By Les Dunaway
Well, Charlie Rangel thinks Congress looks like a ‘bunch of clowns’ for not raising taxes. I got a news flash, or two, for you Charlie. First, yes, many in Congress do look like clowns for their complete lack of understanding of economics. Second, they’ve been looking like clowns for decades. Oh, and by the way, there’s several in the Executive Branch wearing fright wigs, rubber noses and … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
Well, it happened. Just as the warnings foretold. When will there be some sign of adult behavior in Washington? During the debt cap discussions, the rating companies wrote to the President, the Senate and the House and pointed out that just raising the debt cap would not prevent a rating downgrade. Think about it! Would you see it as positive if your dead-beat neighbor bragged to you … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
Well, it’s been a rough week! With every indication of more rough times to come.
The economy continues to sputter and 1Q11 was worse that we thought [read]
There’s lots of punditry about what the debt ceiling impasse will mean:
By Tom Kiser
This may fall into the category of kibbitzing about a technicality that no one cares about, but the United States Federal Government, as the issuer of our fiat money, cannot collect amounts of that same money and hold the money for future use. If money is collected regardless of by what method then the money must be spent near-real time, regardless of for what purpose, else the … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
This past week has produced demagoguery and asinine statements which will echo down the centuries. However, for all its entertainment value, the conversation has resembled an ER team arguing about what color sutures to use in closing bleeding self-inflicted gashes. It all reminds me of a joke my nurse mother told about a patient who said to the doctor “Doc, it hurts when I do that.” To … Read more...
By J. Randolph Evans
The federal debt is over $14 TRILLION. How big is it?
$14 TRILLION.
To just count to $14 trillion, like 1, 2, 3, and so on, would take
448,000 years.
$14 TRILLION.
That is over $46,000 for every person in the United States (which is as
much as the average person working actually makes in an entire year –
$46,326); for a family of four, it … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
The recession was pronounced “over” in June 2009 – two years ago – and we still have no real recovery and millions of people out of work. What’s going on? A series of charts from Market Watch gives some of the picture [read].
Well, mostly what’s happening is that the historical engine of job growth – start-up business – is sputtering, dragged down by the … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
I want to refer you to a well written, upbeat-but-not-rose-colored-glasses piece in todays WSJ “The Future Still Belongs to America“. I want to highlight one paragraph which is, I believe, is key to the conclusion
New ideas disturb the peace of once-stable cultures. Young people grasp the possibilities of change and revolt at the conservatism of their elders. Sacred taboos and ancient hierarchies totter; women … Read more...
By J. Randolph Evans
On June 24, 2011, the United States and the International Energy Association announced plans to sell approximately 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves. About half (30 million barrels) will come from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. When combined with additional production and supplies on the open market, the release should further drive down gas prices providing consumers some much needed relief.
Not surprisingly in … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
This week was interesting! We had sort of a replay of how we got where we are – circling the drain, that is. We are running out of runway on the debt ceiling and on the general subject of getting spending under control.
First, we got the news that the housing crash has past the losses of the Great Depression [read]. The underlying causes of … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
We had an interesting couple of weeks. The market is still headed down and no one outside the Beltway sees any positive signs.
By Les Dunaway
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Meredith Whitney looks at the state of the states. With the end of stimulus money and the end of QE2 (quantitative easing) just weeks away, this is timely. In January we talked about the states “The States – America’s PIIGS?” in relation the EU countries.
Several states have used stimulus money to put off dealing with systemic problems – … Read more...