Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Trump’s Success

Erica York from the Tax Foundation . . . Compared to what? The last week brought several retrospective analyses of President Trump’s first year of reciprocal tariffs, ranging from victory laps to selective trendline comparison to careful examination of what’s been learned.   It will take much longer to empirically estimate how the rapidly changing tariff environment is impacting an economy that is also subject to other […]

“resurgence of shadow banking?”

There’s a whiff of 2008 in the air. “Private Credit and the New World of Financial Risk,” Paul Krugman On July 15, 2007, the New York Times published an article titled “The richest of the rich, proud of a new Gilded Age.” The article was centered on a profile of Sanford Weill, CEO of Citigroup, who, like […]

Fuel Costs are Increasing in Asia and Impacting Tourism

Many nations rely on tourism especially from the United States. When the exchange rate changes, tourism decreases.. Some Calculations to Convert to ~ U.S. Dollar Cost Cost of Diesel in the United States? $5.401/Gallon Aren’t you glad we have cheaper diesel? As a result of increasing costs for diesel fuel, Thais are changing travel plans […]

Student Loan Forgiveness Mostly Does Not Exist

Some stories about Student Loans. In the past, I have written about student loans. If in the end, you can pay them off with little delay, you are golden. The problems arise when a student can not find a decent paying job. It becomes a matter of what do I have for dinner as there […]

The “real,” wage adjusted price of gas isn’t at privation levels yet

– by New Deal democrat Back in the “before” days, as in January, before the Iran war, I wrote about how low gas prices were actually a tailwind for the economy. Because since the start of the Millennium over 25 years ago, they had only been so low compared with average hourly wages on only 3 […]

Will Trump try to block oil exports from the United States?

I don’t know if he has the legal authority to do this, but does it even matter with Trump?  Domestic prices will rise if 1) foreign supplies fall and 2) domestic production is diverted to fill demand overseas.  Trump could keep domestic supplies from being diverted and we could still use world markets to fill […]

Gasoline Goes Galactic, Diesel Spikes

Gasoline Goes Galactic: Prices Jump, Diesel Spikes, and the White House Feels the Burn Thank you President Trump! This is about a week old. It still has relevance to what this fool is doing to the US Economy. The national may yet slip into a recession. “Oil Prices Post Biggest Monthly Surge in History,” OilPrice.com. […]

Will the Democratic Party Have the Courage to Lead?

“J.P. McJefferson Thoughts“ J.P. McJefferson As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the condition of its governing institutions presents a paradox. The American experiment is not collapsing. It is not even failing in the conventional sense. It is, instead, stalled—caught in a pattern of predictable conflict and diminishing returns that sustains conflict without producing […]

Looking at Some Economic Indicators

After zigging upward last week, interest rates zagged downward – but not as much – this week, enough to change the ratings on some interest rate sensitive indicators, like mortgages. And consumers continue to spend, despite all the shocks and sluggishness in things like the labor market in the past 15 months. Partial of “Weekly […]