hehe
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Whatever else may be said about Rene Girard, he grasped the big problem even if he miscast it as capitalist, namely Chinamerica
“Everyone now knows that the looming conflict between the US and China, for example, has nothing to do with a ‘clash of civilisations’, despite what some might try to tell us. We always try to see differences where in fact there are none. In fact, the dispute is between two forms of capitalism that are becoming more and more similar,” Girard wrote.
Quoted here.
America became its own enemy long before China did.
Girard defaulted to the priority of religion over economics beginning in 1959.
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Hello Washington Times, hello, how did Biden's increased oil supply from the SPR to buy the 2022 elections lead to increased gasoline price at the very same time?
I'm so confused.
Doesn't price drop on an increase in supply?
"Let's increase supply so prices rise so the voters vote for us and not them" makes absolutely zero sense.
... Mr. Biden sold off hundreds of millions of barrels of oil after Russia invaded Ukraine, causing already rising gas prices to spike even higher. ...
The Biden administration sold off roughly 206 million barrels of oil from the SPR between 2021 and 2023. ...
Democrats fended off an anticipated red wave in the November 2022 midterms, keeping control of the Senate and barely losing House seats, although Mr. Biden’s party remained in the minority in the lower chamber. ...
More.
The Chicago Tribune editorial board laments the closing of all Jo-Ann Fabrics stores, never mentions that becoming a literal sewer of woke was the last straw for many of its long time customers
Sewer has two meanings dontchaknow, seamstress only one.
From the conclusion:
... And lucky Chicago suburbanites have small businesses such as LindaZ’s Sewing Center in Arlington Heights, where knowledgeable staff connect savvy sewers, knitters and quilters with fabric and machinery, and Thimbles in Lockport, which still serves a loyal community of sewers and quilters too. ...
Friday, May 9, 2025
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells Congress to shift or get off the lot
... “However, after receiving receipts for the recent April tax filing
season, there is a reasonable probability that the federal government’s
cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted in August while
Congress is scheduled to be in recess,” Bessent wrote. “Therefore, I
respectfully urge Congress to increase or suspend the debt limit by
mid-July, before its scheduled break, to protect the full faith and
credit of the United States.” ...
Words have a meaning, and a Biden invitation to come was not an invasion
I don't care how wrong Biden was, and neither should the courts.
The Supremes have already ruled the illegals have habeas rights, and this would be a desperate attempt to get around that.
Are they daring the Supremes to rule against them yet again?
... Miller’s use of the word “invasion” reflects the Trump
administration’s argument that the U.S. faces an “invasion” of
undocumented migrants. ...
The chairman of the House Fweedom Caucus is calling for tax increases on the rich
Not to reduce the deficit, but to pay for all the new Trump goodies.
$50 trillion in debt in ten years is a lead-pipe cinch.
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Trump is still pressing for tax increases on the rich to pay for all his gimmicks
Trump urged US House Speaker Johnson to raise top tax rate, sources say
U.S. President Donald Trump privately urged House Speaker Mike Johnson during a phone call on Wednesday to raise the tax rate on the wealthiest Americans and close the carried interest loophole for Wall Street investors, two people familiar with the conversation said on Thursday. ... Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters last week that Trump had ruled out the idea. ...
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Federal Open Market Committee says inflation remains somewhat elevated and the economic outlook is increasingly uncertain, leaves DFF between 4.25 and 4.5, i.e. 4.33
Although swings in net exports have affected the data, recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.
The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further. The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.
In support of its goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent. ...
More.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
A week before the 60-day War Powers Act deadline, the Houthis conveniently cry uncle and pledge to halt attacks on US naval forces and Red Sea shipping
Israel wipes out the Houthi airport, fuel supplies, and concrete factory and then they finally cry uncle?
Something doesn't add up here.
Trump announces US will stop bombing Houthis
... Trump, ahead of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said the halt would start immediately. The Houthis approached the administration on Monday night indicating “they want to stop the fighting,” he said. ...
Israel escalated strikes against the Houthis on Monday night with 20 fighter jets bombing the rebel-held port city of Hodeidah. Israeli forces were responding to a ballistic missile strike against the Jerusalem airport by the group. The Trump administration also labeled the Houthis a terror group in March, changing a Biden-era policy. ... Houthi strikes against the waterway have declined significantly in recent months, and the group hasn’t targeted a commercial vessel since late December. ...
Israel's military says it has fully disabled Yemen's main airport with strikes...
... “We indirectly informed the Americans that the continued escalation will affect the criminal Trump’s visit to the region, and we have not informed them of anything else,” said Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi’s supreme political council, in a statement carried by the rebel-controlled SABA news agency early Wednesday. Trump is due to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week. ...
Don't hatchet your AfD before you count, Friedrich
Germany’s Merz fails to be elected chancellor in shock first-round parliamentary vote
... “Friedrich Merz became the first chancellor candidate failing to be elected in the first round of voting in the Bundestag. However, he remains likely to win sufficient support eventually,” Carsten Nickel, deputy director of research at Teneo, said.
Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg, described the situation as a “bad surprise.” He echoed comments suggesting Merz would still become chancellor eventually, but “the unprecedented failure to be elected in the first round would still be a bad start for him.” ...
AfD ‘extremist’ label sets up political high-wire act for Friedrich Merz
... Merz’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, has been torn over how to deal with the AfD. Merz tacitly cooperated with the party earlier this year – despite insisting he would not – to push migration policies through parliament. And on the local level, his party and the AfD have cooperated on issues such as a ruling that the German flag should be hoisted in schools. ...
Populism means speaking fifty words of English: Pete Hegseth joins Marco Rubio in his own more welders, less philosophers moment
Take courage people!
You too can become populists just like Pete and Little Marco. Just get your degrees from Princeton and Harvard and the Universities of Florida and Miami.
Monday, May 5, 2025
Overall US Treasury yields have been falling for a year, but not by very much in the aggregate, and bonds keep asking for a word
Average US Treasury yields in April vs. March were down but up in comparison on Friday May 2nd after Trump meddled again in the Fed's business.
The yield aggregate of eleven securities down: 4.19 in April vs. 4.243 in March, but back up to 4.234 on Friday.
Bills down: 4.205 in April vs. 4.26 in March but up to 4.242 on Friday.
Notes down: 3.966 vs. 4.082 but up to 4.002 on Friday.
Bonds up: 4.725 vs. 4.615 and up some more to 4.80 on Friday. Investors are demanding more return from bonds because they perceive risk to be rising for long duration holdings.
The overall picture since January 2024 though shows yields falling as the rate of inflation has slowly declined. The black line below shows the average of the aggregate peaking in April 2024.
The 10-year Note at 4.33 on Friday matches the Daily Federal Funds Rate exactly, same as the 3-month.
Speaking of which, 10Y-3MO has been screaming "major recession" since October 2022, but to no avail.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)