Ample oil supply shields China from impact of Venezuela disruption, for now
Sunday, January 4, 2026
Saturday, January 3, 2026
Some people think this might have been, you know, theatre, where if everyone plays their part then everyone wins
Except for the casualties in Venezuela, of course, who presently number about 40.
In August 2016 in Youngstown, Ohio Trump specifically disavowed regime change wars, but now we're going to be running Venezuela for a while after removing Maduro
... Our current strategy of nation-building and regime-change is a proven, absolute failure. ...
Here.
Trump captures Maduro on the sixth anniversary of his Soleimani assassination lol
... Explosions were reported in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, at about 2 a.m. local time (0600 GMT), according to images circulating on social media that could not be independently verified. ...
More.
... Soleimani was assassinated on 3 January 2020 around 1:00 a.m. local time (22:00 UTC 2 January),[158] by a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.[159]
More.
Friday, January 2, 2026
Gold surged 64% in 2025, silver 147%, dwarfing more traditional investments
... [Gold] Bullion surged 64% in 2025, its biggest annual gain since 1979, driven by Fed rate cuts, geopolitical tensions, strong central bank buying, and rising ETF holdings. ...
Spot silver advanced 4.6% to $74.52 per ounce, after hitting an all-time high of $83.62 on Monday, while platinum jumped 4.7% at $2,150.46 per ounce, after rising to an all-time high of $2,478.50 on Monday.
Both metals recorded their best year ever, with silver leading by posting 147% annual gains, driven by its designation as a critical U.S. mineral, supply shortages and low inventories amid rising industrial and investment demand. ...
More.
Meanwhile in more traditional investments in 2025:
VMMSX +35.66% emerging markets fund
VTIAX +32.18% total international stock index fund
VGENX +20.62 energy fund
VFIAX +17.83 Vanguard 500 index fund
VGHCX +17.31 healthcare fund
VTSAX +17.12% total stock market index fund
VFICX +9.53% intermediate term investment grade bond fund
VWESX +7.18% long term investment grade bond fund
VBTLX +7.15% total bond index fund admiral
VBMFX +7.03% total bond index fund investor
VFSTX +6.73% short term investment grade bond fund
VMRXX +4.23% money market fund
VGSLX +3.19 real estate fund.
So-called America First president threatens Iran over its domestic turmoil
Trump and top Iranian officials exchange threats over protests roiling Iran
“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without elaborating.
Trump Criticized Obama For Not Intervening During 2009 Iran Protests:
"If Obama would’ve backed the people of Iran two years ago when that county had a big, big problem—and the protesters were making headway...we wouldn't have any problems in Iran, believe me.”
Thursday, January 1, 2026
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
One week after Supremes rule against Trump, he withdraws National Guard from Chicago, LA, and Portland
Trump gives up on National Guard deployments in Chicago, LA, Portland
... The pullback comes a week after the Supreme Court delivered a stark blow to Trump’s push for military troops to patrol U.S. city streets, rejecting his bid to send National Guard members to the Chicago area to protect federal officials enacting his immigration agenda.
In an apparent 6-3 decision, the court explained that federal law generally bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement, and the law Trump used to call up the National Guard likely only applies when the president is unable to execute laws with the regular forces of the military. ...
I missed the December 23 Supreme Court decision story because my cat died the very hour it broke.
I guess I'll always remember her now as the Posse Comitatus Cat.
Supreme Court rejects Trump’s bid to send National Guard to Chicago
... Citing the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from engaging in domestic law enforcement unless explicitly authorized by the Constitution or Congress, the court found Trump lacked the authority to deploy troops to Illinois in this case.
“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the unsigned order states. ...
Lunatic progressive Democrat, but I repeat myself, complains about Harris' massive failure to get 6.8 million Biden voters from 2020 after people like him forced Biden out
Norman Solomon here:
... Voter disenchantment: Losing 6.8 million voters who supported Joe Biden in 2020 proved pivotal in the close 2024 election. Harris’s inability to mobilize those pro-Biden voters was a massive failure.
Biden’s betrayal: Biden’s stubborn decision to seek re-election, and his refusal to step aside until very late in the process, robbed Democratic voters of open primaries and undermined Democrats’ chances. ...
Progressives did the betraying here, not Joe Biden.
No one in his right mind would expect Biden voters to turn out for somebody else, especially someone else put in at the last second of a campaign which was announced more than a year earlier. Biden did have primaries and won 14 million votes of confidence. And as I've said before, Harris was decisively but narrowly defeated.
Progressives should think about how many of those 6.8 million voters might have still showed up for Joe Biden in 2024 had they not thrown him out, even if he ultimately lost.
Some of those 6.8 million votes might have been the difference between a Republican U.S. House with a five seat majority and a Democrat one, and if the latter, the difference between passing Trump's Big Ugly Bill under reconciliation by just four votes, or it never seeing the light of day in the first place.
Democrats lost five seats in the U.S. House to Republicans in 2024 by 1.62 points or less, the difference between stopping President Trump in his tracks and the madness he is unleashing now, all because progressive elites like Solomon and his ilk betrayed Joe Biden and forced him out:
PA-8: 1.62%
PA-10: 1.26%
PA-7: 1.01%
CO-8: 0.73%
IA-1: 0.19%.
In 2018 The Wall Street Journal was still defending China's admission into the WTO, today it pretends it wasn't part of that bipartisan folly
Then: "The U.S. properly worked for China's inclusion".
Now: "An era of folly began in the new century. Leaders of both political parties supported China's entry into the World Trade Organization".
I can't wait for the Wall Street Journal to admit that America's decline actually began under Reagan forty years ago, not twenty-five, because at this rate I'll be dead before they do.
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
New so-called conservative Tax Foundation analysis says Trump/GOP tax and spending bill heralded on the Fourth of July benefits the richest taxpayers over the poorest taxpayers by 4,435%
The One Big Beautiful Bill Cuts Taxes Across the US, New Analysis Finds
... At the county level, the largest average tax cuts are found in mountain resort towns. For example, we estimate Teton County in Wyoming will see an average tax cut of $37,373 per taxpayer in 2026, the highest in the US. Pitkin County, CO ($21,363), and Summit County, UT ($14,537), rank number two and three for the largest average tax cuts, likely representing the residences of business owners and higher-earning taxpayers. The smallest average tax cuts are found in rural counties, such as Loup County, NE, with an average tax cut of $824 in 2026. ...
Yes, the average tax cut of the richest taxpayers is 45.35 times the size of the average tax cut for the poorest.
Yeah, run on that GOP, run.
Georgia pollster Matt Towery is in complete denial about how bad 2026 is looking for Republicans because of Trump
... I mean, I had President Trump in my Inside Advantage poll at 50% approval. I think others have him at 50%, but a lot of these other pollsters have him at 36, 38, which is just ridiculous. ... That needs to be the number one motivating message from the Republicans, their hatred for Trump ...
More.
Trump Strongly Disapprove, currently 44%, hasn't dipped below 40% at Trump-friendly Rasmussen Reports since mid-September.
Trump Total Approve, at 44%, has been south of 50% since mid-October.
Trump Strongly Approve, at 29%, hasn't been north of 35% since mid-October.
Trump Approval Index, at -15, has been double digit negative since early November.
Republicans need to run in 2026 AWAY from Trump, but unfortunately for them, they spent all of 2025 worshipping Trump, and when not worshipping Trump, keeping quiet about Trump.
Chickens. Comin' home. To roost.
Monday, December 29, 2025
Brigitte Bardot was a French patriot
I am against the Islamisation of France! Our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have for centuries given their lives to push out successive invaders.
Throughout most of her life Brigitte Bardot was the very symbol of everything that was in vogue with the left, but in death they hate her for telling the truth
She was a true born child of liberty.
And holy shit, see the update below.
Every damn time lol.
Gold and silver retreat from new record high prices at $4,549.71 and $83.62
... Spot gold declined 1.4% at $4,470.56 per ounce, after hitting a record high of $4,549.71 on Friday. ...
Spot silver shed 4.8% at $75.32 per ounce, retreating from an all-time high of $83.62 hit earlier in the session. ...
Spot platinum fell 6% to $2,305.15 per ounce, after rising to an all-time high of $2,478.50 earlier in the day, while palladium plunged 13.2% to $1,669.11 per ounce. ...
More.
Sunday, December 28, 2025
One silver observer found someone projecting silver going as high as $1,400 lol
$1,400 silver seems absolutely ludicrous to me, but maybe not $300 silver.
The Coinage Act of 1792 fixed the ratio of silver to gold at 15:1. Gold then was $19.39 and silver was $1.29.
The Coinage Act of 1873 effectively ended this bimetallism in the United States in favor of gold but was not widely understood to have done so until after the fact. By 1913 silver averaged about only sixty cents, for various reasons, and the silver to gold ratio went to about 34:1.
Gold at $4,533 on Friday implies silver at $302 at the 15:1 ratio, but silver is actually only about $80. Divided by 34, however, the implied silver price is about $133. The ratio at about $80 is 57:1.
The main driver of the silver price in our time is industrial, but the ratio is instructive for contextualizing, as the kids say, its relative value.
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Three in four Americans say groceries are so expensive they’ve been forced to cut down on entertainment, travel, clothing, and food and drink away from home
Reported here.
So, what do those of us cut, who long ago completely cut out entertainment, travel, food and drink away from home, and mend the clothes we cannot replace?
Drink period, for starters:
THE alcohol industry has faced financial hardship in 2025, leading to several distilleries filing for bankruptcy as Americans are drinking at the lowest levels in history. ... An August poll conducted by Gallup found that 54% of adults say they consume alcohol, which was down from 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023. Gallup said the 54% finding is “the lowest by one percentage point in Gallup’s nearly 90-year trend.” ... Gallup found that 53% of Americans said having one or two drinks a day is bad for one’s health, while 37% say it makes no difference and 6% say it’s good for one’s health. ...
More.
Bankruptcies in 2025 surge to a level not seen since 2010
Corporate bankruptcies surged in 2025, rivaling levels not seen since the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession, as import-dependent businesses absorbed the highest tariffs in decades.
At least 717 companies filed for bankruptcy through November, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That’s roughly 14 percent more than the same 11 months of 2024, and the highest tally since 2010. ...
More.
Trump likes to trumpet the billion$ he's collecting in tariffs, but there is no single report which calculates the hundreds of billion$ these bankruptcies must cost the economy over time.
Friday, December 26, 2025
Liberal democracy must solve the problems of Gen Z globally, which works a lot but stays poor, or it will perish
Crushed by soaring rents and living costs and staring down a future where robots and AI threaten their jobs, Gen Z is unleashing a wave of protests that is rattling governments worldwide. ...
More.
Thursday, December 25, 2025
Unbelievably rosy GDP report contained core pce inflation data at 2.9% countering previous rosy core cpi inflation report at 2.6% and indicating rising inflation
The U.S. economy grew at a much greater-than-expected pace in the third quarter, boosted by strong consumer spending, a delayed report released Tuesday showed.
U.S. gross domestic product, a sum of all goods and services produced in the sprawling U.S. economy, expanded by 4.3% in the July-September period, the Commerce Department said in its initial reading of third-quarter growth. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a gain of 3.2%. ...The economy moved forward during the period despite persistent signs of inflation pressures.
The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s primary inflation gauge, rose 2.8% during the period, and 2.9% for core which excludes food and energy. Both were above prior respective readings of 2.1% and 2.6% and remain well above the Fed’s 2% inflation gauge. Also, the chain-weighted price index, which accounts for changes in consumer behavior such as switching to less expensive products for pricier items, rose 3.8%, a full percentage point above the forecast. ...
As for the GDP report, even if you accept the rosy number as reported, it remains that . . .
Trump's real GDP since 2017 is growing at a compound annual rate which is 5% lower than the rate for 1984-2017; and
Trump's GDP since 2017 is growing at a compound annual rate 21% lower than the rate for 1947-2017.
Meanwhile GDP since 1984 is growing at a compound annual rate which is 28% lower than for 1947-1984.
And GDP since the Great Recession in 2007 is growing at a compound annual rate 42% lower than for 1947-2007.
The results of the era inaugurated by Reagan have been devastating. Real GDP today would be much higher had the previous long term trend continued.
3Q1984 Reagan real GDP of 8252.46 at the pre-Reagan rate of compound annual growth since 1947 would be 36213.94 today instead of 24024.95, 50% higher.
The Trump era is doubling down on stupid, not breaking with it. It is guaranteed to get us nowhere, faster.
It's completely crazy that an entry level ice cream scooper in Brooklyn, New York earns almost as much as an entry level small engine mechanic
Fifty cents an hour less.
It's as if the weight of wealth accumulation by the top 10% has squished and compressed those beneath them into one giant, undifferentiated blob scooping ice cream alongside this woman.
... When I started working at Lady Moo Moo in Bed-Stuy, I found myself surrounded by people who, like me, had already built careers and are now navigating an unpredictable job market. Some had been laid off just as I had. Others, like my colleague who is a sex educator and public health advocate, lost funding in their fields. A few are juggling multiple part-time roles to stay afloat. ... Every shift, I met people who never imagined they would be picking up part-time work: artists, teachers, nonprofit workers, tech employees, museum curators, and neighbors doing their best to make life work in a difficult economy. ...
A Christmas of silver and gold
... Spot gold was down 0.4% at $4,468.96 per ounce, after marking a record high of $4,525.18 earlier in the session. ...
Silver prices have surged 147% year-to-date on strong fundamentals, outpacing bullion’s gain of over 70% during the same period. ...
Silver hit an all-time high of $72.70 but was last down 0.8% at $70.86 an ounce. ...
More.
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Because we can't build them ourselves
Manufacturing capacity utilization was down in November, a pale reflection of its former self before globalization.
Same with manufacturing employment.
Manufacturing production was barely up in November and is effectively flat since the Great Recession, before which it was still rising.
Trump stupidly thinks tariffs can reverse all this, when you're supposed to use tariffs to protect what you have, not what you don't.
Monday, December 22, 2025
Stories like this about China destroying the U.S. Dollar just make me want to howl
But hey, what do you expect from MarketWatch?
... As more commodities get priced in yuan instead of dollars, demand for dollars softens. As central banks diversify into gold, they buy fewer Treasurys. As fewer foreigners buy U.S. debt, interest rates drift higher. As the dollar’s purchasing power erodes, everything you import costs more. ...
This, like most of the story, is a load of BS.
Global demand for U.S. debt is at an ALL TIME HIGH, a record $9.2 trillion in the last three months through October.
You'll know the yuan has replaced the dollar when the world buys Chinese sovereign debt instead of ours. And right now the world owns less than $300 billion of Chinese sovereign debt, billion with a B, not trillion with a T.
Nobody trusts China like they trust us.
The writer, who owns gold and silver, wants you to dump long term bonds and buy short term bills and . . . gold and silver. Gee, what a coincidence.
Meanwhile foreign governments continue to prefer long term U.S. Treasuries and own relatively few bills.
And the dollar is relatively strong, not weak as the writer says, in November 2025.
click to enlarge
Democrat minority leader in the House Hakeem Jeffries imitates Nancy Pelosi in sabotage of Congressional stock trading ban legislation
Once again the most progressive Democrat elites, who pushed out Joe Biden, prove that they are not on the side of the people.
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