Several Simple Suppositions and Suspicions for 2018

Posted on December 29, 2017 by MN Gordon

The New Year’s nearly here.  The slate’s been wiped clean.  New hopes, new dreams, and new fantasies, are all within reach.  Today’s the day to make a double fisted grab for them.

Without question, 2018 will be the year that everything happens exactly as it should.  Some things you’ll be able to control.  Other things will be well beyond your control.

Certainly, your ability to stop your neighbor’s cat from relieving itself in your side yard is limited, barring extreme measures.  What we mean is each day shall unfold before you – both good and bad – in symbiotic disharmony.  You can count on it.

But what are the specifics and particulars for the year ahead?  What about stocks, the 10-Year Treasury note, gold, bitcoin, and everything else?  Are we fated for World War III?  Will this be the year Hillary Clinton finally croaks?

Today we endeavor to answer these questions – and more – with hesitation and humility.  Obviously, predicting the future is more art than science.  But so is Fed monetary policy, or a charted wave pattern that extends resistance and support lines out into the future. Continue reading →

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Why Monetary Policy Will Cancel Out Fiscal Policy

Posted on December 22, 2017 by MN Gordon

Good cheer has arrived at precisely the perfect moment.  You can really see it.  Record stock prices, stout economic growth, and a GOP tax reform bill to boot.  Has there ever been a more flawless week leading up to Christmas?

We can’t think of one off hand.  And if we could, we wouldn’t let it detract from the present merriment.  Like bellowing out the verses of Joy to the World at a Christmas Eve candlelight service, it sure feels magnificent – don’t it?

The cocktail of record stock prices, robust GDP growth, and reforms to the tax code has the sweet warmth of a glass of spiked eggnog.  Not long ago, if you recall, a Dow Jones Industrial Average above 25,000 was impossible.  Yet somehow, in the blink of an eye, it has moved to just a peppermint stick shy of this momentous milestone – and we’re all rich because of it.

So, too, the United States economy is now growing with the spry energy of Santa’s elves. Continue reading →

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The Rug Yank Phase of Fed Policy

Posted on December 15, 2017 by MN Gordon

The political differences of today’s leading two parties are not over ultimate questions of principles.  Rather, they’re over opposing answers to the question of how a goal can be achieved with the least sacrifice.  For lawmakers, the goal is to promise the populace something for nothing while pretending to make good on it.

Take the latest tax bill, for instance.  The GOP wants to tax less and spend more.  The Democrat party wants to tax more and spend even more.  We don’t recall seeing any proposals to tax less, spend less, and shrink the size of the state.  And why would we?

Today’s central planners and social engineers are enlightened and progressive.  They know much more about anything and everything than the rest of us.  In particular, they share a general sense that they know how to spend your money better than you.

At best, the central planners call your money to Washington so they can then distribute it back to your friends and neighbors.  In reality, the lawmakers call your money to Washington where they distribute it to their friends and neighbors – not yours.  This is not a matter of opinion.  It’s a matter of fact. Continue reading →

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The Zealous Pursuit of State-Sponsored Collapse

Posted on December 8, 2017 by MN Gordon

Government intervention into a nation’s economy is as foolish as attempting to control the sun’s rise and fall by law or force.  But that doesn’t mean governments don’t meddle each and every day with the best – and worst – of intentions.  The United States government is no exception.

Over the years, layers and layers of interference by various federal, state, and local agencies have built up like grime on a kitchen window.  The grease shines and smells of something fierce.  The layers of government grime also drip and ooze into every crack and crevice of the economy.

These days, for example, it’s impossible to carry out a simple private transaction with your barber or barista without some form of government interference.  Has your barber obtained the required license and paid the obligatory fees to be able to legally taper your neck line?  Has your barista’s espresso bean grinder passed city health inspection?

Is the hot cup of joe served in a paper cup of appropriate recycled material composition?  Did the hot beverage exceed the legally accepted temperature standard?  Did state and local governments receive their tax exaction upon payment? Continue reading →

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