Happy GO-Day: Wednesday’s Economic CAT Scan Shows Resiliency

This last Wednesday was a milestone for data nerds like me, and for general economic understanding. For the first time, the government released something called ‘Gross Output’ (GO) along with its official GDP numbers. You may not know it, … Read More

New Book About Jesus And Economics: An Excerpt

This is an excerpt from The Maker Versus the Takers: What Jesus Really Said About Social Justice and Economics, by Jerry Bowyer (New York, Fidelis Books, Post Hill Press, 2020)

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Introduction

This all started with a phone call to my radio … Read More

The Wrong Way To Vote For Trump

Voting isn’t just voting. It’s also talking about voting, which means it’s not just about politics, it’s about culture.

Four years ago at about this time, I wrote somethings critical about Trump. Maybe it was “grab ’em by the…” … Read More

Biggest Economic Drivers Are Most Poised To Come Back

Which sectors are the big drivers of economic output? As we’ve seen in the past, some of the highest profile industries (movie theaters, concerts, professional sports) are actually not all that important to total economic output.

First, by “output” we … Read More

Manufacturing A Recovery

This metric is broad in that is looks at many, many different factors — from actual production, to orders, to employment trends, and many others. It is also ‘high frequency’, which means that rather than the data only being … Read More

National Reconstruction Begins

In the depths of the crisis, I argued that recovery might be somewhat easier than some of the bleaker headline scenarios suggested, due to the fact that the sectors which would likely be most difficult to re-open also tend … Read More

Q2 Was Tough On Those Who Panicked At The End Of Q1

The general rule is not to let emotion get to you when investing.

“Buy on Fear, Sell on Greed? Legendary investor Warren Buffet is a big proponent of this strategy. When others are greedy—typically when prices are boiling over—assets … Read More

This Week’s Terrible And Stale GDP Report

One of the problems with financial reporting is that even though it’s called ‘news’ the reports are often quite old. For example, the first estimate of GDP growth isn’t released until a month after the end of the period. So … Read More

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