The Inevitable Collapse of the Bloated State

Posted on October 10, 2025 by MN Gordon

At the time or this writing, the federal funding for the new fiscal year (FY 2026) has lapsed. The federal government bureaucracy is in partial shutdown. In Washington, D.C., and in federal offices across the nation, nearly a million people are either furloughed or clocking in for work without promise of a paycheck.

Perhaps by the time you read this the shutdown will be over. Regardless, a return to the big government status quo and its relentless money sucking vortex isn’t something to be happy about – especially, if you’re a net taxpayer who values freedom.

This week, Republican Senator John Kennedy cited wasteful spending left over from the Biden administration as the reason for the shutdown. Things like $3 million for circumcisions and vasectomies in Zambia, $500,000 for electric buses in Rwanda, and $3.6 million for pastry cooking classes and dance focus groups for male prostitutes in Haiti.

He also noted $6 million for media organizations for the Palestinians, $833,000 for transgender people in Nepal, $300,000 for a pride parade in Lesotho, $882,000 for social media mentorship in Serbia, and $4.2 million for LGBTQI people in the Western Balkans and Uganda. Continue reading →

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Keep Your Eyes on the Road

Posted on October 3, 2025 by MN Gordon

The stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, continues to inflate. But this isn’t a sign of economic health. In fact, a scratch below the surface reveals an economy that is much weaker than advertised.

Several decades ago, the stock market was viewed as a forward-looking animal. A place where investors considered expectations about future earnings and performance to make decisions affecting share prices. Those days are long gone.

These days the stock market is purely speculative. There’s a large cohort of workers who blindly pour money into index funds every two weeks through their company sponsored retirement accounts. Others, under the spell of AI hype, believe we’re in the early stages of the greatest economic boom since the railroad. They trip over themselves to grab a piece of the mirage.

Thus, share prices and index levels do not provide much meaningful information about the state of the economy. Warning signs are no longer found on Wall Street. To understand what’s happening and what’s coming next you must look elsewhere. Continue reading →

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Where’s the Beef?

Posted on September 26, 2025 by MN Gordon

The year was 1984. The fast-food landscape was dominated by two giants: McDonald’s and Burger King. But a third player, Wendy’s, was making its mark with a new advertising campaign. This would not only boost its sales but also embed a simple, three-word phrase into the American lexicon:

“Where’s the beef?”

The campaign, created by the ad agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, centered on three elderly women. These old ladies were discerning fast-food critics. The star of the commercial was the feisty, bespectacled Clara Peller.

In the now-classic commercial, the women are presented with a giant, pillowy bun from a fictional competitor. They ooh and aah over the size of the bun, but then, Clara, with her gravelly, no-nonsense voice, peers under the lid and exclaims in exasperation, “Where’s the beef?”

Obviously, the question was aimed at Wendy’s competitors. It suggested their burgers were all fluff and no substance. Wendy’s, in contrast, boasted of its larger, square patties that hung over the bun, proving they had plenty of beef. Continue reading →

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On Black Swans and White Lies

Posted on September 19, 2025 by MN Gordon

“If you hear a ‘prominent’ economist using the word ‘equilibrium,’ or ‘normal distribution,’ do not argue with him; just ignore him, or try to put a rat down his shirt.”

– Nassim Taleb, The Black Swan

Facing the Unexpected

There was an old European belief that persisted for centuries. People were convinced that all swans were white. Their reasoning was founded in logic and supported by empirical evidence.

Every single swan they’d ever seen was white. It was a universal truth. A rock-solid assumption based on all the available evidence.

But then, in the late 17th century, a Dutch explorer found black swans in Australia. The one-time truth that all swans were white was instantly shattered. The existence of black swans showed how fragile knowledge and assumptions can be when faced with the unexpected.

Nearly 20 years ago, in his book The Black Swan, author and options trader Nassim Taleb described a Black Swan as an event that comes as a complete and utter shock. Something that nobody saw coming, which has a massive, widespread impact. What’s more, after it happens, we look back and convince ourselves that it was totally predictable all along. Continue reading →

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