Vladimir: “Well? What do we do?” Estragon: “Don’t let’s do anything. It’s safer.” From “Waiting for Godot” In Waiting for Godot, two men spend more than an hour talking nonsense…
The Job Creation Snow Job
Consider this headline from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Unemployment rate declines to 4.7% in May; payroll employment changes little (+38,000). Great news, right? The unemployment rate fell to…
Inflation: The Fed’s Red Herring
If you wanted to boost economic growth, which of the following would you focus on? U.S. corporate taxes, which are the world’s highest and are driving businesses to relocate abroad…
Upending the World
Logic has taken a 180-degree turn, running at full sprint in the opposite direction from where it should be. As one small example, consider the good fortune of Hans Peter…
Something’s Rotten …
“That it should come to this!” Hamlet, Act I, Scene II Any student…
Set. Down. No Hike.
The economic outlook can be summed up in five words: Everything’s great, except what isn’t. We’ll lead with the “everything’s great” part, as seen through the filter of the Federal…
Mutually Assured Destruction
Iran, North Korea and the world’s other despots may be able to take over the world without going nuclear or even firing a single shot. That’s because much of the…
Hard Landing
The Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee met last week for the first time since raising interest rates in December and then published its usual policy statement full of mush.…
Happy New Year: Meh.
Well, it’s a brave new world for us cynics. Somehow, we all survived another year, but it wasn’t easy. It was a good year for terrorists (Paris, San Bernardino), despots…
Don’t Bet On It
“ … human beings have a natural tendency to manage risk after the fact.” Michael…