Bulgaria has officially adopted the euro and become the 21st eurozone member at a fixed rate of 1.95583 lev per euro, with a one-month dual circulation period where both currencies are accepted and prices displayed in both until August 2026, while the transition brings greater economic integration and stability amid celebrations but also widespread public anxiety over potential inflation spikes, price rounding concerns, loss of national identity, and ongoing political instability following recent government collapse and protests. As the world increasingly consolidates around regional powers it is unsurprising that the European Union is consolidating power and increasingly looking like a political federation. While I generally oppose the centralization of power, and especially so in the case of the European Union, the desire to expand and grow the influence of the EU is quite understandable.

China has imposed a 13% VAT on contraceptives like condoms, pills, and devices, reversing a decades-old exemption from the one-child policy era when contraception was heavily promoted, while simultaneously exempting childcare, elderly care, and marriage services from VAT to encourage larger families and support an aging population, though the contraceptive tax has sparked significant online backlash and ridicule with experts viewing it as largely symbolic given low contraceptive prices and unlikely to substantially impact the ongoing demographic crisis of record-low births. I don't think these little incentive changes will shift people's reproduction habits as the changes in lifestyle choices and understandings of what make a good life have so profoundly shifted alongside the dramatic decline in birthrates. Perhaps the pendulum will swing back organically as people are increasingly dissatisfied with consumerism and materialism.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is now fully active and will require importers to purchase certificates for embedded CO2 emissions in high-carbon goods like steel, cement, aluminum, fertilizers, electricity, and hydrogen at prices tied to EU ETS auctions around €70-€100 per tonne, while the policy aims to prevent carbon leakage, level the playing field for EU producers facing phase-out of free allowances through 2034, and promote global decarbonization, but it heightens risks of trade tensions, retaliatory measures, and market volatility from major exporters despite recent simplifications to reduce administrative burdens. All of the carbon tax schemes seem to me to be fluff to advance the economic agenda the EU wants to put into place. Perhaps exercising this level of control over sovereign countries will cause more European nations to question their allegiance to the European Union and its nonsensical dictates.

Enhanced ACA premium tax credits expired at the end of the year, and their expiration will cause average subsidized marketplace premiums to more than double in 2026 with many enrollees facing increases over 100% or $2,000+ annually, while millions risk losing coverage or turning to unsubsidized plans amid political gridlock failing to extend the popular subsidies originally enacted during the pandemic, leading to higher uninsurance rates, potential further premium spirals as healthier individuals drop out, and varying impacts softened in some states by local subsidy programs. It seems that healthcare is widely understood to be a sort of civic right and if lawmakers cannot figure out how to make healthcare accessible for all citizens they are going to trigger intense backlash from an already cash-strapped general population.

President Trump announced the withdrawal of National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, following Supreme Court rebuffs and prolonged legal challenges that limited deployments mostly to guarding federal facilities, while claiming credit for reduced crime rates attributed federally despite local leaders crediting their own efforts, with the pullout ending a controversial effort amid state opposition and leaving open potential stronger future interventions if crime rises. However controversial the deployment was, all evidence points to dramatic increases in safety in areas where the guard was deployed. Hopefully this puts pressure on local leaders to maintain safe communities without the presence of federal troops as problems that have been framed as intractable, like the gun violence in Memphis, were seemingly put to bed in a couple of weeks.

An appeals court ruling upholds provisions in recent legislation blocking Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood affiliates and similar organizations providing abortions if they received over $800,000 in prior funds, affecting multiple states including Democratic-led ones, while the cuts target non-abortion services like cancer screenings, STI testing, and contraception for low-income patients reliant on Medicaid, risking widespread clinic closures and reduced access amid ongoing lawsuits despite federal abortion funding already being prohibited. This seems to be another way for the federal government to step away from abortion services as it remains unclear that we will see federal legislation designed to protect abortion rights, which leaves the funding of these services squarely in the hands of the states.

The Trump administration has frozen all federal child care funding to Minnesota amid escalating allegations of widespread fraud including non-operational centers claiming payments and ties to prior large-scale pandemic-era schemes often involving Somali-operated programs, while probes intensify with FBI surges, DHS investigations, viral videos highlighting empty facilities, demands for comprehensive audits of attendance and licensing, and heightened scrutiny building on earlier prosecutions though criticized as politically motivated. This scandal has exposed two very serious tensions in the country. One is that the discourse has collapsed into speaking of actions in terms of groups (i.e. the Somalis did this, the whites did that) and secondarily, that the public spending in this country has got to be put under intense scrutiny because if we leave it to civic journalists to uncover mass fraud we are a hop and skip away from people engaging in vigilante justice.

Michigan has raised the minimum wage to $13.73 per hour, as part of phased increases toward $15 with tipped workers reaching 40% of the standard rate, while introducing a 24% wholesale excise tax on recreational marijuana transfers to retailers in addition to existing levies and restructuring gas taxes by removing sales tax but raising per-gallon rates to around 52 cents to boost road funding without drastic pump spikes amid broader revenue shifts for infrastructure. Infrastructure has to be the chief priority of the government, so although I hate to see any taxes going up, the roads have to be paid for somehow.

Mary Sheffield has been sworn in as Detroit's first woman and first Black woman mayor in a private ceremony succeeding Mike Duggan after her landslide election victory, while the city council has approved a $3 billion budget with over $100 million surplus including tax incentives for a new WNBA facility, marking continued fiscal stability, development progress, and a historic leadership transition focused on neighborhood equity and public safety. It was somewhat surprising to learn that this is the first Black woman mayor in the storied history of Detroit, but it is good to see a Black woman come to power in a city that has a surplus and is not under intense fiscal stress. Hopefully, they keep the train headed in the right direction in Detroit.

South Dakota recorded a 143% increase in homeschool enrollment over the past decade from about 4,300 to over 10,500 students, the nation's highest rate driven by pandemic surges, parental desires for flexibility and tailored education, and state support, while growth persists with recent opt-in to federal alternative schooling aid programs potentially accelerating numbers further despite impacts on public school funding and debates over accountability. I think home schooling pods will largely be the best option for students going forward and the efforts to prop up those type of neighborhood level institutions will only be bolstered by states and the federal government returning the funds it took to provide educational facilities back to the parents.