Amid all the euphoria about Trump’s big spending plans comes a reality check from the U.S. consumer. In this article , you’ll see that in-store retail sales for the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving fell 3.5% compared to the prior year. It is true that more sales are happening online and that bargains are available beyond the traditional “Black
The idea that the Fed is immune from politics is a myth. The Fed is acutely aware that its “independence” is really the creation of Congress — and what Congress giveth, Congress can take away. Pressure has been building on Capitol Hill for years to audit the Fed, and hold the Fed accountable to some rule to
The U.S. dollar and U.S. control over the dollar payments system are two of the most powerful weapons in the U.S. strategic arsenal. Over 60% of global reserves and over 80% of global payments are in U.S. dollars. All of those dollars have to be cleared and settled in one of a few dollar wire
Larry Summers has campaigned tirelessly for the elimination of the U.S. $100 bill. He has joined his Harvard faculty colleague, Ken Rogoff, in supporting steps to eliminate cash from the U.S. economy. But, when one his fellow elites, Indian Prime Minister Modi, actually did eliminate the most widely used forms of cash in India, the
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By now, you’ve heard about the government of India’s decision to make 1,000- and 500-rupee notes worthless. A 1,000-rupee note is worth about $15.00, not exactly the equivalent of a $100 bill. What happened in India is the same as waking up one morning in the U.S. to find that President Obama had declared $20
Governments are insatiable when it comes to taxing their own people. Periodically a rough equilibrium is established between taxes and government spending, but governments then proceed to break the truce by increasing spending and trying to collect even more tax. While governments always talk about “taxing the rich,” the truth is that taxes are levied
The entire world is guessing as to the final form of the Trump economic program. Right now there is something for everyone. The supply-side advisers are pushing for tax cuts. The Trump loyalists from the “Make America Great Again” camp are pushing for huge infrastructure spending. Some advisers, such as Steve Moore and Mike Pence,
This has been a year of political shocks. First came the Brexit vote by the U.K. to leave the EU, on June 23. Then came the election of Donald Trump as 45th president of the United States, on Nov. 8. In both cases, the polls and pundits got it wrong. Elites expected the U.K. would
