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OMB Centralizes Federal Science Funding
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the largest office within the Executive Office of the US President, proposed rewriting 2 CFR Part 200, the regulatory framework for federal financial assistance and research grants (Marginal Revolution). Ukrainian Prime Minister Resigns
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ousted Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko on July 12, 2026, ending her tenure since July 2025 and shifting the Cabinet into caretaker status (Politico Europe, PBS, UNITED24 Media, TVP World).
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Transcript
JOHN: Welcome to The Gist. I’m John.
MARY: And I’m Mary. It is Sunday, July 12th, 2026. We are your smart friends on the go.
JOHN: We look at the daily news through one simple lens: who benefits, and why? Let’s get right into it.
MARY: Today’s big story is about money and science. Specifically, 1.1 trillion dollars of it.
JOHN: That is the massive pool of federal grant money the US government hands out for research. Right now, scientists review each other to decide who gets funded. It’s an independent system called peer review.
MARY: But the White House wants to change the rules. The Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, is proposing a total rewrite. They want political appointees to control that money instead of independent scientists.
JOHN: The deadline for public comment is tomorrow, July 13th. The American Association for the Advancement of Science—a massive non-profit group—is calling this a raw power grab.
MARY: Let’s look at the incentives. If politicians hand out research money, it turns funding into a massive political tool. The executive branch gains total leverage. They can steer capital straight toward projects that make them look good today.
JOHN: Right. The argument for the change is accountability. Supporters say taxpayer dollars should be overseen by elected officials, not just academics. They want to cut down on university administrative bloat.
MARY: But the cost to innovation is huge. As the economics blog Marginal Revolution points out, history shows us that centrally planned science usually fails. True technological breakthroughs come from high-risk, decentralized competition. Not from the top down.
JOHN: Moving to the global stage. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham passed away yesterday at the age of 71.
MARY: The Wall Street Journal notes this removes a major, vocal advocate for US military alliances and strict sanctions on Russia. His absence shifts power away from traditional interventionists in Washington.
JOHN: Speaking of global tension, President Trump spent the weekend threatening to “decimate” Iran.
MARY: Bloomberg reports this is heating up the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz—a crucial waterway for global oil. We noted before that recent rollbacks on sanctions were just a tactical pause. Now, we are back to direct escalation.
JOHN: Back in the US, politics is merging directly with retail investing. Hedge-fund manager Brad Gerstner is launching new, politically-themed youth investment accounts.
MARY: The Wall Street Journal reports these accounts heavily hype Trump-aligned assets. It’s a clever way to route everyday retail money straight into partisan financial vehicles. Who benefits? Fund managers capturing the fees, and political brands getting a massive capital injection.
JOHN: Let’s cross over to Europe. There was a big shakeup in Kyiv today. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ousted his Prime Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko.
MARY: She held the job for just a year. The cabinet is now in caretaker mode. According to Politico Europe, Zelenskyy cited the need for an “updated political strategy.”
JOHN: Let’s look at the resource flows here. Changing the cabinet keeps the bureaucracy on its toes. It ensures the government is strictly aligned with the current realities on the battlefield.
MARY: But there is a steep cost. Every time you clean house, you lose institutional memory. Frequent overhauls create chronic administrative delays for Western aid. You need stable technocrats to coordinate billions in post-war rebuilding.
JOHN: Exactly. The rumored frontrunner to replace her is Serhii Koretskyi. He is the CEO of Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state-owned oil and gas monopoly.
MARY: Meanwhile, in Germany, we’re looking at a fascinating case of municipal finance in the city of Oberhausen.
JOHN: Deutsche Welle reports the city replaced an old steel plant that employed 32,000 workers with a massive retail mall. We’re talking 250 stores and restaurants.
MARY: Sure, it created service-sector jobs. But those jobs pay less. As a result, tax revenues are tanking, and the city’s finances are collapsing. The core lesson? Selling clothes and food just cannot replace heavy industrial capital when it comes to funding public services.
JOHN: In the sports world, former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made waves by claiming the French national football team has “no French players.”
MARY: This comes right before a major World Cup match on July 14th. Both Spanish and French leaders immediately condemned his remarks. They are quickly isolating this kind of cultural provocation to protect their diplomatic ties.
JOHN: Finally, the UK is having a geometry problem. According to The Guardian, European cars are getting one centimeter wider every single year.
MARY: It sounds small, but less than half of new cars in the UK can actually fit into standard parking spaces now.
JOHN: There is a push to cap passenger vehicle widths before they hit the absolute limit for heavy cargo trucks, which is about 2.55 meters.
MARY: It’s a classic infrastructure mismatch. Automakers are building bigger cars because they sell well. But they are passing the physical costs—the burden of finding space—entirely onto local cities.
JOHN: So, what’s the temperature today? Across the board, we are seeing executives centralizing control. The White House wants direct hands on science funding. Leaders in Kyiv are tearing down bureaucracies to stay nimble. And automakers are literally taking up more space, forcing cities to deal with the fallout. Whether it’s political capital or parking spaces, the trend is clear: those at the top are passing the costs down to the rest of us.
MARY: That’s The Gist for today. We remain completely independent and reader-supported.
JOHN: And hey, if you found today’s breakdown useful, we’d love to have you with us every day. You can subscribe for free to The Gist’s daily newsletter. Just tap the link right there in your show notes.
MARY: Thanks for listening. We’ll catch you next time.
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