While events in the unprovoked Israeli-U.S. aggression against Iran remain in flux due mostly to the quixotic, contradictory and downright duplicitous policies and actions of a seemingly mentally unstable American president, it is quite difficult to assess the effects of the war on U.S. and world energy markets and thus their overall economies. What is … Continue reading The Unseen Costs of War on Iran
In the final days of his presidential run, Donald Trump floated the idea of eliminating the income tax and replacing it with tariffs as the means to fund federal spending. He cited the era of U.S. history when the country had no income tax: When we were a smart country, in the 1890s . . … Continue reading Taxes vs. Tariffs: Which is Fairer?
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder of FTX and Alameda Research hedge fund has been found guilty on all seven counts related to financial fraud and money laundering in a lower Manhattan court room. The trial took a lot less time than expected as did the jury’s deliberation of the case which speaks to the overwhelming … Continue reading The Hypocrisy of the Sam Bankman-Fried Conviction
Similar to Patrick Buchanan’s campaigns, Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” the Tea Party, and to some extent Donald Trump’s presidency, the Convention of States Project* will not solve the crises that America faces. It will, undoubtedly, like most of the previous reform and populist movements be sabotaged by the ruling class if it ever gets … Continue reading The Convention of States Project: A Bad Idea
Another milestone (or more accurately millstone) was recently passed by the U.S. economy as the January trade deficit surged to an all-time record high of $107.6 billion, up some $26 billion from December’s $80.7 billion imbalance.* Like the gigantic federal budget deficit, the trade imbalance is no longer talked about by the financial press. There … Continue reading America’s Trade Deficit: An Enormous Concern
The use or rather misuse of language has always been an effective tool of politicians to enact their agendas. George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” brilliantly showed, in his day, how language was being manipulated for all sorts of totalitarian measures: Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, … Continue reading “Inflation,” Properly Defined
So far, President Trump’s economic response to a potential coronavirus outbreak and a further stock market sell off has been expected – calls for more interest rate cuts and an additional round of monetary stimulus. For the stock market, economy, and the virus itself, neither measure will have their desired effect and, in fact, may … Continue reading Memo to The Donald: Cut Tariffs NOT Rates
The efficacy of a metallic monetary system is beyond dispute at least among real economists which eliminates just about 95% of whom are now engaged in the “profession.” Money, which gold is, allows for specialization, the division of labor, and provides the means for mankind to escape from barter and, thus, a primitive existence. Like … Continue reading The Ethics of a Gold Standard
With the recent ominous inversion of the 2-10 year yield curve and its near infallible predictive recessionary power, the consequences for the economy are plain to see, however, what has not been spoken of by pundits will be the effect of a recession on US foreign policy. If a recession comes about prior to November … Continue reading The Geopolitical Consequences of a Coming Recession
Instead of a demonstration of its overwhelming military might intended to intimidate tiny North Korea and pressure China to lean on its defiant communist neighbor, President Trump and the West should try to learn a few things from China. The President’s trip to the Far East came on the heels of the completion of China’s … Continue reading What President Trump and the West Can Learn from China
Antonius Aquinas 