Putting the Dow Jones Industrial Index in Perspective
The Dow Jones Industrial Index made its debut 125 years ago. The index of 12 smokestack companies opened at 40.94 on the first day. Over its life, the Dow has risen on average 7.69% [...]
Increase in demand and supply side constraints
Americans are confronting a new challenge of having to wait and pay more for products. Supply chain woes have negatively impacted makers of everything from cars and clothing to home siding and medical needle containers. Fed [...]
Colonial Pipeline Paid Ransom to Hackers of Nearly $5 Million, Igniting U.S. Government Crackdown
Colonial Pipeline paid DarkSide, who specialize in digital extortion, 75 Bitcoins or approximately $5 million dollars, to recover its stolen data. Hackers encrypt its victims’ records and threaten to release it publicly unless paid [...]
Supply Side Challenges Caused Economic Slowdown. Is it a Glitch or a Trend?
We need to remember the lamentation of President Harry Truman. Harry wanted a ‘one-handed economist’. Truman once complained, “All my economists say, ‘on the one hand, but on the other’.” On the one hand [...]
Growing inflation concerns as consumer spending ramps up
From economists to the man on the street, we now have concerns over a rapid increase in inflation. Those of us who lived through the 1970’s and early 1980’s remember how America suffered from [...]
China’s 18% Growth Defies Gravity
Currently, we can have confidence that the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, will bolster the global economy. The International Monetary Fund upgraded their global growth forecast to 6% for 2021. [...]
IMF Projects 6% Global Growth
The International Monetary Fund projects 6% global growth in 2021. America is driving the globe’s economic bus. The recently adopted $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan has shifted the U.S. economy into high gear. The [...]
U.S. Economy Shows Robust Signs
On Good Friday, the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 916,000 jobs in March. Economists expect further positive news as more people get vaccinated against Covid-19, states remove restrictions on [...]
Biden Administration Weighs Increase in Corporate and Personal Income-Tax Rates to Pay for $3 Trillion Infrastructure and Jobs Package
The Biden Administration is evaluating a variety of possible tax increases, including boosting the corporate tax rate and the top marginal income-tax rate on wealthy individuals in order pay for its infrastructure, antipoverty measures [...]
Putting the economic impact of COVID-19 into perspective
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Could not put Humpty together again One year ago, the World Health Organization warned [...]
Energy companies edging toward supporting a carbon tax
The oil and gas industry’s top lobbying arm, the American Petroleum Institute, is edging toward supporting a carbon tax. Later this month, API will issue a formal notification. Such a move would make fossil [...]
Supporting the economy
We are getting to the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is going to take longer. Part of the problem is that the United States participates in the global economy. Specifically, [...]
Major global trends flourishing
I recently read a book, "Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know," that was very helpful in providing an overview of very positive major developments for our planet. Contrary to public opinion, this book [...]
General Motors to sell only zero-emission vehicles
The U.S. automaker will manufacture only electric cars and trucks by 2035.
Is euphoria over SPACs unfounded?
Chaos theory is the science of surprises. By understanding how our ecosystems and our economic systems are interconnected, we can hope to avoid actions detrimental to our long-term well-being. One example is the butterfly effect. [...]
Semiconductors play pivotal role in U.S. economy
Semiconductors have played a critical role in America’s economy, job creation, technology leadership and national security over the past six decades. They are the foundation upon which the operation of almost everything electronic is [...]
10-Year US Treasury’s climb above 1% has widespread ramifications
The interest costs on Treasuries has widespread ramifications because money does not grow on trees.
Lessons from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
By William Shirer “History never repeats itself, but it does rhyme.” --Mark Twain Introduction Over the past 50 years I have read this wonderful chronicle of the rise and fall of Nazi Germany from [...]
All White Democratic Primaries – 1944
Over the years I have mentioned that Blacks were effectively denied suffrage in the South until 1944. The fifteenth amendment, providing male suffrage, was emasculated through a series of laws. The Civil Rights laws [...]
5G auctions attract record bidding
5G is the fifth generation technology standard for broadband cellular network that phone companies began deploying in 2019. The Federal Communications Commission has to date received bids for 5G frequency that has exceeded $69.8 billion. Wireless carriers, cable companies and others critically need these airwaves to support [...]
The Case for Eliminating or Keeping the Electoral College
Introduction: In recent years several people have expressed to me their desire for America to eliminate our Electoral College system for electing our president. Their reason is a recognition that given demographic changes the [...]
Let us toast the New Year
As we think about 2021, the words from Charles Dickens’ 1859 historical novel “A Tale of Two Cities” remain relevant: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... it was the [...]
Phenomenal success of IPO market closes out remarkable year
The year 2020 has been a banner year for IPO (initial public offering) pricings. Jay Ritter, “Mr. IPO,” in an interview said that the New Issue Market is “not as crazy as in 1999 and 2000, [...]
Animal Farm By George Orwell
Introduction Animal Farm is an allegorical novel by George Orwell first published in England in August 1945. The book is both fun to read and informative. Orwell related how the ideal of the Russian Revolution [...]
Kindertransport: Into the Arms of Strangers
I saw tonight a documentary, Into the Arms of Strangers. It focuses on the lives of 10,000 primarily Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Free City of Danzig who found refuge [...]
Slowing job growth spurs stimulus talks
Last Friday’s job report highlighted that the labor market recovery has slowed. The U.S. added just 245,000 jobs in November. This increase is far below the rebounds in May and June when business payrolls increased [...]
Dow Jones Industrial Index surpasses 30,000
The Dow Jones Industrial Index surpassed a major milestone this past Tuesday. For the first time, it crossed 30,000. This very popular price-weighted index follows United States blue chips – companies that are leaders [...]
Extraordinary responses to COVID-19 challenges and other debacles
COVID-19 has caused monumental disruptions across the globe. This past week, the federal Centers for Disease Control urged Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest travel period of the year. The United States has [...]
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership represents World’s Biggest Free-Trade Deal
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) should be signed over the next few days. It represents the most significant trade agreement in modern history. Fifteen Asia-Pacific nations, including China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, have [...]
Economic outlook remains uncertain
Last Thursday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized that the U.S. economy needs more fiscal and monetary policy support. He pledged that the Fed would take whatever actions are necessary to protect the economy [...]
Rising Coronavirus Infections Weigh Heavily on Europe and the United States
The rapid escalation in the number of coronavirus victims has prompted policy makers in Europe and the United States to take or advocate corrective actions. On Saturday, the British prime minister introduced regulations that [...]
IMF reports that global public debt hit a record of 100% of GDP
The International Monetary Fund reported that global public debt would rise to 100% of the world gross domestic product in 2020. On an unprecedented level, governments have made huge fiscal expenditures in response to the coronavirus [...]
OPEC reduces long-term forecast for oil demand growth
The world has significantly changed its attitude toward fossil fuels since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed an embargo against the United States for its decision to resupply the Israeli military during the 1973 Arab-Israeli [...]
Ernie Pyle (The Greatest Correspondent of World War II)
Ernest Pyle was the best-known, most beloved correspondent during World War II. My mother who was a journalist named me after him. She and Ernie were working journalists in Chicago in the 1930’s. Like [...]
The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of the U.S. Electorate Pew Research October 2020
Pew Research reported that in all 50 states, the share of non-Hispanic whites declined between 2000 and 2018 with 10 states experiencing double-digit drops in the share of White eligible voters. Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida [...]
Economy is grudgingly advancing
Economists now anticipate that our economy will only slowly recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Heartbreakingly, there is mounting evidence that COVID-19 has inflicted a loss of millions of jobs forever. The labor market has recovered [...]