US inflation has recently been surging and is now “trotting”. From Gerald Feldman’s description of Germany’s inflationary episode a century ago, one is struck by many similarities with today… US CPI inflation recently hit 7.9% - not only is this a 40-year high but it’s also a pace one might refer to as “trotting” inflation. If inflation keeps rising, we - or at least the Americans among us - might be about to experience “galloping” inflation.

Is technology political? The answer is a resounding yes! All technology is political, though some technologies are more political than others… In society, we see a trend of increased polarization, there is talk about filter bubbles, and more and more people seem to be living in completely different worlds in terms of their opinions and their “knowledge” of the world at large. At the same time, confidence in legacy media is falling precipitously, and on a trend basis: fewer than half of Americans harbored trust in the media at the beginning of 2021 according to one poll… How did we get here, and what’s next?