at least a couple of decades, would be leading the celebrations. But weirdly, now that Cuba has finally shown the way, the Times chooses to put a completely different spin on the achievement. The headline and subheadline are (print edition): “U.S. Choking Oil Deliveries To Cuba Ports; Military Action Brings a Nation to Its Knees.”
The piece reports that the Trump administration is helping Cuba to achieve Net Zero by preventing oil tankers from landing there. Somehow in this piece, that is spun as a bad thing. It has brought Cuba “to its knees.”