Gasoline for $68, huh?
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow from Michigan is a New Jersey transplant, and it shows
Elitist climber, progressive snob.
April 2025:
April 2026:
I just mailed a letter at my rural gas station on the corner and gasoline is $4.99/gal
To think I filled up yesterday at Sam's for $4.09.
Diesel is $5.99.
The average price of unleaded regular gasoline in 2022 was $4.09, but that's what I paid for it yesterday at Sam's Club, except now this morning it's $4.19!
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.
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
The Jerome Powell Fed Chair era draws to a close effective May 15, but Powell could remain a Fed governor until his term ends in January 2028
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.
So-called moderate Democrat Haley Stevens (MI-11) comes out on top in latest primary poll for U.S. Senate from Michigan
If Democrats hope to keep the seat being vacated by Gary Peters, they'd better nominate Stevens.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
JMIC Update 38 for tanker traffic in the Middle East April 21-27, 2026
Middle East Tanker Traffic April 21-27, 2026
Strait of Hormuz E: 1.71/day
Strait of Hormuz W: 0.57/day
Total: 2.28/day
Normal (2022): 70/day
Down 96.7%
Bab-el-Mandeb Strait SE: 6.42/day
Bab-el-Mandeb Strait NW: 6.85/day
Total: 13.27/day
Normal (2022): 30/day
Down 55.8%
Jimmy Kimmel lives rent-free in their heads
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. ...
They're going to have to put the whole country in jail
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. ...
Here we go again, plunging into more stupidity
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 is still not right in the head
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.
Monday, April 27, 2026
Ha, taxes coerce behavior whether you like it or not, so you'd better decide what behavior you want because you're going to get it good and hard either way
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.”
. . . and the East Wing, and the Kennedy Center, and USAID, and the UN, and Ukraine, and NATO, and the Persian Gulf, and Trade, and GDP, and Prices, and Energy, and . . .
We voted for Bob the Builder and got Don the Wrecker instead.
 |
| On October 23 photos from the Associated Press showed that the entire East Wing had been demolished. |
Yeah, but what Trump saved with military spending cuts to Ukraine he's blowing on the Iran war, which is why he's asking for $1.5 trillion in defense spending next year
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. ...
Sunday, April 26, 2026
JMIC Update 37 for tanker traffic in the Straits of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb 19-25 April 2026
SoH E: 2.4/day
SoH W: 1.0/day (ZERO 23-25 Apr)
Normal 2022: 70
Down 95%
BAM SE: 7.1/day
BAM NW: 8.4/day
Normal 2022: 30
Down 48%
Well, that's what ugly does doesn't it?
Forgotten no more: Generation X is driving beauty sales
Yes, I'm in a m o o d today.
Just in time for the future convicts of the Trump administration
I thought it was liberals who were infamous for the death wish?
DOJ says it will use firing squads, electrocution again for federal executions
Vanguard Energy Fund VGENX is up 21.05% year to date
That's down from +24.06% ytd through March 31, 2026.
Per annum over 5 years as of March 31: 20.71%.
Saturday, April 25, 2026
As an inflation fighter, Jerome Powell turned out to be twice as bad as Arthur Burns
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.
Friday, April 24, 2026
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Strait of Hormuz/Bab-el-Mandeb Strait JMIC Update 036 for 16-22 April 2026 tanker traffic
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%
Adjusted for inflation from 1995, the average mortgage payment in 2025 was 37% higher than it might have been
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.
Study finds that female liberals believe words can harm, tend to be emotionally less stable, see themselves as victims, experience higher levels of anxiety and depression, support laws which make you stfu
... “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.
Komrade Karoline insists that Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
Although the trend for continued claims for unemployment is slightly up since Nov 1, 2021, the overall trend for initial claims remains down since then
The average weekly figure for initial claims in
As if ICE doesn't have enough money already from the Big Ugly Bill to murder Americans in our own streets, the bloodthirsty GOP Senate has voted to give them MORE intending to use the budget reconciliation trick
U.S. Senate votes to advance $70 billion funding plan for ICE, Border Patrol
... Lawmakers voted 50-48 in the predawn hours to adopt the non-binding budget resolution and send it to the U.S. House of Representatives ...
Two Republicans — Senators Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski — opposed the measure.
If adopted by the House, the resolution will allow congressional committees to begin filling in the details on how the $70 billion would be spent in separate legislation that President Donald Trump would have to sign into law. ...
Republicans plan to employ a rarely used procedure known as budget reconciliation in the separate legislation, which allows some budget-related bills to bypass Democratic opposition in the Senate. ...
Such measures require only a simple majority for passage in the 100-member chamber, instead of the usual supermajority of 60 votes or more. Republicans hold a 53-47 seat majority. ...
After two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis, Democrats insisted that ICE and Border Patrol be subject to the same operational rules as police forces across the United States, including a requirement that judicial warrants be obtained before agents can enter private homes.
But weeks of negotiations ended in a stalemate. ...
Last year, Republicans passed legislation providing around $130 billion in funding for these two agencies, separate from their annual appropriations and the $70 billion now being advanced in Congress. ...
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Does anyone remember The Bedford Incident?
"If they fire one, we'll fire one".
With the United States blockading all supply coming in to Iran and seizing some vessels, there are roughly 100 container ships trapped in the Persian Gulf from which Iran can choose anytime it wishes to go shopping.
Iran says it has seized two ships in Strait of Hormuz after U.S. extends ceasefire
Iran’s navy on Wednesday said it had seized two container ships in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, shortly after the U.S. extended the ceasefire and as diplomats seek to bring the countries together for peace talks.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy said in a statement that it had seized the ships for what it claimed were maritime violations and transferred them to Iranian shores, according to state media. CNBC could not independently verify the claim.
The announcement came after U.K. maritime authorities said two ships had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media reported a third vessel had also been targeted by the country’s military. ...
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
New narrative alert as Trump tanks in the polls: Iran War was about 6 weeks as Trump said it would be!
I mean, that's true right?
We are in week 8, and the two week ceasefire which expires tomorrow has been extended indefinitely because Trump says Iran is too divided to speak with a unified voice.
The truth is whatever Humpty Trumpty says it is.
Buffett Indicator in the news
Wall Street on red alert as Warren Buffett’s favorite stock market gauge hits the worst reading EVER
... The so-called Buffett indicator divides the total value of all US stocks by the total economic output of the United States, delivering one simple number that sums up how investors are feeling at the moment.
Buffett said that a reading of 100 percent suggests markets are in balance - in other words, the stock market is worth about as much as the US economy produces in one year - while a lower figure means stocks are undervalued.
Right now, the index hit its highest reading ever - 232 percent - indicating that stocks are historically overvalued. ...
Right now, the indicator is well above its last two all-time highs: The 219 percent reading seen at the height of the 2021 pandemic stock market frenzy, and the 163 percent level at the 2000 peak of the dot com bubble. ...
Using SPX tonight, instead of the Wilshire 5000 as Buffett does, we're at 224.8 vs. 1938-2019 mean level of 81!
The market has been obscenely overvalued way beyond the 1938-2019 experience for six consecutive years and counting, and investors keep keeping it that way by continuing to pour money into it. It won't unwind until they stop. And since they believe that the market goes only up, it will probably take a market-loathing mother of all economic disasters to change their minds and make them do so.
Meanwhile real return since August 2000 (139), the previous secular peak, is now 5.27% per annum through March 2026 (25 years, 7 months).
Real return from January 1975 to August 2000 (the previous 25 years, 7 months) was 11.19% per annum, 112% better because valuation was 61 in 1975 and falling.
Investing at high valuations by definition produces poorer results. Compare August 1965 (118) to August 2000 (139): 6.95% per annum real.
(I need to update this chart for 2024 and 2025!)
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