Category Archives: Business

Business, Economics, History, Political Commentary, Technology and Society, War Commentary

The Good News Just Keeps Coming

April 28, 2026 Rand Simberg 5 Comments

Trump has broken OPEC.

Breaking news..
The UAE has announced its
decision to withdraw from OPEC
And OPEC+ effective May 1, 2026

THIS IS BIG !! pic.twitter.com/530V03coRV
— Ahmed Khalifa (@_A_khalifa) April 28, 2026

After leaving OPEC

With its Fujairah pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, UAE can now ramp up freely potentially adding around 2 million extra barrels a day and helping break the high-price grip..

Game changer for markets😎 pic.twitter.com/TAwnkam5Rh
— Ahmed Khalifa (@_A_khalifa) April 28, 2026

Business, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Democrats’ Enemies List

April 28, 2026 Rand Simberg 1 Comment

It shows that they are serious, and should never get power.

[Late-morning update]

Come see the violence inherent to the ~~system~~Democrats.

Business, History, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Current State Of Ethics In Government

April 24, 2026 Rand Simberg 14 Comments

I have two stacks on my desk. The left stack is financial disclosure forms from members of Congress. The right stack is waivers for members who filed their financial disclosures late.

The right stack is always taller.

On Wednesday morning, I watched a soldier get arrested on…
— Peter Girnus 🦅 (@gothburz) April 24, 2026

Business, Economics, Education, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Better Late Than Never

April 24, 2026 Rand Simberg 4 Comments

No more Pell Grants for crap degrees. But the loan program still needs a massive overhaul, if not obliterated entirely.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

The Latest From Jared

April 23, 2026 Rand Simberg 35 Comments

I understand some in the community have an affinity for specific hardware, but the focus should be on outcomes. With respect to SLS, the desired outcome is launching crewed Orion spacecraft at a reasonable cadence, rebuilding muscle memory, and buying down risk so we can land…
— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) April 17, 2026

[Mid-morning update]

An interesting interview with him.

[Noon update]

ICYMI, from Jared’s X post: “I do not want to throw away billions of taxpayer dollars, and time we do not have, on a flavor of a rocket that is not necessary to return astronauts to the moon.”

[Thursday-afternoon update]

Bob Zimmerman has thoughts on his Congressional hearing.

[Bumped]

Business, Space, Technology and Society

Launch Industry Woes

April 21, 2026 Rand Simberg 16 Comments

The only company currently performing is SpaceX.

And then we have the suit problem (that I talked about in my Reason study last year). But Eric Berger seems sanguine about it:

People often say there's no difference between "new" space and "traditional" space. Not true, and we've seen that play out with this spacesuit contract. Axiom has no guarantees it will ultimately profit on its fixed price suit contract with NASA. It could lose big time. But the…
— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) April 21, 2026

[Afternoon update]

I left Rockwell a third of a century ago when it became very clear that, despite being the prime contractor on the Shuttle, they didn't see themselves as being in the space business. They were in the government-contracting business.
— Rand Simberg (@Simberg_Space) April 21, 2026

Business, Economics, History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Technology and Society, War Commentary

On The Iran War

April 18, 2026 Rand Simberg 1 Comment

Seven myths.

Business, Economics, Mathematics, Philosophy, Space, Technology and Society

Future Scarcity

April 18, 2026 Rand Simberg 17 Comments

An interesting discussion on the implications of AI and robots. Read the whole thread.

Maybe unpopular opinion? I think an age of abundance via AI might cause more war instead of less, because the value of land on earth will trend toward infinity (there is finite land on earth), while the cost of creating robot armies to fight over it will trend toward zero.
— Phil Metzger (@DrPhiltill) April 18, 2026

Business, Economics, History, Political Commentary, Popular Culture, Space, Technology and Society

Jeff Greason

April 16, 2026 Rand Simberg 3 Comments

I haven’t listened yet (it’s a two-hour interview), but I’m sure it’s interesting:

This has gone live now. Wide ranging; how I got in the field, what worthy goals are for the space enterprise, some of what we need, and of course, advanced propulsion. Gets a little emotional in spots. And 2 hours long ….https://t.co/CyO6dZPone

Thanks to @tmro https://t.co/iIdePreSGP
— Jeff Greason (@JeffGreason) April 16, 2026

Transterrestrial Musings