This Week’s Durable Goods Report Brought To You By The Number 230 Billion And By The Letter V

As of this week, we have what’s called the Monthly Advance report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for the month of July. This is an important indicator and the new number is indicating something important — a rapid … Read More

Slavery Wasn’t A “White Blessing” Either

Pastor Louis Giglio of Passion City Church recently said something that got him in hot water:

“We missed the blessing of slavery that it actually built up the framework for the world that white people live in—and so a … Read More

Do Emerging Markets Beat Developed Markets?

Countries with stock markets are classified at frontier, emerging (EM), and developed (DM), in order from least wealthy and developed to most.  Of course, a natural question would be “Which markets tend to perform better?”

Let’s look at the most … Read More

Wealthy In “Mad Rush To Leave San Francisco”

San Francisco is a great city and an entrepreneurial powerhouse. It produces 2.72% of the nation’s economic output (as measured by GDP, the most common measure of economic growth), while it only comprises 1.43% of the population. So, with a GDP per person … Read More

Tulsa Massacre: The Loser Class vs. Black Entrepreneurs

Here is my latest audio and video commentary for Salem.

President Trump is officially launching his re-election campaign on June 20th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Before Tulsa’s black residents were massacred by a racist mob in 1921, Tulsa was home to … Read More

Twitter’s Partial Impartiality

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

When CEO Jack Dorsey testified in front of Congress in 2018, he declared: “ does not use political ideology to make any decisions. … We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to … Read More

Should Smart Investors Be Overweighted To NY Apartments?

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article titled Escape From New York City (April 21, 2020). It tells the story of several couples who left the city seemingly for good. This article was written before the recent disruptions.

Speaking about one … Read More

How Conservatives Can Combat ‘Woke’ Shareholders

With contributions by Charles Bowyer. Published May 27th, 2020.

In the battle over woke capitalism, conservatives have largely been MIA. Ideologues on the left, although relatively small in number, have not, and the results are there for all to see. … Read More

When Do Emerging Markets Tend To Outperform Developed Markets?

We previously established that emerging markets (EM) tend to outperform developed markets (DM) a majority of the time. When does EM outperform DM? Is there a pattern to this over time?

The chart below shows the correlation between level of … Read More

Should Smart Investors Be Overweighted To NY Office Buildings?

Large coastal cities with high population density are under tremendous pressure from recent crises. In fact, they were already under significant pressure due to changes in the tax code, which took effect in 2016 and significantly reduced the tax deductibility … Read More

Do Emerging Markets Beat Developed Markets?

Countries with stock markets are classified at frontier, emerging (EM), and developed (DM), in order from least wealthy and developed to most.  Of course, a natural question would be “Which markets tend to perform better?”

Let’s look at the … Read More

Of COVID-19 And Witch Burning

René Girard said that we didn’t stop burning witches because we discovered modern science, we discovered modern science because we stopped burning witches.

The idea is that the Bible, Hebrew ideas about victims mediated via the Christianization of the West … Read More

Systemic Racism Is Real, But Not What You’ve Been Told

Let’s talk a little bit about ‘systemic racism’. That’s a rally phrase for the left and a wretch phrase for the right, probably because of the way the left shoved it down the throats of the country.

But let’s … Read More

The Fed Bails Out The Government, But Who Could Bail Out The Fed?

The government has responded to the recent crisis through a massive spending program. What’s pictured below is additional spending above and beyond the already historically high rates. The problem is that in a deep recession, tax revenues fall, so rapidly … Read More

Are We Creating The Next Crisis With What We’re Doing To Get Through This Crisis?

Fighting a Panic and Shutdown With a Flood of New Money

We are currently in the midst of an economic crisis, and when the U.S. goes through a crisis, it tends to deal with it by creating new money. The … Read More

How High Leverage Makes Real Estate More Vulnerable

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

Given the recent crisis in financial markets, investors should be asking themselves how well their portfolios are able to withstand market shocks. We want to take a look at real estate, to illustrate the potential … Read More

Does Real Estate Offer Yield In A Low-Yield Environment?

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

I believe that REITs share some characteristics with traditional fixed income, in the form of bonds, in that their cash flow comes from leases, which are akin to fixed income. And according to a … Read More

Big Crowd Events Are Economic Small Ball

In the midst of the current crisis we are having a national conversation about how to balance health concerns with economic concerns, and as of this point in many states large gatherings such as sporting events, concerts and movies … Read More

Visualizing The Near-Zero Bond Yield Problem

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

In response to the recent record-setting market volatility, the Federal Reserve has responded with ramped up monetary stimulus, including cutting the Fed Funds rate, and as of this writing, beginning an “unlimited” quantitative easing … Read More

David French vs. Woke Capitalism

With contributions by Charles Bowyer.

We recently sat down for an interview with David French, senior editor at the Dispatch and former writer for the National Review. Our conversation was wide-ranging, covering everything from the mechanics of corporate engagement … Read More

What Jesus Said About ‘Mask Wearers’

The folks at Red State had a fascinating story about a CNN Reporter who mask-shamed the White House who then ripped off her own mask when she thought the cameras were off:

“It’s almost like all these reporters wearing masks while … Read More

New GDP Numbers: Maybe Media Underestimated U.S. Resilience

The new GDP numbers (which cover the first quarter of the year) show an annualized change of a bit less than negative 5%. That means that during the first quarter of this year, we produced about 95% as much … Read More

Video Shows Which Country’s Markets Did Best, Worst During Q1 Crisis

The video above shows cumulative total return during Q1 2020. Total return refers to all of the gains and losses associated with investing in a particular country’s stock market (using MSCI’s country level indices), including increases/decreases in stock prices, … Read More

Oil Price Shocks And Catastrophic Financial Losses

Recently we saw oil prices reach historic lows and in a certain technical case, the option to buy oil in the short run even showed a negative price. Historically, how have severe price declines in oil correlated (a measure … Read More