Os Guinness On The Left’s Long March From Counterculture To Oligarchy

I recently had a discussion with British author and critic Os Guinness over the new addition to his first major work, The Dust of Death, as well as his new book, The Magna Carta of Humanity. As a decades-long reader of Os … Read More

The Crushing Loss Of The Gold Standard

As previously discussed in several of my articles (see A History of Deflation and Prosperity and The Federal Reserve has Failed and Inflation is Destructive), inflation inherently discloses government intervention in a free market system and society. This includes monetary intervention as … Read More

15% Nominal GDP With A 1.5% Benchmark Treasury Yield?!

The Producer Price Index for the month of May was up 6.6% year over year. This was the greatest yearly increase since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the data. In addition, the Headline Consumer Price Index rose 5% … Read More

A Timeless Principle In These Current Events

The weird week in the markets doesn’t change what I want to be doing with each Dividend Cafe. The market was up ~1,000 points on the week on Thursday, with pre-market futures pointing to a +100 point open on Friday … Read More

The Truth About The “Root Causes Of Migration”

It was a hoot reading the front-page headline about VP Harris’s trip to Central America: US to Target Root Causes of Migration, it blared.

Well, I’ll be darned, I thought… that is one way to keep people from wanting to … Read More

FreedomFest, An Appreciation

I’ve been invited to speak at FreedomFest this year. FreedomFest, founded by my friend Mark Skousen, one of the great economists of our time, has become the largest and most influential gathering of thinkers devoted to promoting freedom in all … Read More

Why You Should Care About QE

We had an interesting week in financial markets… The Fed did exactly what they were expected to by any reasonable person – nothing more, nothing less. They acknowledged the economy is improving, they said they were “talking about talking about” … Read More

Fed’s Tools Are Broken

The U.S. central bank has metastasized from an institution that was originally designed to assist distressed banks, to one that believes its purview now includes perpetuating asset bubbles, fighting global warming and reconciling racial inequities. Another distortion of the original … Read More

Biden Doing Nothing About Depletion Of U.S. Military Assets

Despite the growing danger from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, there appears to be little budgetary reaction in Washington.  Although the U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan, the effect of decades of concentrating on countering terrorism has exhausted U.S. personnel … Read More

The Source Of Wealth Creation

Since humans are the primary element required to create wealth, it is important to invest in their knowledge, experience, growth, and wisdom which can only be done in a free market. Control and manipulation only retards the needed learning, whether it … Read More

No Work For The Woke

The Wizards of Washington continue to mangle the American economy for one of two reasons; either they are intent on doing harm or, they are ignorant buffoons determined on do-goodism for the sake of their own feelings of self-righteousness.

We … Read More

Peter Thiel On Theology

The New Yorker says Peter Thiel “might be the most successful technology investor in the world.” I’m not sure Thiel himself would say that, insofar as it’s premised on comparison to others. If the job of investing is to do something unique, … Read More

Biden’s June Report Card

For students, June is report card month, a time when their accomplishments (or lack thereof) are noted and relayed to parents. The young find out whether they will advance to the next grade, or be subjected to that most … Read More

Shareholder Value Is Not Wealth Creation

While shareholder value is certainly important and a concern, it is not wealth creation; it is capital direction or distribution. Also, capital distribution, the free choices of movement, exchange, and transactions, is significantly different than re-distribution.

Distribution is moral and free; free exchanges between … Read More

A Shareholder Asks Some Inconvenient Questions

In addition to being a financial journalist, I work in money management, where I help design and manage funds that invest in stocks and bonds. My focus has always been on choosing securities based on investment quality, not on … Read More

Inflating Our Thoughts On Inflation

I thought I would do something really fun with this week’s Dividend Cafe, but just as soon as I typed that I realized that, like beauty, fun is in the eye of the beholder. But what “fun” thing I was … Read More

The Bane Of The Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve was evaluated through a study completed in 2010, which illustrates that the economy has not been stable under the Federal Reserve since the pre-Fed era (prior to 1915). Economists George Selgin, William Lastrapes, and Lawrence White explain:

… Read More

Progressives’ ‘Peaceful’ Putsch

In the nightmares of our collective political imagining, our freedom is lost to jackbooted men strutting down any town’s Main Street. It’s not happening that way, but the danger is just as real.

The more subtle tactics of dishonesty, propaganda, … Read More

Peak Growth And Inflation

The rates of growth and inflation are now surging in the U.S., but that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. What else would you expect when the Federal government has sent $6 trillion dollars in helicopter money to state … Read More

Big Tech, You’re Running Out Of Friends

Senator Marco Rubio is sending a warning to , and the company would be foolish to ignore it. In the pages of USA Today, Senator Rubio sided with workers attempting to unionize in Bessemer, Ala. “When the conflict is between working … Read More

Rising Military Threats, Falling U.S. Military Assets

Some in the U.S. seek to cut America’s defense budget, even as Russian tanks mass on Ukraine’s border and China assembles a potential invasion force aimed at Taiwan.

Despite the ominous threats from Beijing and Moscow, some are seeking … Read More

Nothing New Under The Sun

Tell me what you think about these two statements:

(1) Markets are dynamic, ever-changing forces.  They are never predictable, their outcomes are never assured, the inputs are constantly adjusting with the ebbs and flows of different circumstances and facts … Read More

The Economics Of Harding And Coolidge

Vice Presidential candidate Calvin Coolidge acknowledged during the 1920 campaign trail that, “The country was already feeling acutely the results of deflation. Business was depressed. […] Wages had been paid that were not earned. The whole country, from the national … Read More

Inflation Week!

Inflation data updates (like shark TV programming) come in weekly spurts. Recently (April 9), we received the updated data for the Producer Prices Index, which tracks inflation for the cost of inputs for businesses. Then last Tuesday, April 13, we … Read More