Month: January 2018

We’re not too far away from another government shutdown drama, as Congress continues kicking the can down the road. Neither side in the budget debate is willing to admit that government spending is out of control, just as neither side is willing to accept budget cuts to their sacred cows. Both welfare and warfare spending […]

Much of the recent news has focused on the government shutdown, the first since 2013. Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about how awful it would be when the government shuts down. Those who understand exactly what the federal government does, however, realize that it’s not the end of the world. From […]

Proposals to reform the US banking system pop up every now and then but often never go anywhere. It’s only in the aftermath of a crisis that legislation gets passed, and at those times it’s almost universally awful, such as the Dodd-Frank Act that was passed after the last financial crisis. What most banking “reformers” […]

The latest employment figures reported by the Department of Labor came in well under expectations. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 148,000 new jobs were created in December, well below the 190,000 that had been expected by economists. Not only was the figure disappointing in and of itself, but it was also well below […]

Total worldwide debt totals reached a record $233 trillion by the end of the third quarter of 2017, up $16 trillion from the end of 2016, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF). That total encompasses total debt incurred by households, governments, and both financial and non-financial corporations. While the IIF report stated that […]

2018 has started off with a bang for the gold market. The price of gold started the year over 13% higher than last year and continues to leave the $1300 price level in its wake. With such a good start, 2018 could be a breakout year for more reasons than one. Federal Reserve Monetary Policy […]

If you’ve noticed prices at the pump rising over the past few weeks, you’re not alone. Gas prices have recovered from their normal post-Labor Day slump and are now higher than they were just a few weeks ago, and anywhere from 8 to 32 cents more per gallon than they were a year ago. High […]