Hillary and The Donald On the Economy
Our sad choices: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Photo Credits Left to Right: WikiMedia Commons/Voice of America, Wikimedia Commons/Michael Vadon On the day when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are … Read More
Is Putin Secure?
The headquarters for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) at Lubyanka Square in Moscow in the same building that used to be the HQ of the KGB. Wikimedia Commons/NVO There … Read More
Should Christians Be Stigmatized?
A symbol of hope or a symbol of ignorance and prejudice? FreeImages.com/abcdz2000 Christians have a great deal to fear in this world. In the Middle East, they have been marked … Read More
Economic Optimism Fading
The Wall Street Journal considers these three declining indicators as indicative of continuing economic stagnation. Wall Street Journal/Federal Reserve District Bank of St. Louis The Wall Street Journal has just … Read More
Hillary and The Donald: What a Choice!
Which to Choose? Photo Credits: CNN.com and CNN.com The choices we have for president, while … Read More
Iran: Existential Enemy of the West (among others)
On top, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 23, 2016. On bottom, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani meeting with Russian President Vladimir … Read More
The Legacy of 9/11/2001
The North Face of Two World Trade Center (south tower) immediately after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175. Wikimedia Commons/Robert on Flickr It has been fifteen years to the … Read More
The Dirigiste Mind
Particularly notable dirigistes from the past. From top-left clockwise: King Louis XIV of France, Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini Image Credits from top-left clockwise: Wikimedia Commons/Louvre Museum, Wikimedia Commons/John Jabez … Read More
Is Russia Stable?
Moscow Victory Day Parade, 2015 Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru Russia is having increasingly difficult economic problems, as was discussed in my last post. A large part of the reason for that can … Read More
Russia’s Weaknesses
Constant Russian per capita GDP in 2010 US dollars (Blue curve) and its percent change from a year earlier (red curve). Image Credit: St. Louis Federal Reserve District Bank/FRED Data … Read More
Putin’s Purges
Der Russische Führer, Vladimir Putin Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru ANDERS ÅSLUND has become an indispensable analyst of that “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”, as Sir Winston Churchill … Read More
Solar Wind, Cosmic Rays and Clouds: The Determinants of Global Warming
Average cloud cover is the most important factor in global warming While global warming alarmists are trying to create a hysteria about Man causing the heat death of the planet, … Read More
Russia: A Classic Fascist Power
The Moscow Kremlin, the working residence of the President of Russia. Wikimedia Commons/Минеева Ю. (Julmin) (retouched by Surendil) Will Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini have the last laugh on history? There seems … Read More
Probability of War with China Increasing?
People’s Liberation Army Navy sailors at the Qingdao, North Sea Fleet headquarters parading in 2000 for a visiting U.S. Navy delegation. Wikimedia Commons/Jiang The probability of war with the People’s … Read More
Another Reason Not to Be Economically Optimistic
Dow Transportation Average Index on top, S&P 500 index on the bottom Image courtesy of StockCharts.com In my last post I gave several reasons why you should be economically pessimistic … Read More
Why Is There Economic Optimism?
The Bulls Are Charging! Photo Credit: Charging Bull — NYC via photopin (license)/ Sam Valadi Every now and then, I experience a modicum of doubt about my pessimistic picture of the economy. … Read More
The US Is Drowning In Debt
U.S. Drowning in debt? (c) Can Stock Photo/Sangoiri [N.B. This essay was changed on 8/25/2016 to correct an error on the composition of the net federal debt.] Just when you … Read More
The Japanese Economy is Stalling Out
Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan Wikimedia Commons/US Embassy, Tokyo From the Wall Street Journal we learn that Japanese economic growth nearly sputtered out in the second quarter of 2016. … Read More
U.S. Economy and Stock Markets, August 2016
Real quarterly, annualized GDP growth rate in percent from Q1 of 2009 to Q2 of 2016 Image Credit: St. Louis Federal Reserve District Bank/FRED It is time for me to … Read More
A Defense for Democracy and Free-Markets
An Icon of Human Freedom with its Author, Thomas Jefferson Flickr.com/Drew Myers It is no secret that American progressives are at the very best terribly ambivalent about democracy, and about … Read More
The Fermenting of the West’s Discontents: Crisis of Ideology
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. The three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act 4, scene 1 Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Johann Heinrich Füssli 1783 The Western World’s political … Read More
If Hillary Clinton Were President …
Hillary Clinton speaking at the Brown & Black Presidential Forum in Des Moines, Iowa on January 11, 2016 Wikimedia Commons/Arthur Skidmore Given how the bombastic Donald is increasingly sabotaging his own … Read More
Where the Left Is Leading the World: Catastrophe
The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789 during the French Revolution Wikimedia Commons/Bibilothèque Nationale de France If you have read any of my posts and detected a somewhat gloomy … Read More
The GOP’s Better Way
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wi) taking over the House Speakership from Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) Wikimedia Commons/Office of Speaker Paul D. Ryan On a lot of issues Donald Trump has been … Read More
Dismal Economic Numbers
Real U.S. GDP growth rate from the first quarter of 2009 to the second quarter of 2016. The maroon curve is a linear fit to the data from Q1 2014 … Read More
The U.S. Federal Government Budget
Total U.S. Federal Government Debt in millions of dollars (blue curve with scale on the left), and its share of GDP in percent (maroon curve with scale on the right). St. … Read More
Donald Trump’s Acceptance Speech
Donald J. Trump giving his acceptance speech for the GOP presidential nomination on July 21, 2016 Image Credit: YouTube/ABC 15 Arizona Listening to Donald Trump’s acceptance speech last night, most … Read More
The Socialism of the Scandinavian Countries
The Scandinavian Countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden Image Credit: Wikitravel/Stefan Ertmann In the previous post Are European States More Socialist Than The US?, I noted that American progressives had … Read More
Are European States More Socialist Than The US?
Alphonse de Lamartine rejecting the red flag of socialism in front of the Town Hall of Paris during the 1848 French Revolution. Wikimedia Commons/ Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux (1815-1884) The … Read More