Outside In Print weekly sheet
Bob's Almanack
A weekly note from Robert V. Ussley with new essays, cartoons, and brief notes from Outside In Print.
A public cost does not disappear because someone learned to price it.
New from Outside In Print
The Bet Slip in the Briefing Room
The Senate's prediction-market ban draws a plain line: public power should not become private action at the betting window.
Smokestack Spreadsheets
OpenAI's missed internal targets are not just a business story. They are a reminder that intelligence still needs power, buildings, contracts, money, and time.
When Can States Draw Race-Based Congressional Districts?
The Supreme Court's Louisiana ruling shows how hard it is to separate race, party, remedy, and power once the lines are already on the map.
The Strait That Holds the Price
Iran's Hormuz proposal shows how one narrow passage can turn war, fuel, shipping, fertilizer, and household prices into the same problem.
This Week's Virtue
Frugality
Waste is not always money. Sometimes it is attention. Sometimes it is trust. Sometimes it is public authority spent on private advantage. Frugality means asking what is being used up, who gets the benefit, and who gets the bill later. If the cost is hidden, count again.
Well done is better than well said.
Worth Reprinting
The Sewer Under the Sidewalk
This archive piece remains useful because old infrastructure turns hidden public choices into costs everyone later has to count.
The truth is what it is and you are free to believe whatever you would like.