Housing shortages and skyrocketing rental prices have become a major source of tension in many countries around the world.
As Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, according to data from a Statista Consumer Insights survey, the topic of housing is considered the most pressing issue right now in the Netherlands by Dutch respondents.
It is the second most pressing issue after the cost of living in Canada and Australia.
Poland’s Piotr Serafin will probably take over as EU commissioner for budget on Dec. 1, but the president of the European Commission is already organizing his most important task: the draft EU budget for 2028-34. The document, seen by Polish media outlet Rzeczpospolita shows that the German, Ursula von der Leyen, wants to dismantle regional policy across the EU, which will have a profound effect on Poland.
The money that is currently given to the regions, and largely managed by them (two-thirds of EU structural funds), would be given instead to the governments of the member states. These governments would then divide it as they saw fit, allowing for more centralization and control, a move that would better suit a Brussels looking to expand its control through a top-down approach.
Instead of the 530 currently operating programs (including 398 concerning cohesion policy), Ursula von der Leyen proposes 27 national operational programs. Each such program will include all expenditures that have so far made up cohesion policy and agricultural policy, including even subsidies for farmers. The programs will be divided into sectors, e.g., transport, energy, agriculture, or internal affairs and migration — all under the slogan of simplification. The second slogan repeated by von der Leyen is “flexibility.” She wants to introduce the principle of an “annual review” of the multiannual budget, which she argues will increase flexibility. Money allocated to one area could therefore be shifted to another purpose if necessary.
Experts who spoke to Rzeczpospolita unofficially have no doubt that this proposal means the elimination of regional policy, which von der Leyen clearly does not like, which is more control for rural areas on how funding is spent with these rural areas often leaning more conservative.
The end of EU regional policy
Why is this dangerous? In such a scenario, the liberal elite in Brussels could win every time. First, when the central government is of a different political color than the local government, the distribution of EU funds can be an element of rewarding its party allies.
Let’s imagine a situation where Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) returns to power and does not transfer money to voivodeships or cities governed by PO. However, in such a scenario, Brussels could turn around and cut funding to Poland if it disagrees with PiS’ policies. In the event that a left-liberal government carries out such actions, it could simply look the other way and allow funds to continue to flow.
Von der Leyen also wants the payment of money to be on the condition of reforms at the central level, even if the regions have nothing to do with the lack of reforms. Finally, the transfer of competencies to the central level means that many regions will not have coherent investment programs.
For decades, the EU has been building a regional policy based on the principle of convergence, or raising the level of development of poorer areas. It had a developed methodology, instruments for negotiating programs with governments and regions, and criteria for granting money. The aim of such a policy was also to bring the EU closer to its citizens: local authorities were involved in writing operational programs and the effects of EU money were visible on the ground.
Now, von der Leyen proposes throwing this policy in the trash and introducing a transactional method: the government carries out reforms and, in return receives money and divides it between sectors.
Ursula von der Leyen’s revolution a problem for Poland. Local authorities fear centralization
“We urgently need new investments and solutions, and therefore funds, available quickly, easily and flexibly at the levels where they occur, i.e. at the level of municipalities and counties, to the extent adapted to their needs,” said Hanna Zdanowska, mayor of Łódź, member of the European Committee of the Regions, during an interview with Rzeczpospolita.
“Centralization or nationalization of cohesion policy in times of an ongoing global political crisis can become a very dangerous trap,” she added.
Many EU countries may like such a reform.
“We like it,” a diplomat from one of the net-contributor countries tells Rzeczpospolita. According to him, this limits Serafin’s scope of action.
“He is very competent, but he will have to move within the limits set by von der Leyen,” he adds.
Strict control over Polish commissioner Piotr Serafin
The new plan by the German EU commission president gives direct supervision over the draft budget to herself and the secretary-general of the European Commission, who is an official completely dependent on von der Leyen. In short, the new budget proposal would increase her power immensely.
The document provides for the creation of a steering committee, in which, in addition to Serafin, two people will be mentioned.
Von der Leyen’s plan will certainly not appeal to several member states with a strong regional voice, such as Poland, Germany, Romania, or Belgium. It will also certainly be contested by many MEPs, who may demand commitments from the commissioners-designate (including the Italian Raffaele Fitto, responsible for cohesion policy) as early as November.
Olive Oil Supply Crunch Eases As World’s Top Producer Sees Harvest Jump
A multi-year olive oil shortage in Spain, which accounts for about 40% of global production, pushed prices to record highs earlier this year amid sticky food inflation worldwide. Now, there is some good news, as Bloomberg reports olive oil production in the southern Europen country is set to rise, possibly alleviating the severe supply crunch.
New data from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food forecasts that the world’s top olive oil producer will record about 1.26 million tons this year, or about a 48% increase versus 2023. This would ensure Spain’s olive oil production returns to the long-term average.
The skyrocketing price of olive oil, sometimes called “liquid gold,” has been primarily due to two years of poor harvests across the Mediterranean because of adverse weather conditions, such as widespread drought. This pushed prices to record highs of nearly 9,000 euros a ton at the start of 2024.
Spot prices for Spanish Olive Oil Extra Virgin peaked at 8,835 euros a ton in late January and have since tumbled into a bear market, sliding to around 7,000 euros a ton by fall.
Here’s more from Bloomberg:
Signs of a better harvest have seen the commodity decline by more than a fifth from highs above €9,000 a ton. Shoppers will probably only benefit from lower prices later on, as supply contracts are usually negotiated months in advance. Weather conditions in the coming weeks could also impact on production as harvesting of the crop has only just begun, the Spanish government said.
The surge in olive oil prices due to adverse weather conditions has also affected other food crops, including cocoa, oranges, and other softs, as well as beef.
Last Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Food Price Index, which tracks the international prices of a basket of globally traded food, jumped the most in 18 months in September.
This reacceleration in global food prices has ignited fears supermarket prices are set to surge again.
Readers have been well informed about the rising risks of global food inflation re-accelerating. We said in June…
About a year ago, Sara Menker, founder and CEO of Gro Intelligence, warned in a Bloomberg interview that the current global food crisis is ‘much worse than 2008’.
In the US, the Harris-Walz campaign’s only proposed solution to tackle rampant food inflation has been ‘communist price controls’…
Food inflation is very sticky. Maybe it’s time to ditch de-growth ‘climate change’ policies to bring inflation lower.
Which Nation Is The World’s Happiest? (The Answer May Surprise You…)
A collective measure of happiness is incredibly difficult to define.
While economic opportunity and education can certainly enhance people’s well-being, happiness is often assessed through different lenses. These include ‘inner’ factors like personal harmony and ‘outer’ factors such as social interactions, as well as a ‘task’ focus, such as finding fulfillment in work.
To analyze the happiness of leading nations, Dalio looked at the following metrics:
Share of Population Reported Happy
Reported Life Satisfaction (1-10)
Share of Population Reported Daily Enjoyment
Share of Population Reports Having Good Social Support Network
Suicide Rate (Per 100,000 People)
For the rankings, countries were analyzed using z-scores, which represent the amount of standard deviations they are from the dataset’s mean.
The Happiest Countries Across Major World Economies
Below, we show the happiest countries across 24 major nations in 2024:
Perhaps surprisingly, the UK ranks as the happiest country overall.
This ranking is bolstered by high levels of happiness among older generations, although it contrasts with the World Happiness Report, which places the UK 20th out of 143 nations in 2024. Other global indexes, including those from the UN, show the UK in a similar position.
In Indonesia, 79% of citizens consider themselves happy, outpacing the global average of 73%.
Meanwhile, the U.S. ranks 10th, demonstrating that economic strength doesn’t always correlate with happiness. In fact, over the past two decades, self-reported happiness in America has been declining, especially among younger generations.
India ranks last, likely due to widespread distrust in institutions, income inequality, and limited social mobility. South Korea, despite being the world’s 10th largest economy, also ranks near the bottom, with 74% of the population dissatisfied with the country’s social and political climate.
To learn more about this topic from a health perspective, check out this graphic on the healthiest countries across leading world economies.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has reaffirmed his opposition to Ukraine’s potential NATO membership, warning that such a move could lead to broader conflict.
In an interview with STVR on Sunday, Fico claimed that the ongoing war in Ukraine is being prolonged by Western support with the goal of “bringing the Russians to their knees,” a position he believes is futile.
“There is a military conflict going on in a country that is Slovakia’s neighbor, where Slavs are really being killed and where Europe is significantly supporting this killing,” Fico said, as cited by the Pravda news outlet.
He emphasized that the conflict cannot be resolved militarily and warned against further Western involvement in Ukraine.
While he expressed support for Ukraine’s eventual membership in the European Union, the Slovak leader clarified that NATO membership is a step too far.
“As long as I am the prime minister of the Slovak Republic, as long as I lead the deputies, whom I, as the party chairman, have under political control, I will never agree to Ukraine’s membership in NATO,” he declared.
Fico further cautioned that Ukraine joining NATO could pave the way for a “third world war.”
Fico also used the interview to criticize what he described as “Russophobia” in Western discourse, reminding listeners that “Freedom came to Slovakia from the east,” in reference to the Soviet Union’s contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany.
He announced his intention to visit Moscow next year on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II to honor Russia’s role in liberating Slovakia despite the current geopolitical landscape.
“Let’s not automatically assume that when we speak positively about the Red Army or the former Soviet Union, we are agents of Putin,” Fico stressed, urging for more balanced views on Russia and its historical role.
Fico reaffirmed Slovakia’s commitment to meeting its NATO obligations by spending 2 percent of GDP on defense. However, he voiced opposition to further increases in defense spending, proposing instead that part of these funds be allocated to civilian projects, such as building a hospital in Prešov and reconstructing infrastructure.
“The Ministry of Defense is ready to provide an additional €300 million for objectives that are on the one hand military, but at the same time can serve civilian purposes well,” Fico said, outlining his vision for a balanced approach to national defense and public investment.
California officials are investigating a potential third case of bird flu in humans, with the individual likely getting infected from cows, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
CDPH confirmed the first two human cases of bird flu in California on Oct. 3. while the third possible case was revealed in an Oct. 5 update.
“The case was identified in a Central Valley individual who had contact with infected dairy cattle,” CDPH said in the update. “Specimens are being sent to the CDC to undergo confirmatory testing.”
There is “no known link or contact” between the third case and the first two reported cases, it noted. This suggests “only animal-to-human spread of the virus in California,” it said.
The two confirmed cases were also in Central Valley, with all three individuals having had contact with dairy cattle at three different farms.
“Like the first two cases, this individual also experienced mild symptoms, including eye redness or discharge (conjunctivitis). None of the individuals have been hospitalized,” the department said.
CDPH assessed that the risk of bird flu infecting the general public was low. People who interact with affected animals, such as workers at poultry or dairy farms, are at a higher risk of contracting bird flu, it said.
The agency advised such individuals to use personal protective equipment such as respirators, gloves, and eye protection when working with animals that are infected or have potentially contracted the virus.
Although milk from sick cows is not permitted in the public supply according to state and federal regulations, milk and dairy products that are pasteurized are safe to consume, as the process inactivates the virus, the CDPH said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bird flu in cows was detected for the first time in the United States this year.
The virus is widespread among wild birds and has been responsible for outbreaks among poultry in the country since 2022.
In total, 17 human cases have been reported so far this year, as of Oct. 3, in five states—Texas, Michigan, Colorado, Missouri, and California.
Six of these cases were linked to exposure to infected or sick dairy cows, while nine were due to exposure to infected poultry. Colorado registered the highest number of cases, at 10.
Bird Flu in the United States
The first multistate outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows was reported in late March. A few days later, the CDC confirmed a bird flu infection in an individual from Texas who was exposed to these animals.
By Oct. 1, more than 10,000 wild birds with bird flu were identified. More than 100 million poultry birds across 48 states have been affected. As of Oct. 4, outbreaks in dairy cows have been reported across 14 states, with 255 herds impacted.
The CDPH advises people exposed to infected animals to monitor themselves for the following symptoms for 10 days after last exposure—eye redness (conjunctivitis), cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, trouble breathing, and fever.
“If they start to feel sick, they should immediately isolate, notify their local public health department, and work with public health and health care providers to get timely testing and treatment,” the CDPH said.
A person holds a test tube labeled ‘Bird Flu,’ on Jan. 14, 2023. Dado Ruvic/Reuters
On Friday, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response’s Center for Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority announced it was providing roughly $72 million to three companies to boost the manufacture of bird flu vaccines as part of national preparedness.
The funds are being provided to CSL Seqirus, Sanofi, and GSK. These firms will “fill and finish additional doses of their influenza A(H5) vaccines from bulk storage into ready-to-use vials or pre-filled syringes so that vaccine[s] will be ready to distribute if needed.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has scheduled an Oct. 10 meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee to discuss preparedness for countering threats posed by the bird flu virus.
Six justices granted a request by Georgia officials to reinstate the law after a county judge on Sept. 30 concluded that the law violates the right of women in the state to have an abortion.
Georgia’s Constitution gives residents liberty, and that liberty includes the right of women to “control what happens to and within her body,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said in his ruling.
In a one-page order from the Georgia Supreme Court, a majority of justices said they were staying McBurney’s ruling as of 5 p.m. on Oct. 7. The majority did not explain their reasoning.
The law states that abortion is not authorized if the heartbeat of an unborn child has been detected. Exceptions include cases where doctors determine a medical emergency exists and, in some instances, incest or rape.
The Georgia Supreme Court order does not impact the block of a provision that would provide abortion-related health records to district attorneys.
According to the high court, Justice Nels S.D. Peterson was disqualified from considering the state’s emergency request to intervene, and Justice Andrew A. Pinson did not participate.
In an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, Justice John J. Ellington said the state had not provided sufficient arguments to prompt a stay, particularly in light of how groups suing over the law met the burden of establishing that the law violates Georgia’s Constitution.
“Fundamentally, the state should not be in the business of enforcing laws that have been determined to violate fundamental rights guaranteed to millions of individuals under the Georgia Constitution,” he wrote. “The ’status quo’ that should be maintained is the state of the law before the challenged laws took effect. Accordingly, I dissent.”
Ellington concurred only with the choice not to reinstate the provision concerning health records.
Justices Michael P. Boggs, Sarah Hawkins Warren, Charles J. Bethel, Carla Wong McMillian, Shawn Lagrua, and Verda M. Colvin formed the majority.
The stay is in place as the state lodges an appeal, which will be heard in due course. The stay could become permanent or ultimately be withdrawn.
The abortion bill was approved by the Georgia Legislature in 2019 and the law took effect in 2020.
On Saturday a 4.5-magnitude seismic event occurred in Iran’s Semnan province, sparking speculation that Iran has tested a nuclear weapon for the first time. Such a seismic event is typically the result of an earthquake, but speculation has arisen on social media suggesting the event was instead an underground nuclear test carried out by the Islamic Republic in response to Israeli threats to bomb Tehran’s nuclear energy and oil facilities.
According to Iranian sources speaking with The Cradle, the possibility that a nuclear test was indeed conducted is being discussed at high levels in Iran. Syrian sources speaking with The Cradle in September predicted that Iran would seek to develop breakout nuclear weapons capability in response to Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Iran launched at least 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, causing damage to three airbases on October 1, following Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforushan on September 27. Iran is now awaiting a possible Israeli response.
The speculation that Iran carried out a nuclear test comes just days after the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank in the US, published a report stating that “Iran can produce nuclear weapons far more rapidly than expected.”
Published on October 1st, the report noted that in late April 2024, a senior Iranian lawmaker stated that there is only a “one-week gap from the issuance of the order to the first test” of a nuclear bomb.
In May, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Iran may be forced to change its nuclear doctrine, which until now has called only for using nuclear technology for civilian purposes. “We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb, but should Iran’s existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine,” Kamal Kharrazi stated.
The Heritage Foundation report added that in July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken seemed to corroborate this claim when he stated that “instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capacity of producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon, [Iran] is now probably one or two weeks away.”
The statements accompanied a significant increase in Iran’s stockpile of Uranium enriched to the 60 percent level between May and August 2024, according to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Notably, Uranium that is enriched up to 60 percent purity is just a short, technical step away from the 90 percent required for nuclear weapons, the report added.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracy (FDD), an Israeli-linked think tank based in Washington, DC, issued a report in 2019 claiming that Iran had begun a program to build underground nuclear test sites starting in the 2000s known as “Project Midan.”
The FDD stated, “Using openly available, corroborating geospatial information, we have identified the likely location (in an area southeast of Semnan) where underground non-nuclear explosives tests were conducted in 2003 as part of developing seismic methods of measuring the yield of an underground nuclear explosive.”
South Georgia City “Consistently Altered” Its Speeding Tickets To Skirt State Revenue Laws
As if the implementation of traffic cameras, EZ Pass scanners and ‘smart’ cars which can pinpoint your exact location at any given time wasn’t enough for big brother to have the edge, one town in South Georgia decided to go ‘old school’ and simply lie about tickets it handed out.
The Georgia Department of Public Safety suspended the city of Lenox’s speed detection permits for 180 days in July. Located on I-75, about three hours south of Atlanta, Lenox altered speeding citations to “unsafe driving,” skirting a state law capping revenue from speeding fines at 35% of a police budget.
An audit revealed nearly 40% of Lenox’s budget came from these fines last year.
An investigation found that the city “consistently altered” tickets that “had the effect of excluding the fines and forfeitures for citations issued for speeding”, according to a report from Atlanta News First.
DPS Commissioner Col. William Hitchens stated that while Lenox has been altering tickets for years, it only surpassed the 35% revenue cap in 2023. An audit revealed the city initially reported $477,685 from speeding fines, but after adjusting for altered citations, the total rose to $514,456—a $36,771 difference.
The Atlanta News First report says that Lenox relied on police-generated revenue more than any other city in Georgia, collecting $1.3 million—73% of its budget—from fines and forfeitures in 2022.
Neither Mayor Henry Baker nor Police Chief Shane Daughtrey responded to requests for comment. During a DPS hearing, Daughtrey apologized, calling the issue an “honest mistake.” Investigators disputed this, noting 85% of the police budget came from fines and that nearly all speeding tickets were issued on I-75, not city streets.
The DPS investigator said: “That tells me there’s not a whole lot of enforcement going on other than the interstate.”
Charlie Johnson, who was ticketed by Lenox Police, commented: “It’s an abuse of power. I felt very abused, taken advantage of.”
The day before the Vance/Walz vice presidential debate, I was having lunch with a gentleman with an old-world education, certainly of the highest levels, but just Brooklyn public schools in the old days. He is not a credentialed intellectual in any official sense but it was fascinating to hear him speak about almost anything, even when we disagreed.
He mentioned in passing that he can hardly have a conversation with anyone under 40 these days. This is not because they are stupid or inexperienced. It is because they do not speak properly. They cannot seem to form sentences coherently. They are not adept at normal communication. The language they speak is not anything like standard English and neither is it some charming slang.
The new language is something else, born of purely oral transmission and heavily informed by influencer culture and podcasting. Buzzwords are thrown around everywhere as a replacement for actual language. The vocabulary is small, including the incessant use of “literally,” “so,” “annoying,” and “actually.”
There are repeated words that grate on one’s nerves: “go” instead of said or did, “you know” and “know what I’m saying?” as a random filler, ending most sentences with “right?” plus the worst offender: the incessant deployment of the word “like,” often every 4 or 5 words.
This prattle is embedded in a lyrical formulation that includes three crucial elements: nasal sonorities, raising intonation, followed by an ending vocal fry. Every bit of combination conveys an attitude of “nothing matters,” “I don’t care,” and “to make sure you don’t criticize me, I’m making sure that my words mean as little as possible.”
Yes, I’ve noticed all this, and it is getting worse. English is being replaced by something else entirely. Sitting on a train a few weeks ago, I had people in front, behind, and to the side who were all deploying this strange language. They spoke incessantly the entire trip, and said nothing at all of any meaning.
I simply cannot understand why this is happening. It strikes me as highly dangerous for a culture to lose its language and have it replaced by a series of pidgin utterances that are vague, strange, and largely without content.
What proved so striking about JD Vance’s performance in the debate was the full rejection of this entire way of speaking. Even apart from his content, logic, and command of facts was the erudition itself. That’s what commanded the evening. It caused his points to soar above his opponent and also the hectoring moderators who were reading from scripts.
I hope millions of young people listened in but they should recognize something here. He won the evening not only because of the points he had to make. He won because of the clear way that he made them. Even now, and probably especially now, erudition inspires trust and credibility.
Even as the debate opened, Vance’s opponent punctuated his stream of filler with various sounds of uhhh, which already prepared the listener to disregard the rest.
As Vance took his turn, we got clear English with no filler words or verbal tics at all. His elocution and vocabulary were such a relief! It served as a reminder of they way Americans used to speak before the digital age.
Most times, it is not obvious what distinguishes a compelling answer from one that is not. We tend to think it is about facts or charm or some attitude of joy. It is not. All those evaporate when countered with a clean and meaningful presentation of ideas, with sentences that start and stop with an intuitive cadence and no superfluous extras thrown in to distract.
Here is a secret you will never learn in school and no one will tell you: this kind of erudition is vital and essential to success in absolutely everything. It does not matter your profession or area of specialization. Those who can speak clearly and without fluff will be more successful than those who cannot.
It’s not obvious that the under 40 set that speaks the language we might call “influencer” understands that the habitual gibberish that has replaced English is professionally disastrous for them. Absolutely no one really wants to hear it. It’s awful and once you really take note of the mechanics of this language, the words themselves become sources of grave irritation.
Maybe this is why noise-canceling earbuds have become so popular!
Even now, nothing replaces coherent and cohesive language and vibrant and confident elocution.
At some point in the past, I had somehow picked up the “like” virus. When I realized it was happening, I simply worked on deleting it from my conversations. When I said it, I would give myself a mental pinch. It worked. By day’s end, it was gone. Even now, I do have to concentrate a bit to keep it out of conversation. When you are speaking with someone who deploys it constantly, it can creep into your own language when you do not realize it.
The same strategy can be used for the other problematic tics that festoon contemporary language. Carving them away is like making a sculpture: leave only what matters and then you are in a better position to evaluate the quality of what you are saying. I personally still have a problem with saying “you know” too often, a habit I picked up from a British friend many years ago. It’s a constant struggle to purge it, and when I fail to be conscious of the problem it comes back.
Beyond culling the gibberish, what else can you do?
First, before you speak in answer to any question, simply take a second or two to think about your first word. Make it matter. If you do this, you can stop with the habit of always saying “well” and “so” in front of every sentence (in fact, Vance himself could work on this). Pausing briefly also leaves a bit of space in the audible environment that directs more attention to what you are about to say.
Second, read more. And here I do not mean captions on TikTok videos. I mean actual books. Some of my favorite stylists in American English are H.L. Mencken, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Garet Garrett, and Albert Jay Nock. You don’t need to be super fussy about this, the Harry Potter books are fantastic for young people and adults too. And try to read them out loud so that you hear new words and expand your vocabulary.
Third, try some exercises. Go to the park or the store or just take a walk, come home, and stand in front of the mirror and describe what you did, what you found, and offer an opinion. Consider videotaping yourself while you are speaking with a conscious effort toward erudition. Watch it back and critique it again.
If you do these three things, you will discover that you can upgrade your language skills in a matter of days. Constant practice will give you a huge advantage over all your peers. Clear speaking is compelling in all times but especially now because it is so rare.
Laura Ingraham said of Vance’s performance that it was the finest she had seen of any political candidate in the 18 years she had covered politics. There are many reasons but the least understood and the most important one is that he speaks plainly, cleanly, coherently, and cohesively. As should we all.
