Tag: Good News

Economists Confused

Business

…because they’re fucking idiots.  From Sundance:

The professional financial punditry can’t explain it. Flummoxed academics run around bumping into walls amid economic numbers that continue to defy expectations. All caused by a simple return to common sense ‘America First’ MAGAnomics.
Low unemployment (3.8%); wages growing (+3.2%); inflation stable (1.6%). These measures all have a cumulative impact on paycheck-to-paycheck Americans. Prices for durable goods are stable and wage growth is exceeding inflation. That means more disposable income in the middle-class…DUH. Which, when combined with the increased pay from lower middle-class tax rates, is exactly the intended outcome of MAGAnomics.

One more time:  come the reign of Emperor Kim, economists will all be forced to wear wizards’ hats in public.  To put it even more simply (for those of the economist persuasion):

The U.S. is where the growth is. We are in the period where exporting U.S. wealth (globalist policies) has been slowed/halted. We are confronting protectionist tariffs abroad which impede our exports, and simultaneously applying reciprocal tariffs toward those who want access to our U.S. market. As a consequence, capital investment is returning to Main Street USA (nationalist policy).
This is the heart of MAGAnomic policy.

More About MAGAnomics

Business

…in response to Sen Chuck Grassley (AG, Iowa) and his op-ed piece in the MSM:

@ChuckGrassley is doing the bidding of Tom Donohue, the corrupt U.S. Chamber of Commerce, K-Street, his BigAG benefactors, and selling out the U.S. middle-class while simultaneously cloaking himself in the flag. Despicable.

And he spells it all out in a long, but a very valuable rebuttal of what is so dishonest a piece of writing, it could have been written by a Democratic Socialist.

Wah Wah Wah

Business

And in our last look at the economy for today, we have this news:

Private payrolls grew by 275,000 last month, the biggest increase since July, when they expanded by 284,000.
Services-providing jobs increased by 223,000 in April, led by a gain of 59,000 jobs in professional and business services.

The Democratic Socialist Party’s response to this fantastic news has been predictable:

…and:

Why?

Because socialists have a problem recruiting happy people with jobs to The Cause;  they can only practice their politics of envy with a willing base of unemployed, surly proles to support them.  And well-to-do liberals who are protected from the results of socialism by their wealth.

In the meantime, America’s getting on with it:

“The job market is holding firm, as businesses work hard to fill open positions,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

The Full Texas Thang

Entertainment, Friends and Family

Last Saturday I took New Wife out for a Full Texas Day (I know, I know:  never go Full Texas).

Part One was the Fort Worth Gun Show (that was for me, of course, although she found several Girly-things to buy there, and did).  Blessedly, there was more on display than the usual AR-15/Glock/Tacticool stuff (although there was plenty of that too):

… although that mythical unicorn (mint condition Colt Python for under $1,000) was nowhere to be found, of course.  There was a S&W Mod 65-3 for sale, but it looked like it had been towed behind a Ford F-150 for a mile or two, and they wanted $700 for it, so:  pass.  However, there was a vendor selling from a huge  selection of Anza knives, and somehow I managed not to buy a single one (although I could have bought six or seven, easily).

Good grief, they’re lovely knives.  I’m rapidly starting to think of Anza knives as I do .22 rifles — i.e. every home should have at least one — and the next time I go to the Ft. Worth gun show, I’m going to buy another one, because… I shouldn’t have to explain myself on this one, should I?  Here’s one that caught my eye, just because of the shape:

…but honestly, I could also see myself getting any one of these little beauties too.

We were planning on getting a late lunch of BBQ in downtown Ft. Worth (Part Two), but as it happened, there was a vendor at the show from Robinson’s BBQ (“since 1947”) so that was the brisket taken care of — and it was excellent.

We did take a little drive trip through Ft. Worth, and would have stopped to listen to the orchestra playing in Sundance Square, but parking in downtown is crappy, so we didn’t.  Instead, we went out to The Stockyards for a little shopping and entertainment.

The shopping at the various Western wear stores (Part Three) was patchy — some expensive stuff there, Bubba — but I did manage to snag a decent summer-weight vest which doesn’t look like a mil-surp, fishing- or photographer’s vest for a decent price.  New Wife, not so lucky.  (She steadfastly refused to let me buy her some cowboy boots, but hey:  she’s been in Texas less than five months, and I only got a pair of cowboy boots after over fifteen years  here, so it’s a long-term project.)  Also:

Anyway, it was getting late, so we went into Riscky’s for more BBQ and margaritas (Part Four):

Decent ribs, outstanding  grilled shrimp (seriously, maybe the best I’ve ever tasted), and Ernesto the barman is brilliant.  (I tended bar in my distant yoot, so I know the trade.)

Dinner over, we went to Part Five of the Full Texas Thang:

Oh yeah, baby… rodeo! 

Now I have to confess that I’m no expert on rodeo — mostly, I think it’s cheap country entertainment — but you can’t go Full Texas without rodeo, right?  So we watched the bull-riding, bronco busting, calf-roping and all that, until the over-loud PA (and screaming commentator) got to my tinnitus and the hissing/whistling sound became unbearable (my ears are still ringing as I write this, the day after).

But New Wife enjoyed the day thoroughly, even the gun show — although she won’t be going to another one anytime soon — and hey… how often do you get to go Full Texas with a newbie?

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

From an Uber passenger last week, a real estate attorney of 35 years’ standing, when I asked his opinion of the massive economic growth in north Texas:

“What can I tell you?  We’re in Year 9 of a 5-Year Growth Cycle.”

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

From Captain Capitalism, Aaron Clarey:

“The vast majority of humans are about as valuable as individual atoms of hydrogen, a lump of coal, or the unearthed and unrefined ore of iron. They are worthless, they are pointless, they will never amount to or achieve much of anything. Out of the estimated 150 billion humans who have lived and died on this planet, a mere 10,000 are the ones who made history and set forth humanity on the path it is today.”

Diamonds, Steel and Stars (the article from which the above came) is definitely worth a read.  In fact, it should be mandatory reading for every adolescent — even if only 0.00005% of them actually do what the article suggests.