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Though scholarship surrounding the Constitution’s 14th Amendment has generated much controversy, it has nonetheless established one stable point of consensus. Since its adoption, virtually all authorities have agreed that its first section bars state laws that impose a racially defined fiscal or regulatory burden on American citizens. The states cannot, for instance, establish any “black code” or “white tax.”

At the same time, there has been remarkable dissensus as to three closely related matters. First, precisely what provision of that amendment—whether the Privileges or Immunities, Due Process, or Equal Protection Clauses—establishes this prohibition? Second, what other discriminations besides race are forbidden? And third, does the ban on discriminatory burdens extend to benefits, such that the 14th Amendment bars discriminatory public expenditures (educational segregation, affirmative action, etc.) as well as discriminatory taxes?

The In-munia of American Citizenship

The debate over autonomous weapons has started from the wrong premise. Critics ask whether the United States should permit machines to kill. Advocates frame the question as whether we can afford to fall behind adversaries who will deploy such systems regardless. Both sides treat autonomous lethality as a novel moral category that demands a novel governing framework. The U.S. military already possesses such a framework, however. It has been used for decades, it scales naturally to autonomous systems, and the public debate would improve considerably if both sides understood these realities.

The military governs the use of force through weapons control statuses, a graduated system that every air defense operator and ground commander knows by three commands. Weapons hold authorizes engagement only in self-defense or under specific order. Weapons tight authorizes engagement only against targets positively identified as hostile. Weapons free authorizes engagement against any target not positively identified as friendly.

A commander sets the status based on mission, threat, and environment, as units within his command may operate under different statuses depending on the situation. The framework already calibrates lethal authority to circumstance. It does not require a soldier to seek individual approval for every trigger pull, because the controlling judgment comes from the posture the commander has set rather than in each discrete engagement.

This is a free piece of Notes on the Crises. All pieces in this OMB series will be free. Please take out a paid subscription to support this work. Or leave a tip.

Joshua Lawrence is a research fellow at Notes on the Crises and graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. Find him on Bluesky here.

Juan Hanes is a research fellow at Notes on the Crises and a Journalism student at NYU. Find him on Bluesky here.

25 June 2026 – Equality Australia says it’s bitterly disappointing the Federal Government has declined to accept a single LGBTIQ+ recommendation in a United Nations (UN) human rights peer review of Australia. 

Australia was reviewed by other member states at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in January as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.

The UPR provides a comprehensive peer review of each UN member state’s human rights record every four and a half years.

As part of Australia’s fourth UPR, more than 120 countries delivered around 332 recommendations to improve Australia’s human rights protections, including eight recommendations on LGBTIQ+ rights.

These included removing the exemption that allows religious schools to legally discriminate against LGBTIQ+ students and staff, recommended by Belgium, Iceland and Mexico.

Other LGBTIQ+ specific recommendations included public education campaigns to address stigma, a national ban on conversion practices, banning medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children and more general recommendations about protecting our communities from discrimination and violence.

Savanh Tanhchareun, International Advisor at Equality Australia, said the UPR provided an opportunity for countries to listen to the international community and demonstrate leadership on human rights.

National housing campaign Everybody’s Home has hailed the passing of investor tax break reform as a huge win for housing fairness, and said the focus must now turn to building our way out of the crisis with social housing.

The Senate has passed reforms that limit negative gearing and end the CGT Discount for investment properties.  

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azzie said tax reform will not end the housing crisis on its own but is a crucial part of the solution.

“Winding back tax perks that pad investors’ pockets is a major win for housing fairness for our country,” Ms Azize said.

“This reform puts people before profits, and prioritises making homes an essential need for everyone instead of a cash grab for some. These changes dilute the fuel that’s been feeding our housing crisis for decades. 

“Investor tax break reform marks a decisive shift in the national interest, and we commend the Parliament for having the courage to see it through.

“Now that the federal government has moved to make the housing system fairer, it must now work to make it affordable for everybody.

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss Pauline Hanson’s comments on paid parental leave and childcare, the latest inflation data, the passage of the government’s capital gains tax and negative gearing changes, and the new ‘no Gregs’ club.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 25 June 2026.

Support the research powerful interests fear. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year Appeal before 30 June.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

Capital gains tax changes are already having an impact on wealth inequality – and vested interests are running scared by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (June 2026)

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

In this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, Chris Hedges speaks with Kshama Sawant, a revolutionary socialist based in Seattle, Washington, who is challenging long-time incumbent Democrat Adam Smith for Congress. Sawant served in the Seattle City Council for more than a decade during which she and her supporters won unprecedented victories for higher wages, affordable housing, taxing Amazon, LGBTQ rights and more. She then went on to organize a national working-class movement, Workers Strike Back.

The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence has reignited an old debate on the Right between the immoderate defenders of “creed” and the equally immoderate advocates of “culture.” The either/or nature of this argument was already stale 50 years ago in the lead-up to the Bicentennial, and it hasn’t improved with age.

Harry V. Jaffa, whose students founded the Claremont Institute, was a key figure in the intellectual wrangling over the meaning of America in 1976, and his name is still invoked today—wrongly—as a champion of the extreme “creedalism” position. Though his argument has often been misinterpreted, Jaffa demonstrated that American republicanism requires both creed and culture and showed why both are necessary. What both the creedalists and the culturists miss is that American constitutionalism was a moral and intellectual solution to a set of problems that had been afflicting Western civilization for more than a thousand years.

What Shakespeare Almost Saw

The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.

60 Days to End the War | The Roundtable Ep. 323

The United States and the Iranian regime have signed a 14-point memo of understanding, establishing a 60-day window to negotiate the war’s end. To work out the details—which include an end to sanctions and international monitoring of Iran’s uranium—J.D. Vance met with Iran’s diplomats in Switzerland, while Secretary Marco Rubio is slated to confer with Middle Eastern allies this week. Meanwhile, U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer has resigned amid a breakdown of government trust, sparked by the Labour government’s failure to take immigration and related crime seriously.

The post The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode 323 appeared first on The American Mind.

Episode 1 is coming on June 29.

Richard connects the dots between policy and politics with sharp analysis. By getting straight to the point, Richard helps listeners understand how democracy works and why it matters.

Presented by the Australia Institute.

The post Introducing What’s the Point? with Richard Denniss appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The United States has the largest carceral population in the world. Legislation designed to feed the prison state has produced detrimental outcomes for former prisoners; 70% of returning citizens go back to prison after returning to civilian life. The Return Citizen Support Group in New Jersey has constructed a community that utilizes parallel structures of mutual aid to support formerly incarcerated civilians in their journeys beyond prison. Importantly, this objective was born out of necessity. In modern America, the state and private sector only work to isolate individuals and kneecap their ability to move forward — demonstrating that rehabilitation and strength is cultivated not within the system, but outside of it.

The new cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae recently overturned a longstanding national ban on exports of the category of military equipment that the government defines as ‘lethal’. The lifting of the ban only applies at present to a list of 17 allies including Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States though there is a mechanism for further countries to be added in the future at the government’s discretion.

The policy change is another blow to the legal pacifism central to Japan’s post-war constitutional order and represents a significant loss for the liberal political parties that performed so poorly in the general election held earlier this year. However, this political novelty has distracted from the deeply conventional economic logic that underpins this policy change. Since its post-war revival Japan has been an export-oriented economy centered on the high value-added secondary manufacturing sector. Central to this economic model from the 1950s to the 1980s was a generous peg between the US dollar and the Japanese yen, which made the US an ideal final destination for Japanese commodities. As the Cold War wound down, the US became less tolerant of trade deficits with its allies and in the 1985 Plaza Accords it renegotiated its pegs to the German, French and Japanese currencies. The subsequent appreciation of the Yen led to a speculative real estate bubble and, in 1992, a deep recession from which Japan has never fully recovered.

Even those who strongly support the Trump Administration can grow frustrated with the pace of change. Sometimes that frustration is justified. But other times, moving deliberately is essential, particularly when it comes to the law. A shoddy or rushed legal opinion may grab headlines, but if it changes nothing or is overturned in the courts, it’s just a long, noisy out. And judges are fickle and self-regarding creatures, especially on the Supreme Court, the ultimate adjudicator of many of these disputes.

Given that reality, the recent opinion from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) declaring the vast majority of disparate-impact uses—a cornerstone of the civil rights regime for over half a century—effectively unconstitutional is a legal earthquake. It won’t get the sort of headlines of border walls or banning boys from girls’ sports, but in terms of its potential impact on America, it is vastly more important.

Oratory is out of fashion. The word itself sounds archaic to our ears, denoting something people used to practice in antiquity and at long length in 19th-century America. Even the more down-to-earth sounding “rhetoric” is heard to mean “mere” rhetoric—words false or deceptive by definition. Politicians talk about “messaging,” and the more significant politicians have layers of staff for “communications.” This does not bode well for the forthcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Every politician in America will feel obliged to say something for the occasion. Whoever can—with perhaps some rare exceptions—will deploy a staff member or staff members to draft his remarks. The staff members themselves, products of American universities where American history is frowned upon or given the 1619 treatment, will have to do original research to prepare for the task. A significant percentage of them will rely on A.I. Patriots have reason to wonder whether there is a politician (or comms team) in America today who understands and can articulate for his fellow citizens and the world the meaning of July 4, 1776.

Listen to the full conversation on the Perspectives Journal podcast, available to subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, and all other major podcast platforms.

On this episode of Class & Climate: Perspectives on a Green Economy, Matt Huber, author of Climate Change as Class War, challenges commonly-held assumptions about responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, debunking the myth of “degrowth” as the sole solution to our planetary climate crisis.

Practically every school and university in America claims to teach “critical thinking.” It appears in mission statements, accreditation documents, course catalogs, and commencement addresses with the regularity of a loyalty oath. Ask any dean what distinguishes a college education from a YouTube tutorial, and “critical thinking” will come up within the first sentence. It has become the universal binding agent of higher education’s value proposition—the one phrase that justifies tuition, tenure lines, and the institutional architecture.

This is a problem. Critical thinking, as commonly understood and widely practiced, is not enough to form a young mind. And our failure to say so clearly is costing us something we may not be able to rebuild.

On this episode of After America, Dr Lindsay Owens joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss World Cup ticket pricing, the consolidation of corporate power in Trump’s America, the impact of the war on Iran on the US economy, and fighting back against efforts to use misinformation about the economy to demonise migrants.

This episode was recorded live on Thursday 11 June.

Support the research powerful interests fear. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year Appeal before 30 June.

Guest: Lindsay Owens, Executive Director, Groundwork Collaborative // @lindsayowens

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Host: Angus Blackman, Executive Producer, the Australia Institute // @AngusRB

Show notes:

Shorter America: America’s best writers; Empire of white supremacy; Empire of toxic masculinity by Emma Shortis, The Point (June 2026)

25 May 2026 - National LGBTIQ+ group Equality Australia has slammed a private member’s bill that would weaken federal anti-discrimination protections for LGBTIQ+ people and women. 

Nationals MP Alison Penfold on Monday introduced the bill to federal parliament, which includes a narrow definition of sex and seeks to exclude trans women from a range of public spaces and protections. 

Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill: 

“This bill would give sexism and misogyny a free pass while stripping trans women of basic protections. 

“This bill is legally messy, socially divisive and risks weakening protections for all women. 

“These changes would fundamentally reshape Australia’s sex discrimination laws. 

“Sex discrimination has never been about biology alone — decades of case law make clear it is about gendered stereotypes, assumptions, and the unequal treatment of women and how they ‘should’ act and live. 

“Rather than improving women’s safety or equality, this culture war risks dragging LGBTIQ+ and women’s rights back to the dark ages.” 

Dr Morgan Carpenter, bioethicist and Executive Director of Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA): 

15 May 2026 – National LGBTIQ+ group Equality Australia has welcomed a Federal Court judgment that has upheld the right of trans women to live free from discrimination. 

In a judgement handed down in Sydney on Friday, the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed an appeal by Sall Grover and her app Giggle for Girls, confirming that Roxanne Tickle was discriminated against when she was excluded from the app for being trans. 

The Court found Ms Tickle was directly discriminated against on two grounds because of her gender identity, and increased damages to $20,000 after taking into account Ms Grover’s aggravating conduct. 

Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill said the ruling was a clear and significant win for equality and fairness. 

“Today’s decision is an important win for everyone protected under the Act, including women and LGBTIQ+ people,” she said. 

“This ruling affirms that all women deserve to live free from discrimination, without being judged on appearance, presentation or perceptions.” 

The majority judgement states that under the Act, the concept of womanhood “is not to be understood by reference to any narrow or rigid conception of femaleness”. 

April 24, 2026 — Equality Australia has welcomed the recommendations of a NSW inquiry that found LGBTIQ+ people are among the communities targeted by right-wing extremism, alongside Jewish communities, women and other minority groups. 

The report, handed down yesterday, found that right-wing extremism is rooted in prejudice, including homophobia and transphobia, as well as antisemitism, racism and misogyny.  

It also notes these forms of hate are not isolated, but are actively promoted, normalised and amplified through online platforms and extremist networks that seek to recruit and radicalise individuals. 

“Importantly, the inquiry makes clear that LGBTIQ+ people are deliberately targeted within extremist narratives that seek to normalise hate in public discourse,” said Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown. 

“It also recognises that addressing extremism requires more than law enforcement — it must include action on the social drivers that enable it.” 

The report emphasises that prevention and early intervention are critical to addressing the rise of extremism in NSW, alongside stronger community-based responses. 

“We were pleased to see our submissions reflected in the report, and LGBTIQ+ people explicitly recognised among communities targeted by hate and extremism,” Ms Brown said. 

March 17, 2025 — Equality Australia says new legislation to strengthen hate crime laws in NSW is an important first step, but warns a broader response is needed to address the rise in targeted hate against LGBTIQ+ people.

The legislation, to be introduced to NSW parliament on Tuesday, follows media reporting of gay and bisexual teenagers lured through dating apps and violently assaulted on camera in Sydney.  

However, police data obtained by the ABC shows a wider pattern of violence, with almost 200 incidents of anti-LGBTIQ+ attacks reported in NSW since 2023. 

“These reforms are a significant first step but legislation alone won’t address the growing threat facing LGBTIQ+ people,” said Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill. 

“We are seeing an alarming rise in often violent, targeted attacks against LGBTIQ+ people driven by a dangerous and deeply entrenched form of hatred. 

“Addressing this will require more than stronger penalties — it also means improving reporting pathways, tracking emerging hate trends and ensuring victims have access to properly funded support services.” 

Under the package of reforms, The Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 would be amended to make it easier to prove offences were motivated by hatred or prejudice, where an offender demonstrated or expressed these views in the course of the offending or shortly before or afterwards.

5 March 2026 – Equality Australia has welcomed a Queensland Appeal Tribunal ruling that found an earlier court judgment dismissing a vilification complaint against Lyle Shelton was affected by significant legal and factual errors. 

Drag performers Johnny Valkyrie and Dwayne Hill, who perform under the names Queeny and Diamond, brought the complaint against the National Director of Family First over a series of blog posts in 2020. 

The posts by Shelton followed a Drag Queen Story Time event organised by Rainbow Families Queensland, at which the performers read the children’s book ‘Love Makes a Family’ and supervised a craft activity where the children drew pictures and made paper dolls of their family. 

In the posts, Shelton stated that Mr Hill and Mr Valkyrie were “dangerous role models for children” and likened them to “creeps like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew”. 

On Tuesday, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Appeal Tribunal found an earlier Tribunal decision in 2023 - which ruled the complaint against Shelton did not amount to unlawful vilification - was fundamentally flawed and wrongly decided on seven grounds. 

3 March 2026 – Equality Australia has welcomed renewed UN pressure to end LGBTQ+ discrimination in religious schools, saying it’s time for Labor to finally make good on its promise to protect students and staff.

Over the weekend, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended Australia fix the exemptions that allow this discrimination in both schools and healthcare.

This is the second UN rebuke this year, with the same recommendation made during Australia’s Universal Periodic Review in January. 

“Labor promised these reforms before forming government yet LGBTQ+ students and staff are still facing discrimination in religious schools because Australian law continues to permit it,” said Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill. 

“No woman should lose her job for falling pregnant, and no student should be expelled or denied enrolment because of who they are. It’s time for our laws to align with the values of fairness and equality that define modern Australia.” 

Under federal law, religious educational institutions and service providers can legally discriminate against students, staff and the people who rely on their services, based on their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status, or pregnancy. 

February 27, 2025 — Equality Australia says shocking new police data on anti-LGBTIQ+ violence underscores the urgent need for action from the NSW Government to address rising hate-motivated attacks. 

Almost 200 incidents of anti-LGBTIQ+ violence have been reported in NSW since 2023, according to police data obtained by the ABC. 

Assault, aggravated robbery and affray were the most common violent offences recorded. 

The ABC reported on Friday that many of the attacks appear to be driven by teenage boys, with 36 incidents involving perpetrators luring victims through dating or hook-up apps. 

“These figures are shocking and likely only the tip of the iceberg,” said Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill. 

“This data captures only the most serious violent offences and does not account for the widespread verbal abuse, threats, online hate and doxxing that LGBTIQ+ people experience constantly. 

“Despite years of sustained warnings about escalating hostility towards our communities, government responses — at both state and federal levels — have fallen short. 

“There is a growing online ecosystem radicalising young men, normalising anti-LGBTIQ+ hostility, and fuelling real-world violence. Urgent, coordinated action is needed to disrupt these pipelines of hate and keep our communities safe.” 

February 25, 2025 — Equality Australia and ACON have welcomed a commitment from NSW Premier Chris Minns to do more to combat rising hate against the LGBTIQ+ community following a spate of violent assaults in Sydney. 

However, both organisations have cautioned that a criminal justice response alone will not be sufficient to prevent further harm. 

An ABC investigation published on Wednesday detailed deeply distressing footage and first-hand accounts of gay and bisexual teenagers lured through dating apps and bashed on camera in Sydney. 

Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill said the attacks were a stark example of how online anti-LGBTIQ+ hatred is spilling into real-world violence. 

“For years, we have sounded the alarm about rising hostility toward our communities and yet the response has been woefully inadequate,” she said. 

“The pattern of assaults against gay and bi men around the country makes it clear that this is not isolated behaviour but part of a sustained and troubling trend. 

“Our community is understandably frightened and looking to the government for leadership and action. We welcome the premier’s unequivocal condemnation of these attacks and a commitment to strengthening the law.” 

February 19, 2025 — Intersex advocates and LGBTIQ+ groups have welcomed the passing of landmark legislation in Victoria that will protect future generations of intersex children from irreversible medical procedures. 

The new law, which passed the upper house on Thursday with multipartisan support (24 votes to 15), delays deferrable medical interventions until a person is able to make the decision for themselves. 

Independent assessment panels will also oversee proposed treatment plans for children born with innate variations of their sex characteristics, with additional support for parents and clinicians. 

The reforms follow decades of advocacy by intersex people and community organisations, and build on similar protections introduced in the ACT in 2023. 

Tony Briffa, long standing intersex advocate in Victoria, Co-Chair of InterAction for Health and Human Rights and patron of Equality Australia:  

“I am incredibly proud to see Victoria take this historic step for the next generation. 

“I have carried the weight of decisions made about my body without my consent — choices that changed my life forever, and that could have waited until I was old enough to understand and speak for myself. 

February 6, 2025 — Equality Australia and intersex advocates have welcomed the passage of landmark legislation through Victoria’s lower house that will protect intersex children from unnecessary and irreversible medical procedures.

The bill passed without opposition on Thursday.

“These reforms are about stopping unnecessary harm - not stopping necessary and appropriate care,” said Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill.

“Intersex people deserve the right to decide what happens to their own bodies, rather than being subjected to interventions that are not medically necessary and can cause permanent physical and psychological harm.”

Under the legislation, deferrable medical interventions would be delayed until a person is able to make the decision for themselves with independent assessment panels overseeing proposed treatment plans.

The reforms follow decades of advocacy by intersex people and community organisations, and build on similar protections introduced in the ACT in 2023.

Ms Corkhill said the changes were critical to preventing lifelong harm.

“Too many intersex children are still at risk of undergoing unnecessary medical procedures that could be safely delayed or avoided altogether if the right safeguards were in place,” she said.

SUBMISSION TO THE SENATE ECONOMICS LEGISLATION COMMITTEE Author: Cathal Leslie, Senior Economist, Prosper Australia9 June, 2026 Summary of recommendations Prosper Australia supports the Government’s stated objectives of improving housing affordability and intergenerational equity. However, we cannot support the proposed reforms. The package is poorly targeted and may prove counterproductive by increasing taxes on productive investment […]

So, it’s no surprise that as the far right seeks to stoke hatred against immigrants and the queer community, Australia is also experiencing co-ordinated efforts across three states to wind back women’s access to abortion.

The far right is a place of differing grievances and conspiracies, including neo-Nazis and incels but there’s plenty of evidence to suggest a hatred of women sits at the centre of their toxic overlapping interests. “Misogyny isn’t just a side issue: it connects everyday violence with radicalisation.”

Just like whipping up hatred against immigrants, efforts to restrict abortion are designed to be a political lightning rod, driving outrage and engagement amongst its rabid supporters.

One Nation’s policy seeks to radically restrict abortion, with one of its senators supporting a total ban. The tactics from One Nation and others from the far right are imported straight from MAGA in the United States.

With the government set to review the scheme this year, the research shows the Safeguard Mechanism’s biggest  failure is its overwhelming reliance on carbon offsets which, in some cases, have enabled big polluters, including fossil fuel producers, to increase their actual pollution.

The report exposes the extraordinary lack of integrity in offsets as well as the accounting tricks which have enabled the government to keep approving new fossil fuel projects while falsely claiming its policies are reducing real emissions.

Key points:

• The Safeguard Mechanism has failed to deliver promised reductions in gross emissions.
• The scheme has enabled polluters to claim “net reductions” in emissions while actual pollution levels are rising.
• Proposals to open the Safeguard Mechanism to international offsets would further reduce the scheme’s integrity.
• By enabling coal and gas expansion, the policy could put Australia in breach of international law.
• Allowing big polluters to use unlimited offsets makes Australia an outlier in international climate policy, alongside countries like Kazakhstan.

“While millions of Australian homes and businesses are doing the right thing, installing solar panels and batteries, and buying EVs, many of our biggest polluters are using dodgy offsets to pollute more than ever,” said Dr Richard Denniss, co-CEO of The Australia Institute.

Listen to the full conversation on the Perspectives Journal podcast, available to subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, and all other major podcast platforms.

Early Canadian social democrats routinely ignored the issues facing Indigenous communities, despite regularly claiming concern with poverty and social justice. Frank Calder fought to change this when he was elected as an MLA for the British Columbia CCF in 1949.

We are going to begin this series at its foundation—the IOU. The foundational capacity on which all finance is built is the capacity to make a promise. Specifically, the capacity to issue an IOU. Meaning:  issuing a promise, most commonly a promise to pay a certain sum of money at a certain period in the future. It can also be a promise to accept an IOU in payment: for example a storekeeper can issue a token—or a gift card—which can be used to pay for items in the shop. Whatever its form, it's the ability to enter into an agreement promising something of value in the future which serves as the “cellular premise” of finance. In other words, finance at its most basic level flows from the right to contract.