Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
In the last few days, through some slips of the tongue or brain by President Biden, it has become evident that our current energy mess is a designed crisis. It is designed to force us all into electric vehicles to satisfy the goal of changing the temperature of the earth by 1 ½ degrees in […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
A market this oversold will tend to rally at some point. Markets have undergone a punishing slide of late. Stocks have been down eight weeks in a row. If we go another week, that may break the record set in 1923. The losses are not isolated but widespread. Something like 75% of stocks in the […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Something big is going on in Trumpland. Recently a poll taken by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst found that over two-thirds of Republicans believe President Joe Biden should be impeached if Republicans take control of both houses of Congress in the coming mid-term elections. You can read more details about the poll by clicking […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
A federal judge in Louisiana on Friday stopped the Biden administration from revoking Title 42, a public health authority that allows illegal immigrants to be quickly deported during a health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays in the Western District of Louisiana issued the order in a case filed by the […]
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
The following excerpt is from a press release from the Yuma County Sheriff: “The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) and the Yuma County Recorder’s Office (YCRO) are working together to actively examine cases of voting fraud from the 2020 General Election and now a recent pattern of fraudulent voter registration forms leading up to the […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.” Professor Milton Friedman You want to bring down inflation? Let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share. President Joe Biden Inflation […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Usually, the abortion issue is so difficult, because at least one side of the argument contends a baby is being killed. One side sees a human that has value and standing, while the other side tries to argue it is not human life independent of the mother. A pregnancy becomes sort of like a mole […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
During the recent government panic over Covid, almost all governments in one form or another used “lockdown”, or the quarantining of the healthy, in order to stop the spread of the disease. This was a first in history because usually, isolating the sick or the especially vulnerable was the strategy. The result was severe economic […]
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Public opinion about the election process, and the state of election integrity, varies greatly. Among Democrats, many believe the 2016 election was stolen, largely because of Russian interference. Hillary Clinton is on record saying the election was illegitimate and that the election was stolen from her. However, these same Democrats believe the election of 2020 […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Trying to guess what the economy and the financial markets will do occupies an entire industry. And, within that industry of financial services, opinions vary greatly. That makes the job of prediction even more difficult because so many bright people have such diametrically different points of view. Which set of views is correct? Having come […]
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
So, the witches’ brew in summary is sky-high stock valuations, extraordinarily high debt burdens, rising interest rates, rising inflation rates, inverting yield curves, a bond bear market, supply chain crisis caused by lockdown, energy price shock, food price shock, war, radical social change, monetary regime upheaval, and poor political leadership. Having spent almost […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Forecasting the economy is always difficult, but the number of external and internal variables associated with this business cycle is unusually complex. Forces of recovery from lockdown and gigantic fiscal and monetary stimulation are colliding with record-high debt, overvaluation in many markets, and severe inflationary pressures that must be dealt with. If that is not enough, […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
If there is one thing we can expect from the Green Movement is that it will do its best to mislead the public with very clever public relations. But a lie is a lie, even if cleverly told. This has manifested itself in two ways rather recently. First, they continue to claim that “renewables” specifically […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter and editorial columnist for the Wall Street Journal, represents in many ways, the pre-Trump Republican Party. As such, she has made it quite clear she resents the Trumpetarian upstarts that have influenced the party and yearns for the good old days of losing with what she finds to be […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
One of my fondest memories of childhood in the 1950s was being allowed by our parents to eat dinner in the living room while watching Walt Disney on Sunday night. Among the most memorable was the Davy Crockett series starring Fess Parker. I had a Davy Crockett rifle, pistol, jacket, and of course, the coonskin […]
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Not long ago, I was talking about recent financial events related to an article I penned in The Prickly Pear with a small gathering of people, who are generally quite knowledgeable about money. A few got completely lost when discussing the dollar and its “reserve status”. It seems when one starts talking about the Bretton-Woods […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Under questioning from Senator Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson said she could not define what a woman is because she (Ketanji Jackson) is not a biologist. This was among the most revealing of some of her muddled answers. This was obvious pandering to the Transgender Lobby and is disqualifying on […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
We have written previously about investors having a “risk-off” year as various markets have to deal with inflation, the central bank’s response to inflation, overvaluation, overindebtedness, supply chain issues, and now, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So far this year, it indeed has turned out to be a “risk-off” event as we predicted. It has […]
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
President Joe Biden says that inflation is being caused by Putin. Despite the fact that inflation has been heating up for some time, well before the attack on Ukraine, the President repeatedly blames others for his mistakes. This lame remark made to Democrat lawmakers was welcome, of course, because it distracts as well from the […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
We have written previously about investors having a “risk-off” year as various markets have to deal with inflation, the central bank’s response to inflation, overvaluation, overindebtedness, supply chain issues, and now, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So far this year, it indeed has turned out to be a “risk-off” event as we predicted. It has […]
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
The consequences are myriad. Some are quite visible while some are only now becoming evident. Some are intended, and some are unintended. Almost all of them are not good. Among the more obvious are that war destroys a lot of wealth. Don’t buy for a moment that war spending stimulates economies. The French economist Frederic Bastiat […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
We don’t write that often about markets because The Prickly Pear is not a financial publication. However, we appreciate that our readers, like the public generally, are being squeezed by the worst inflation in a generation and are being buffeted by very uncertain financial markets. Our main concern remains the country and the future of […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Liberals and Progressives continue in their belief that the presence of guns causes crime rather than the presence of criminals causes crime. It appears no amount of evidence or logic can dissuade them. It is a purely emotional position devoid of logic and experience. This is the assumption behind almost all “gun control” legislation. Guns cause […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Book Review: The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke The American Economy Christopher Leonard. Published by Simon and Schuster Upon receiving the book, at first, a bit of eye-rolling occurred as the dust jacket touts “The New York Times Bestselling author of Kochland.” He also authored Meat Racket, which takes a critical look at […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
The financial markets swooned in January in response to the statements and growing perceptions that central banks must soon begin the painful task of slowing inflation. The old saw on Wall Street is, “as goes January, so goes the year.” If so, we are in for a very volatile year. The irony is, of course, […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Last August we presented a two-part series about the investor’s dilemma (The Investor’s Dilemma: Part 1, The Investor’s Dilemma: Part 2). That series was intended to warn our readers that the level of speculation in various investment sectors had reached what appeared to us to be a fever pitch and that it was unnaturally supported […]
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Over the weekend, Kathy Hochul, the lieutenant governor who replaced Mario Cuomo after his resignation, responded to the ambush murder of two New York City policemen. The attack, which occurred in Harlem, left one officer dead and another who died several days later. Although details are not yet complete, they appear to have been ambushed […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
In 1952 Professor Harry Markowitz developed the seminal ideas of what is called Modern Portfolio Theory. He later won a Nobel Prize for his work. While his insights have been expanded by others, his original ideas still echo today when investment people talk about diversification, asset allocation, and portfolio efficiency. It is so common today […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
It is likely that Senator Sinema and yours truly would have significant policy differences. She remains in a political party that has drifted so far leftward that sensible people like Sam Nunn and Joseph Lieberman would not be welcome. That she remains with such a party would indicate that she still generally agrees with its […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
President Joe Biden, or more likely his handlers that pull the strings, imposed a controversial mandate on large and small employers to force vaccination for the Wuhan virus. Having been unable to get legislation through Congress, he decided to use Executive edict, thereby essentially writing legislation, which is the job of Congress. This Presidential overreach […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
One of the problems with the mainstream corporate media is that they lie. Sometimes, they lie directly, but more often, it is just their choice of what stories to emphasize. It often is a lie of omission rather than a lie of commission. Typically, they pick those stories that correspond to the current narrative being […]
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
In a world where everyone seems concerned about “safety”, and the government is issuing draconian edicts in a failing effort to stop the spread of a virus, it seems like a reasonable question to ask. Recent data suggests drug overdose is the main cause of death of people in their middle years of life. This […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
For an American from the Conservative or Libertarian side of the spectrum, the last few years have been a difficult period. While the seeds were planted years ago, we saw the full blooming of “Cultural Marxism” in the US, influencing almost all of our institutions ranging from major news networks, social media corporations, city administrations, […]
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
“One of the biggest taxes is one that is not even called a tax–inflation. When the government spends money that it creates, it is transferring part of the value of your money to themselves.” Thomas Sowell “The cure for inflation is simple to state but hard to implement. Just as an excessive increase in the […]
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Cryptocurrencies as they are called, are a relatively new asset class. They were virtually unknown until they made their first appearance about 10 years ago and it is only in the last few years that they have gained wider acceptance. Whether they actually have the characteristics of currency (a medium of exchange, a store of […]
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Many people on the political Left don’t seem to understand the deep skepticism with which many Conservatives view government health policy. They believe Conservatives are anti-science. In the last few days, we have been provided a very good example of what is wrong with government policy and it is worthwhile reviewing while many of these details […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
It is one thing to describe something. It often is different actually to experience it. In this case we are talking about the Corona virus. I am a 73-year-old, unvaccinated male in generally good health who came down with the Chinese virus almost exactly two weeks ago. It came along just in time to screw […]
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
The mandate to require employers to force employees to take an experimental vaccine, which at best seems to provide protection from severe symptoms for a limited amount of time, was struck down by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The full ruling can be found here. The Court makes a number of salient observations, basically saying […]
Estimated Reading Time: < 1 minute
Not too long ago, we wrote a satirical piece about the disappearance of Sweden. For all intents and purposes, when it comes to public policies towards the Wuhan virus, Sweden is just ignored. Why? Their story is an important one and could inform our own debate about what policies make sense. Sweden you may recall […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Editors’ Note: The Tucker Carlson three-part Fox Nation series on January 6th is so revealing. The bottom line, though, is what actually happened in the 2020 Presidential election to bring so many Americans to distrust our electoral system. Today, The Prickly Pear posted a superb Featured Video interview with Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers who has been a […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Some time ago, we reviewed a seminal book on Modern Monetary Theory by Stephanie Kelton. As an aid to Senate Democrats, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, she has achieved wide influence within the Democrat Party. See the archives for November 25, 2020, The Deficit Myth – Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s […]
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
A new poll just released suggests that more than one-third of Americans not only believe the last election cycle was flawed but flawed in such a serious way that 35% of Americans believe the results should be overturned. That so many believe the results should be overturned is a pretty hard position, likely smaller than […]
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
From the outset, it should be clear that showing disrespect for the President of the United States is not a good thing. It might be deserved, but it is a sad commentary on the state of things today that it is so openly expressed. The Left started this and now their guy is subject to […]
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
That elections have consequences is certainly more than a slogan. It could not be more true when it comes to this pick for this agency. Democrats have confirmed a bona fide Eco-Terrorist to run the Bureau of Land Management that supervises much of our public lands and those that use them. This will have grave […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Author: Ian Ona Johnson. Published by Oxford University Press. It would be safe to say that World War I set up the circumstances for The Great Depression and World War II and that World War II set the stage for the Cold War and the growth of the worldwide welfare state. Thus the two wars coming […]
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Those of you who can remember your U.S. History, recall the turn of the 20th century “Progressives” who among other things, attempted to reduce political corruption. Many leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt fought the entrenched forces of Tammany Hall, advocated for a professional civil service based on merit, supported voter initiatives and recalls, and promoted “muckraking” […]
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
Smith & Wesson, a legendary name in American firearms manufacturing has announced it is leaving Springfield Massachusetts for the friendlier business and political climate of East Tennessee. Smith and Wesson President and CEO Mark Smith suggested the company had “been left with no alternative” other than to leave because of legislation that passed in the […]
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
After weeks of speculation about the position of Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the Senator made the following statement about the proposed $3.5 trillion dollars worth of Biden’s new spending: “Every Member of Congress has a solemn duty to vote for what they believe is best for the country and the American people, not their party,” […]
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Senator Karen Fann announced that the results of the Arizona audit should be made public on September 24, 2021. Like many voters, we are curious to see the results. Like most voters, we have tried to follow developments that are confusing, to say the least. One thing that does emerge is that conducting a forensic […]
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
The entire nation of Sweden seems to have disappeared. So far as we can tell, no scientific investigation into the disappearance of Sweden has been conducted. In fact, it is among scientists that Sweden seems to have pulled off an amazing vanishing act. Politicians around the world also have lost complete contact with the country. […]