Middle East Tanker Traffic April 23-29, 2026
It's a long way down from 8.1% in 1Q1984 to 2.0% in 1Q2026.
GDPC1 compound annual growth rates:
Trump era to now 1Q2017-1Q2026: 2.476%
Mid-Reagan era to Trump 1Q1984-1Q2017: 2.707%
Post-war to Reagan 1Q1947-1Q1984: 3.585%
Trump underperforms the post-war by 31% . . . and Reagan by 9%. MAGA is purely aspirational.
Reagan to Trump underperformed the post-war by 24%.
The compound annual growth rate of real GDP from Reagan to now is 2.657%, underperforming the post-war by 26%.
This is why the kids don't have full-time jobs, kids of their own, and homes to raise them in.
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The Fed met YESTERDAY and left the federal funds rate unchanged even though this is their primary indicator of inflation and it is more than double the average rate post-Great Recession.
There were just three votes with the temerity to suggest that inflation might be a problem right now.
But SPX is up! one half of one percent at this hour, threatening to make another all time high. That's all that matters!
None of them give a shit about YOU!
Elitist climber, progressive snob.
April 2025:
April 2026:
To think I filled up yesterday at Sam's for $4.09.
Diesel is $5.99.
Gasoline stations around Grand Rapids were selling gasoline for $4.29/gallon yesterday.
Gas Buddy says the average price in my county this morning is $4.791 and climbing.
Fed holds rates steady but with highest level of dissent since 1992
... In what may have been Chair Jerome Powell’s final meeting at the helm, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted to hold the benchmark funds rate in a range between 3.5%-3.75%. Markets had been pricing in a 100% chance of no change. ...
It wasn't much of a dissent when the vote to hold rates steady was 11-1. Three of the eleven simply disagreed that right now the Fed should say as it does in the official statement that it remains open to new information which might suggest additional rate cuts in the future, when in their opinion that sends the wrong signal when inflation remains as elevated as it is at present.
... “My decisions on these matters will continue to be guided entirely by what I believe is in the best interest of the institution and the people we serve after my term as chair ends on May 15, and will continue to serve as a governor for a period of time to be determined,” he added. ...
Stock investors fared very well under Powell. Bond investors, not so much
... the S&P 500 rallied 14.7% annually under Powell, the third best performance for Fed chairs going back to 1970, Bespoke Investment Group found. ...
“He believed in easy money. He voted for all the QEs. He voted for zero interest rates,” Boockvar said. “It’s only when inflation mugged him ... that he became more hawkish ... .”
But the problem with accommodative monetary policy is, “Easy money gets investors drunk on things, and puts beer goggles on them,” Boockvar said. ’Sometimes it ends up OK, but other times it ends up in rampant inflation.”
... The Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index that aims to track all U.S. investment-grade debt returned just under 2% annually during Powell’s tenure, far below the average of 6.5% since the 1970s, according to Bespoke. ...
Analysis: The Warsh revolution is coming. Powell won’t stand in the way.
... the only major challenge for Warsh, as far as Powell is concerned, will be driving consensus within the Fed for where to set interest rates. Wednesday’s dissents suggest that won’t be easy. But Powell, whom Warsh has described as a failed chair who chose inflation, went out of his way to say Warsh is up to the task.
The chair’s job is to “create consensus” among the Fed’s voters and to “be inside their thinking,” Powell said.
Warsh “has the capabilities, skills to be very good at that,” Powell said.
If Warsh cuts interest rates in this environment, he'll be choosing inflation, too.
Inflation is very painful for the people, but for a government which absolutely refuses to get its fiscal house in order Powell's choice of inflation was the only medicine available to him, faced as he was with a national debt snowballing toward $40 trillion and the moon after that, and desperately in need of devaluation.
If Democrats hope to keep the seat being vacated by Gary Peters, they'd better nominate Stevens.
Middle East Tanker Traffic April 21-27, 2026
A lot more people know about what Kimmel said about Melania last week than would have otherwise only because Melania took the bait.
FCC launches review of Disney broadcast licenses years ahead of schedule
... Trump revived his push for ABC to take Kimmel off the air after the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” referred to First Lady Melania Trump as an “expectant widow” during the show last week, days ahead of an alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. ...
James Comey charged with threatening Trump’s life in ‘8647’ seashell post
... Trump had accused Comey of “calling for the assassination of the president” by sharing the image of the numbers in the May 15 post. ... Around four months later, however, he was indicted in Virginia on [SOMETHING ELSE!] one count each of making a false statement to Congress and obstruction. ...
Trump Administration Secures New Indictment Against Comey
The new case stems from a photograph of seashells on a North Carolina beach.
... The charge stems from an incident nearly a year ago, when Mr. Comey, vacationing on the North Carolina coast, posted a photograph on social media showing seashells arranged to say “86 47,” combining the slang term “86” often used to mean dismiss or remove with an apparent reference to Mr. Trump, the country’s 47th president. ...
When Mr. Comey learned of the uproar, he deleted the post, saying that he did not know that it had a violent connotation and that he opposed violence of any kind. The Secret Service interviewed him by phone that evening, and Mr. Comey said he had no intent to cause the president harm. The next day, he sat for an in-person interview. The Justice Department eventually dropped the matter, but it was revived in recent months. ...
Fetterman's recent history of saying some reasonable things makes people on the right treat him like he's some oracle now.
But another lunatic tries to shoot Trump and suddenly America is on the hook for a new ballroom, which wouldn't be necessary AT ALL if Mad King Ludwig hadn't torn down the East Wing in the first place?
I don't think so, pal. Not when Trump promised it would be funded entirely from private donations.
the Fifth Circuit’s ruling is a welcome nod to the fact that the federal government cannot take tax laws intended to increase revenue and twist them merely to regulate business activities. ...
“If you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it.”
We voted for Bob the Builder and got Don the Wrecker instead.
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| On October 23 photos from the Associated Press showed that the entire East Wing had been demolished. |
The U.S. national debt is up $3.069 trillion to date since November 1, 2024, an annual rate of deficit spending of $2.2 trillion after seventeen months of Donald Trump.
... Global military spending as a share of GDP climbed to 2.5%, its highest level since 2009, the report showed. Europe was the main driver of the increase in global spending, with spending rising 14% to $864 billion. ...
While global defense spending continued to grow, the growth rate slowed to 2.9% in 2025, markedly lower than the 9.7% rise in 2024. This was largely due to a 7.5% reduction in U.S. military expenditure after no new financial assistance for Ukraine was approved during the year. The U.S. remained the world’s largest defense spender at $954 billion. ...
The Pentagon has requested about $1.5 trillion in defense spending for fiscal 2027, which would mark the largest request in history. ...
Forgotten no more: Generation X is driving beauty sales
Yes, I'm in a m o o d today.
I thought it was liberals who were infamous for the death wish?
DOJ says it will use firing squads, electrocution again for federal executions
That's down from +24.06% ytd through March 31, 2026.
Per annum over 5 years as of March 31: 20.71%.
Under Powell core pce inflation exceeded 10Y yield for 4 consecutive years (2020-2023).
Under Burns it was for only 2 (1974-1975).
The Bernank was Fed chair in 2012 when inflation only just barely outran 10Y yield.
SoH E tankers: 2.57 per day April 16-22
SoH W tankers: 2.00 per day
Normal (2022): ~70.00 total per day
Down 93%
BAM tankers SE: 6.57 per day April 16-22
BAM tankers NW: 6.28 per day
Normal (2022): ~30.00 total per day
Down 57%
In June 1995 the average mortgage payment in the United States was roughly $773.
Adjusted for inflation to June 2025 that's $1,635.
The actual average mortgage payment in 2025 was about $2,235.
Bill Clinton teeming up with Republicans in 1997 to turn our homes into mere commodities has really worked out great, hasn't it?
Especially for young people.
The median age of a first time home buyer in 1995 was 29.
In 2025 it's 39.
But your GOP-controlled U.S. Senate couldn't care less.
It stayed up late last night to scheme for more money for ICE even though ICE is completely incompetent to deport illegal aliens, but it never stays up to solve the most pressing problems of America's younger generations.
The blindness is mind-boggling.
... “People higher in the belief that words can harm tended to be younger, female, non-White, and politically liberal.”
... restricting speech feels like protection as opposed to censorship.
... mental health appears to influence political ideology more than political ideology influences mental health, with increases in psychological distress predicting a subsequent shift toward political liberalism.
... the most empathic people support the least tolerant policies. ...
More.
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
The average weekly figure for initial claims in
