MARKETS

Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries. – AYN RAND

Democrats Won the Tariff Argument—Now Comes the Hard but Necessary Part

Democrats have run against tariffs in the past and then kept them in place once in power. Repeating this would be a mistake, especially when voters have made their preferences well-known. 

Interest Rates Need to Tell the Truth

Interest Rates Need to Tell the Truth

In the middle of July 2018, President Donald Trump said in an interview that he was “not happy” with the Federal Reserve nudging up interest rates and threatening economic growth in the United States. At the recent Jackson Hole, Wyoming, meeting of global central bank...

Canada Nationalizes The Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline Expansion

Canada Nationalizes The Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline Expansion

Instead of enforcing the Constitution and using its authority against the British Columbia government and protesters initiating physical force against Kinder Morgan property and its employees, Trudeau stayed true to what he said prior to the last election: “Governments might grant permits, but only communities can grant permission.”

The Unintended Consequences of The Minimum Wage

The Unintended Consequences of The Minimum Wage

But behind all of these negative and usually unintended consequences arising from the imposing of a government-enforced hourly minimum wage remains the fundamental ethical issue: who shall have the right to decide under what terms and conditions people enter into gainful employment?

Trump Plays with Fire on Trade

With his announcement last week of broad tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, President Trump launched what could be the first salvo of an all-out global trade war. Seemingly itching for a fight, he gleefully tweeted that “Trade wars are good, and easy to win.” It...

Raising Rates Reflect Bigger Debt Not Faster Growth

While investors are justifiably focused on what may be the opening crescendo of a long overdue sell-off in stocks, there is not, as of yet, as feverish a discussion of the parallel sell-offs in bonds and the U.S. dollar, which have been underway for at least a year...

Fake Tax Reform

After supposedly chomping on the bit for years to pass meaningful tax reform, Republicans are now set to blow an historic opportunity. Whatever version of the Bill that emerges from the House and Senate Conference Committee (which will be signed by President Trump...