Wilt Trump do the right thing? Reduce the burden of government on the American people or will he just be a new manger of the welfare-warfare state with a catchy slogan?
“Two images bookend the most remarkable political contest of modern times. In the first, Donald Trump rides an escalator down to the lobby of Trump Tower to announce his fanciful campaign for…”
Source: Trump defied the polls, press and pundits to win White House
After three weeks without going to the gym with my personal trainer, I spent Saturday morning in a relatively intense session getting back into shape.
Finished Stockman’s book, which is a must read for anyone interested in learning how Greenspan and then Bernanke caused the bubbles and then how Bernanke and Paulson (Treasury secretary under President Bush) bailed out his Wall Street buddies. In addition, Stockman discusses the financial engineering that that the Fed helped facilitate with its low interest rate policies. All in all, a productive day in gathering the evidence of how the Fed damages to the US economy, while fueling mass speculation on Wall Street and in corporate America.
Gary North gives Trump’s inaugural address nearly two thumbs up. The address was quintessential Trump–a take no prisoners assault on the political establishment.
“This one is going to go into the history books as the fourth significant inaugural in American history.”
Source: Trump’s Inaugural Address Was Like No Other in History
I began reviewing David Stockman’s The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America. Stockman’s 700 page book provides the evidence of the Federal Reserve’s bubble policies. The compelling data he has compiled challenges Blinder’s thesis that the Fed is blameless for the housing bubble.
Stockman’s economic and financial history puts the tail on the “donkey”, namely, the Fed epitomizes America’s crony capitalism that is responsible for the growing income inequality in the country. I wish Stockman’s book was in chronological order, which would have eliminated the repetition that undoubtedly added at least 100 pages to his narrative. Despite this shortcoming, Stockman’s book makes the case that free markets did not cause the bubbles that have occurred since the Fed was created in 1913.
‘The corporate-deep-state theoryIn a recent UNZ article titled: Political science’s “theory of everything” a concise map of the US establishment, both the visible and invisible government was…”
Source: Political science’s “Theory of Everything” on the 2016 US Election
I finished Alan Blinder’s book on the financial crisis. He does an excellent job chronicling the bailouts that began at the end of the Bush presidency in 2008 and continuing in the Obama administration. At the end of the book there is a section, “The Ten Financial Commandments.” Needless to say, ending the Fed is not one of them. In fact, Blinder is “blind” to the damage the Fed does to the economy by manipulating interest rates and creating new money. He also asserts bubbles are inevitable in our economy but does not provide an explanation, other than citing “human nature.”
Tomorrow, I will review David Stockman’s analysis in The Great Deformation: The The Corruption of Capitalism in America. Stockman was interviewed on CNBC today and was pessimistic about the economy despite Trump’s assertions he will fix the economy.
“As Murray Rothbard often emphasized, the free market and a peaceful foreign policy are indispensable partners. We cannot maintain a free market if the government engages in a bellicose foreign policy.”
Source: The Failures of Obama’s Foreign Policy
“Levels were found as high as 1,200 parts per billion, one report said.”
Source: High Levels Of Lead Found In Englewood Hospital Water
“The United States is about to cut itself off from one of the most dynamic regions of the globe, according to economist Nouriel Roubini.”
Source: If Obama did what Trump is doing he’d be called a communist: Nouriel Roubini
“Adapted from the Summer 2016 issue of The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics…”
Source: The Money Myths Behind the Creation of the Federal Reserve
Preview of things to come in real estate?
“The 1.1 million square foot Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, once valued at $190 million after being opened in 2005, sold at a foreclosure auction this morning for $100 (yes, not million…just $100).”
Source: Pittsburgh Mall Once Worth $190 Million Sells For $100
