By now, most Americans are tired of the endless news reports about the Mueller investigation and allegations of “Russian collusion” by Donald Trump. There’s not a shred of evidence that Trump colluded with Russians, despite daily allegations for the past two years. (There’s ample evidence that Hillary Clinton did collude with Russians to produce the
The entire sequence of monetary policy since 2007 has been one in which the Fed has blundered repeatedly but picks itself up just in time to blunder again. The Fed was slow to recognize the gravity of the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008. QE1 was needed for liquidity reasons, but the Fed bungled the
A new gold rush has begun. It’s not a rush for large discoveries of gold in the ground; that’s always underway. The new rush is for stock in gold mining companies as a way to expand control of gold reserves and improve the stock price through economies of scale. As this article reports, Barrick Gold, the
When Trump launched his trade war in January 2018, the elites were apoplectic. They lectured Trump on the benefits of “free trade” and “comparative advantage” and how trade made everyone “better off.” Never mind that the elite theory of free trade is badly flawed. There is no free trade because of tariffs, nontariff barriers, government
The March 1 “deadline” for resolving trade disputes with China has come and gone. Trump called off the threat of higher tariffs scheduled to be imposed that day if China did not reach a comprehensive trade deal with the U.S., including more Chinese purchases of U.S. goods and verifiable progress on protection of U.S. intellectual
Convenience is not always a benefit; sometimes you pay a very high price for it without even knowing. So-called “digital assistants” such as Amazon’s “Alexa” and Google Home are all the rage. You leave them on in your kitchen or den, where they are online 24/7. Using voice recognition, they can turn music on and
