Tag Archives: On Politics

  Hell With Air-Conditioning LAS VEGAS – It was 113 degrees outside when we rolled through Baker, California, a few days ago. We drove along in comfort, but our sympathies turned to the poor pilgrims who made their way to California in covered wagons. How they must have suffered! Our suffering didn’t begin until we checked into the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas. What a horrible place. You stand in line for half...

  Speculator’s Market LOS ANGELES – Stocks were up again… Whoa! Hold on just a cotton-picking minute. Honest investors are getting out of the stock market. There have been net withdrawals of $80 billion from U.S. equity funds so far this year. Who’s buying? This is a speculator’s market. And the No. 1 gambler is playing with an infinite amount of chips. We’re talking about central banks – who create money on demand....

  Meaningless Noise BALTIMORE – The Dow rose 250 points on Friday… putting it back near its all-time high. A “blow-out jobs report” was said to be the inspiration. Oh my… so many dots.. so little time. Friday’s jobs report said that 278,000 Americans found work in June – up from 11,000 in May.  This was considered such good news that investors rushed to buy stocks. At least, that was the line taken by the mainstream...

  Alphas and Epsilons BALTIMORE – One of the delights of being an American is that it is so easy to feel superior to your fellow countrymen. All you have to do is stand up straight and smile. Or if you really need an ego boost, just go to a local supermarket. Better yet, go to a supermarket with a Trump poster in the parking lot. Trigger warning: In the following ramble, we make fun of democracy, Trump, obesity,...

Faking It   Under a gold standard, the amount of credit that an economy can support is determined by the economy’s tangible assets, since every credit instrument is ultimately a claim on some tangible asset. […] The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit. — Alan Greenspan, 1961 He was in it for the power...

Connecting Dots BALTIMORE –  U.S. stocks bounced on Tuesday, with the Dow up 269 points [and even further on Wednesday, ed.]. Was that all there was? Is the “Brexit” scare over? We don’t know… but we’re going to take a pause today. Instead of trying to connect the new dots, we’re going to take a look at the old dots we’ve already strung together. We’ve been connecting the dots every day (except weekends) for the last...

The Pool of Real Wealth Last Thursday, the people of Britain voted in a referendum to leave the European Union (EU). Most commentators view Britain’s exit (“Brexit”) from the European Union as bad news for economic growth in the UK and the euro zone. As a result, it is argued, the growth rate in the rest of the world will be also badly affected. It is more likely that, whether the pace of real economic growth over time...

  Investors have realized Brexit isn’t the end of the world. First, because they think it won’t really happen. After all, elites can fix elections, buy politicians, and control public policy… surely, they can fix this! A letter in the Financial Times reminds us that Swedish voters cast their ballots against nuclear power in 1980. The government just ignored them, doubling nuclear power generation over the next 36...

The Best Thing About the EU is J.C. Juncker’s Alcoholism We recently discussed the post-Brexit landscape with a friend (in fact, our editor), who bemoaned that “the EU is led by a drunkard”. Our immediate reaction to this was to exclaim: “That’s the best thing about the EU!” Why do we think so? It makes this overpaid, useless bureaucrat human. Not only that, it clearly raises his entertainment value. As our regular...

A Dying Order Last Thursday, the Brits said auf Wiedersehen and au revoir to the European Union. On Friday, the Dow sold off 611 points – a roughly 3.5% slump. What’s going on? In Europe and the U.S., the masses are getting restless. Mr. Guy Wroble of Denver, Colorado, explained why in a short letter to the Financial Times: The old liberal world order is dying because the cost-benefit ratio for the average person in...