TRAVELING THE WORLD, WRITING WHAT THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
TRAVELING THE WORLD, WRITING WHAT THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
It’s no secret that governments hate the free market. At its base, every single government tax, license, regulation and restriction is an implicit rebuke of the idea that humans should be able to interact freely with those around them. This is old news to my long-term readers, but it bears repeating because many have been Read More…
Exactly ten years ago, in the middle of the summer of 2008, the world was only two months away from the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression. At the time, the size of the US economy as measured by Gross Domestic product was around $14.8 trillion– by far the largest in the world. Read More…
Tariffs, counter-tariffs and headlines about trade wars are flowing like wine as the long-anticipated Trump campaign against China is finally shaping up. Given that futures are tumbling, the US trade deficit has just hit a decade low, and, oh yeah, we haven’t seen market volatility like this since the crash of ’87 you might think we have enough ominous financial storm clouds to 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…
In its latest reminder that China is a (for now) happy holder of some $1.2 trillion in US Treasuries, Chinese credit rating agency Dagong downgraded US sovereign ratings from A- to BBB+ overnight, citing “deficiencies in US political ecology” and tax cuts that “directly reduce the federal government’s sources of debt repayment” weakening the base Read More…
For those who believe in the virtue of central bank economic stimulus, the moment of truth has finally arrived. Federal Reserve chairman Janet Yellen announced late last month that the Fed plans to start shrinking its balance sheet for the first time since it expanded from less than $900 billion in 2008 to an unprecedented $4.5 trillion Read More…