Watching the debt deal play out was not particularly good theater, as each step on the way was perfectly predictable. There was almost never a chance of actual default, and with divided government we were always going to end up with some lukewarm agreement that satisfied almost nobody. But that is the democratic process. Nevertheless, […]
Archives
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Debt Deal Done
02 Jun 2023
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Federal Reserve credibility cratering. And where, oh where, are they taking the economy and your bank?
10 May 2023
Gallup polling this week showed that the credibility of the Federal Reserve is down to 36% (those that have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence)–the lowest level since Gallup begin tracking. To be sure, as Gallop notes, this tends to track overall economic performance. And most people are particularly pessimistic about the economy, […]
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ChiCom’s show who is the ultimate boss of TikTok
04 May 2023
One of my favorite external groups is the Acton Institute, which explores the intersection of faith and free markets. The faith part is broadly ecumenical, and intentionally international, so it has an interesting set of fellow travelers. I like (and occasionally publish) in their Journal of Markets and Morality. Each summer they host Acton University, […]
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Bragg Storms the Trump Tower
03 Apr 2023
Well, the Democratic District Attorney of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, has convinced a majority of the grand jury pool he convened to bring an indictment of Donald Trump. Tomorrow Mr. Trump will be arraigned, with a spectacle that will take us to a new low in politics. You don’t need BATG to do analysis on this; […]
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What is the Conservative Approach to Ukraine?
22 Mar 2023
Last night the Russians bombed a dormitory, killing seven people in Ukraine. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for Mr. Putin as a war criminal; thousands of civilians have been killed and wounded, Ukrainian children have been abducted into Russia, hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides, and there are over eight […]
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As we learn more and more about Silicon Valley Bank, the basic problems are not really in doubt, but political posturing makes understanding really difficult. Henry Hazlitt has a nice quote in the 1st paragraph of his Economics in One Lesson that is apropos. Obviously the interest group of the affected bankers and depositors quickly […]
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F.A. Hayek’s famous quote is: The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. While Hayek’s quote is most appropriately placed against government central economic planning of socialism, it applies against any government action that tries to manage the economy by going […]
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Trump tackles Haley; sounds like Biden
16 Feb 2023
One of my constant refrains in the Trump era was to point to the mixed bag of his policies; much to like, much to dislike. I was most hostile to his cronyist trade policy of favoring one industry against another (e.g., favoring the steel industry at the expense of other US manufacturers that use steel*). […]
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Republicans, would you please do me a favor and capitulate now? You’re trying to do the right thing, even though for some strange reason, responsible fiscal policy was not too high on the Republican priority list with Mr. Trump as President. Admittedly, the recent fiscal insanity has left us with close to $32T in debt, […]
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“How could anyone be that irresponsible?”
12 Jan 2023
So what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Or is it? That is one of today’s questions as Mr. Biden is now found to have multiple classified documents apparently stored for years after he was no longer Vice President in a private office. After belatedly revealing that they had found one […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach