TRAVELING THE WORLD, WRITING WHAT THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
TRAVELING THE WORLD, WRITING WHAT THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
It has been promised for 25 years. Its coming has been heralded as a world-changing event. It has launched a thousand headlines in the last few months. And it happened this week. But if you blinked you would have missed it. What am I talking about? Why, the launch of a Chinese yuan-denominated oil futures Read More…
Earlier this month, the United States government released its annual financial report for the year 2017. This is something the government does every year, similar to how large companies like Apple, or Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, publish their own annual reports. Unlike Berkshire and Apple, though, whose financial reports typically show strong, positive results, the US government’s financial Read More…
Paul Volcker began his term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in August of 1979. In October, the S&P 500 index dropped 11% on its way to a 20% drop in 1980. Alan Greenspan was sworn in as Fed chairman in August 1987. On October 19, 1987 the markets suffered through “Black Read More…
President Trump has delivered his military budget request for 2019 that increases spending by 12 percent over 2017 spending. Designed to fully fund a “depleted” military, even Defense Secretary Mattis was surprised at the figures. Many more warships, many more F-22s (even though they don’t work). Half a billion more dollars to continue the US Read More…
Sometimes the truest of hard truths are to be found smack dab in the middle of the fakest of fake news. You just have to read between the lines. Take a recent story that bubbled up amid all the hype about the all-time record highs in the “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” manipulated stock markets. You Read More…
It’s official: as of midnight Saturday, the US government has shut down following a failure in the Senate to strike a funding deal. Government funding was due to run out after Dec. 8 but was twice extended, most recently through Jan. 19, at which point the US encountered what’s officially called a “spending gap,” which Read More…