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.
