Trump
As I have said, I am not an economist, just an observer and my simplification of how inflation works was intended to put us all on the same page as a basis for this note. I have spoken to two eminent economists whose views are not necessarily the same, but who have...
In my last essay I discussed how increased costs result in increased prices and how those increases in prices are measured by “inflation”. In this note I want to bring us all to the same page on how the inflation measured over the prior year results in increased...
INFLATION GAP (PART 1) This is the first in a group of essays on inflation.I am not an economist, just an observer, and I hope that those of you who are economists will correct my errors and forgive my impertinence. What I have been looking at is the relationship...
In my previous note I tried to layout the importance of basic research as a fuel for commercial companies and their development of new products. Although the ROI on basic research and discovery is huge, it is unpredictable specifically because discoveries are...
Elon Musk:Feb. 28, 2025: “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit; they’re exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.” Empathy, he said, has been “weaponized.” And yet, Musk/Trump has eliminated...
Both the Democrats and the Republicans Know Better BOTTOM LINE Politicians are motivated by how their voters perceive them. It matters that their public statements reinforce their closely cultivated political image. Deviation from that posture is seen as “selling...
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE TRUMP-DRUNK MORONS WHO ELECTED THE FELON WHO IS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH DERANGED RIGHT-WING DISEASED MINDS, WHO ARE STARVING TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, MANY OF THEM CHILDREN AND PREGNANT MOTHERS, WHO...
DEAL OR NO DEAL? NOTE: I wrote this post over the weekend. I think it is relevant to note the events announced this morning. I am happy to hear that negotiations with China have resulted in a 90-day pause on the excessive tariffs, dropping our tariff rate to...
What Happens After What Happens Most people have heard of the Butterfly Effect. Basically, the concept is that a small change in a system will create larger downstream consequences. The focus of news media, and our short-span interest generally looks at the first...
DOUBLE WHAMMY For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Economic One-Two punch. Businesses and individuals in the US are being hit with multiple changes to the way they have expected the economy to work. Sometimes one change is amplified by...
WHAT IS THE ROI ON BASIC RESEARCH? Why do we need the NIH, the NSF, or the CDC and why do we fund University research centers? Wouldn’t we be better off if they were all closed and the research was funded by industry? Wouldn’t that save the taxpayer a lot of money and...