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ECONOMY

Welcome To The Wile E. Coyote Markets

By Mark Wallace Those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s watching television cartoons may remember a famous character from Looney Tunes:  Wile E. Coyote, a cartoon character who was forever bested by The Road Runner.  On occasion, Wile E. Coyote would be hanging suspended in midair over a chasm.  Everything seemed […]

The Dangerous Delusion Of A Global Transition To “just electricity”

By Ronald Stein World leaders continue experiencing a “dangerous delusion” of a global transition to “just electricity” that they believe will eliminate the use of the crude oil that made society achieve so much in a few centuries. Crude oil is the basis of our materialistic society, as discussed in an educational and entertaining 27-minute […]

Will the UAW Strike Perpetuate the Death Spiral Already Mandated for the Automobile Industry?

By Ronald Stein Increased labor costs are potentially insurmountable and uncontrollable challenges facing the automobile industry for the government mandates in wealthy countries for lower emission EVs. The UAW strike that began September 14th by 146,000 UAW union members seeking a 46 percent pay raise, a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay, and restoration of […]

‘NORMALIZING INSANITY’: Elon Musk Decries Open Border in Visit to Eagle Pass, Texas

By Virginia Allen Elon Musk toured the U.S. southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday as illegal aliens continue to stream across the border. Musk, the tech mogul and CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, livestreamed portions of his trip, saying he wanted to show the “real story” of what is happening on […]

“NORMALIZING INSANITY”: Elon Musk Decries Open Border in Visit to Eagle Pass, Texas

By Virginia Allen Elon Musk toured the U.S. southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday as illegal aliens continue to stream across the border. Musk, the tech mogul and CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, livestreamed portions of his trip, saying he wanted to show the “real story” of what is happening on […]

The Assumption is US Government Bonds Are “Risk Free”

By Neland Nobel Unless one is familiar with portfolio theory, you may not be aware that for many discussions, and for many strategies, US Treasury Bonds are considered “risk-free”.  Therefore their “risk-free” return is used as a lodestar to assist in comparing investment strategies. For example, in many decisions, investors must look at the trade-offs […]

Fossil Fuels Aren’t a Bad Habit We Can Just Kick. They’re a Critical Part of the Economy

By David Brady,Jr. Editors Note: Portions of an excellent documentary series on energy created by Erik Townsend called Energy Transition Crisis have been presented in The Prickly Pear video section. You should take the time to view the series. Townsend, an accomplished energy futures trader and the producer of the excellent podcast Macrovoices believes that mankind […]

Jim Jordan Announces Bid for Speakership

By Mary Margaret Olohan Congressman Jim Jordan is officially running for speaker of the House of Representatives, the congressman’s office confirmed to The Daily Signal Wednesday. The Ohio Republican’s confirmation comes just one day after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster. Eight Republicans and all Democrats present voted to remove McCarthy, who has said that he will not run again […]

The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America, September Update: Spring Bounce Fades. 20-City Index -0.6% from Peak in 2022, Flat Year-over-Year

By Wolf Richter San Francisco -11% from the peak, Seattle -10%, followed by Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, Denver, Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Tampa. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index, released today, for the 20 metros it covers ticked up 0.6% in July from June, the smallest month-to-month increase since February, continuing the trend […]

IHG Hotel’s Attempt to Normalize Sin—Take Action!

By One Million Moms IHG Hotels & Resorts is attempting to normalize the LGBTQ lifestyle with its liberal advertising choices. A recent IHG commercial focuses on a homosexual couple in a hotel room enjoying room service while toasting champagne in their pajamas. Blatantly throwing homosexuality in the viewer’s face, the ad includes a same-sex couple […]

It Is Time for Hysteria

By Bruce Bialosky There is a battle brewing in Washington over our annual national budget which is supposed to be in place for the new fiscal year, beginning October 1st. The entire discussion is about whether the House Republicans will have the budget’s twelve elements ready by the deadline. The alternative is to once again […]

Policy Analysis: Opposition to Per-Mile Taxation Systems Considering the Implications for Motorcyclists in Arizona

By Michael Infanzon The notion of introducing a per-mile taxation system, as modeled by Oklahoma’s Fair Miles pilot project[1], has been touted as an alternative to traditional fuel taxes to generate revenue for road maintenance and infrastructure projects. While the aim to diversify and stabilize the revenue base is understandable, it is vital to examine […]

‘Simple Econ 101’: Here’s How California’s E-Truck Push Could Hamstring The American Economy

By The Daily Caller California’s push to electrify the heavy-duty trucking fleet in the state is likely to hurt independent trucking operators and drive up costs for goods across the entire American economy, experts on California policy and the trucking industry told the Daily Caller News Foundation. California will ban the sale of new diesel-powered […]

You Will Never Guess What Happened to the “Strong US Consumer” After Today’s Huge GDP Revisions

By Tyler Durden It has become a running joke: the “strong” Bidenomics economy comes with an expiration date, as it is only “strong” for about a month, at which point the initial “strength” is downgraded, and the data is revised sharply lower. That has certainly been the case with US labor data, as we first […]

August Border Encounters Of More Than 322,000 Highest Monthly Total In U.S. History

By Bethany Blankley Total encounters reported at both the northern and southwest land borders in August was 304,162, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. It is the greatest total number of illegal entries of any month in recorded U.S. history, according to CBP data. Total encounter data excludes nearly 30,000 gotaways at the southwest border reported […]

The UK’s first womb transplant – what the media missed out

By MercatorNet – Navigating Modern Complexities The first UK ‘womb transplant’, carried out by Richard Smith’s team in Oxford and announced at the end of August, understandably gained a lot of press coverage and was heralded by some as the ‘dawn of a new era’. In fact, the first uterus transplant was carried out in 2000 in Saudi […]

The Multiyear Decline in US Economic Freedom

By Richard M. Salsman AS economic freedom in the world has plunged in recent years, due mainly to the interventions and fiscal-monetary profligacy associated with COVID shutdowns, mandates, and subsidies. The global measure is given in Figure One. This is a significant reversal of freedom’s increase between 2010 and 2019. But the downtrend is much […]

Stocks Suffer For The Last Two Months And More Likely Ahead

By Neland Nobel Readers might recall on August 3, and subsequent to that, we suggested that the stock market had gotten “overbought” and was vulnerable to the weakness that typically is found (called seasonality) in the late summer. Whether we are just lucky or smart, the market has cooperated by declining about 7% since our […]

Desperate Governors Beg For Offshore Wind Cost Relief

By David Wojick Six Atlantic shore Governors are begging the Feds to bail them out of a huge looming offshore wind cost overrun. They sent Biden a joint letter asking for a list of relief measures ranging from tax breaks to revenue sharing. The outcome is far from clear but my guess is the largess […]

Is America A Bad Place To Work?

By Bruce Bialosky Recently I encountered a study by an organization called Oxfam Research. That study: Where Hard Work Doesn’t Pay Off. As defined in Wikipedia, Oxfam was founded in 1942 as a confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations, centered in Oxford England focusing on alleviating global poverty and led by Oxfam International. There is an […]

Unintended Consequences: The California Electric Truck Mandate

By MercatorNet – Navigating Modern Complexities If you own a trucking company that picks up shipments from California ports, you now have to deal with the consequences of a new law designed to reduce your carbon footprint. Trucking is one of the vital ingredients in our infrastructure that virtually all parts of the economy rely […]

Here’s How Biden Admin Destroyed Our Immigration Law

By Victor Davis Hanson Since early 2021 we have witnessed somewhere between 7 million and 8 million illegal entries across the now-nonexistent southern border of the U.S. The more the border vanished, the more federal immigration law was rendered inert, and the more Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spun fantasies that the “border is secure.” He is […]

Rand Paul Comes Out Swinging Against Lindsey Graham Over Ukraine Aid

By Brianna Lyman Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul called out his fellow Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham over Ukraine aid Thursday while on Fox Business. Graham told reporters Wednesday those opposed to giving Ukraine more aid should stay out of it until they’ve visited Ukraine and seen the war firsthand. “Somebody needs to remind […]

Truck This: Why I’m Leaving the Long-Haul Industry

By Christopher Wilcox I’ve been a truck driver for over 20 years. I suppose I always knew I would be, ever since that career day in the third grade when among all the kids dressed like doctors and baseball players, there I stood dressed like Jerry Reed from Smokey and the Bandit. Pop culture in […]

BIDENOMICS: China Dumps Nearly $500 Billion in U.S. Bonds

By Dr. Rich Swier Countries continue divesting from U.S. Treasury Bonds. World’s second-largest economy offloaded US$13.6 billion worth of US debt in July But China still remains the second-largest foreign holder of US Treasury bills, having been surpassed by Japan in mid-2019 By: Frank Chen, South China · Post 19 Sep, 2023 Amid persistent concerns […]

Is the Middle Class Vanishing? The Slow Death of America

By Karen Schoen “The future of this republic is in the hands of the American Voter” – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States. “Get involved in politics, or you will be governed by your inferiors.” — From Plato’s Republic to our American Republic. “In order to save the planet, we must destroy capitalism.” […]

4 Ways Washington’s Spending Spree Caused Inflation With Trillions in Waste, Fraud

By David Ditch Americans are justifiably unhappy with the state of the economy. The inflation figures for August took a turn for the worse—meaning, families have now lost $5,100 in purchasing power since President Joe Biden entered the White House. In addition to the burden of inflation, rising interest rates are making home mortgages unaffordable, pushing the American dream out […]

UAW Announces Massive Expansion Of Strike Against Major Automakers

By The Daily Caller The United Auto Workers (UAW) announced on Friday that more workers will go on strike as the union and automakers continue to be unable to reach a deal. The union announced that 38 new plants across the U.S. will join the partial strike at noon against the Big Three automakers as […]

Weekend Read: Populism, Politics, and Markets

By Neland Nobel Markets function within a complex framework of regulatory and central bank influence.  This regulatory and monetary backdrop is not the benign rule of “experts”  supposed by regulatory advocates in college textbooks, but rather often the product of raw entrenched political power.  Success is getting in sync with the flow of money and […]

PayPal handles donations for ‘charity’ linked to ‘Palestinian’ terror group

By Jihad Watch Of course. The Leftist Big Tech companies see no problem with the “Palestinian” jihad, which the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine aids and abets. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz sound alarm over PayPal working with terror-linked group by Gabe Kaminsky, Washington Examiner, September 12, 2023: EXCLUSIVE — Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) are raising […]