Tuesday's Assorted Links
Student loan delinquencies, GLP-1 drugs, buyer's market, Best Buy, and The Weather Channel
Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contain some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:
Student loan delinquencies are so bad they’re hurting America’s average credit score [Money]
About 4% of US adults are taking GLP-1 drugs, with about half taking them specifically for weight loss or obesity [Axios]
Last month, there were about 500,000 more people selling homes in the US than there were people trying to buy them [Redfin]
Best Buy said it hiked some prices and cut its profit outlook in response to tariffs raising the costs of consumer electronics [CNBC]
The Weather Channel is America’s most trusted news source [YouGov]
Tariff revenue just hit a record high. Inflation looks stable. So… tariffs are working? Not exactly. Mark Cuban commented on it over the weekend: firms are stockpiling, discounting, and hoping they guessed right. We’re not importing more. We’re just paying more to import less. Tariffs are costly options, and relying on them as a source of revenue would be a mistake.
Tariffs Are Costly Options
The U.S. just pulled in a record $22.3 billion in tariff revenue in May 2025. That’s the highest monthly total ever. If you’re looking at that news alongside the previous month’s inflation numbers, you might be thinking that tariffs are doing what the administration said they would do.
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The Weather Channel one gave me a chuckle. The MSM has so thoroughly discredited and beclowned itself, it doesn't surprise me, either. Well deserved.