Tag: Economy

Scary times could be just around the corner. To help you prepare for that we’ve invited our old friend Carol Roth to stop by and talk about her new book, You Will Own Nothing… because you don’t have to be a parnoid prepper to be prepared for what’s coming.

And, of course, James Lileks, Rob Long and Steve Hayward (sitting in again for the roaming Peter Robinson) cover the more immediate news coming down from the Summit – the NATO Summit, The Family Leadership Summit in Iowa (with Tucker Carlson presiding) and the Mickey Mouse Summit where Disney introduces a Latina Snow White and the Lone Dwarf while their CEO Bob Iger announces “that it’s not our goal to be involved in a culture war.” Say wut?!?

Joe Selvaggi talks with CATO Institute budget expert Chris Edwards about the details of the newly passed Fiscal Responsibility Act, which avoids crossing the debt ceiling in exchange for slowing spending growth.

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Joe Selvaggi talks with energy economist Dr. Jonathan Lesser about the chasm between the promises and realities of offshore wind projects, including the likely increased costs passed to electricity consumers and taxpayers.

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Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute’s Economic Research Associate Aidan Enright about his new paper “Debunking Migration Myths.” With this research, Aiden examines the link between Massachusetts’ tax regime and the outflow of high earners to states with more competitive rates. Joe an Aidan discuss how policy makers can use tax rate migration data to inform future policy choices.

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Join Jim and Greg as they welcome a new Associated Press poll showing Americans can clearly see President Biden’s weak performance on the economy and his overall job performance. They also groan as the CEO of TikTok tries to dodge questions about whether the app is spying on users and TikTok’s connection to the Chinese Communist Party. Plus, they hammer the Democrats for glibly opposing the effort to crack down on TikTok after agreeing to ban it on government devices last year. Finally, they break down Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s strategy of cozying up to the right in advance of a likely 2024 re-election bid.

Joe Selvaggi talks with financial market and monetary policy expert Dr. Norbert J. Michel about the causes for the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and what its demise portends for depositors, the banking sector, and the regulatory regime that governs it.

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The immigration system in the United States is complex, to say the least. Visa categories for nearly every letter of the alphabet, exemptions, restrictions, rule changes with every new federal administration. We need more workers, innovators and entrepreneurs in an increasingly competitive world and amid an historic worker shortage and cash-strapped social safety systems due to a greying workforce. Does the United States’ immigration system work in its favor? For Erick Widman, immigration lawyer and founder of Passage Immigration Law in Portland, Oregon, it does not. 

Erick grew up in northern California and now lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and three kids. He attended UCLA and the University of California, Davis for law school. Prior to starting his own law practice in 2007, Erick was in-house counsel at Philips corporation in California for over three years where he handled various international and immigration legal issues. He spent a year teaching international law at the Budapest College of Economics and interned with a Superior Court judge. Erick has practiced law since 2004 and is a member of both the Oregon and California state bars. Because immigration law is a federal practice area, Erick is able to serve clients in any state in the U.S. and around the world. Erick is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Join Jim and Greg as they appreciate the National Transportation Safety Board explanation of what really led to the train derailment in Ohio – an ignored warning on an overheated axle and not some left-wing fiction about reckless deregulation. Plus, they discuss what this means for Buttigieg’s political future and how President Biden may have stumbled into a stroke of political genius. They also wince at the latest consumer expenditure numbers suggesting inflation may be stubbornly high for quite a bit longer. And they get a kick out of the news that Marianne Williamson plans to enter the Democratic presidential field, but also wonder whether more prominent figures on the left will follow her lead.

Jim and Greg are back for the third round of their prestigious Three Martini Lunch Awards. Today, they discuss the biggest lies of 2022, with Jim focusing on our economy and Greg opting for an infuriating falsehood connected to our elections. Then, they reveal their choices for the best and worst political theater of 2022.

Join Jim and Greg as they welcome a get-tough approach on China. They applaud Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher warning Americans to get rid of the TikTok app because it’s basically a data harvesting tool of the Chinese Communist Party. They also groan as twice as many Americans described the economy in negative terms, 65 percent said the economy is headed in the wrong direction, and more than half expect it to get worse in 2023. Finally, they slam ABC’s Martha Raddatz for accusing Republicans of creating the border crisis by slamming President Biden’s policies – instead of the open border policies themselves.

What Is Going on with Chickens and Eggs?

 

This isn’t egg-sactly earth-shattering, breaking news, but what is up with eggs?  I just paid two dollars more for a dozen eggs yesterday than my past purchase.  All brands reflected about the same increase.  I read about a possible chicken flu coming this past October.  They said this is the worst outbreak since 2015, a quote “act of God event.”

“Egg quantity has cratered in lockstep. About 8.8 billion eggs were produced in September, down from about 9.7 billion in December 2021, according to most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

Join Jim and Greg as they welcome more polling indicators of a good midterm election night for Republicans – including dismal numbers on the state of the nation and a huge shift towards the GOP among suburban women in just the past couple of months. They also applaud New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu for calling out “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd for living in a bubble after Todd was incredulous that election denial was not the top concern for voters this year. And they tee off on the suggestion in “The Atlantic” that we should just grant each other amnesty over our differences on COVID policy and just move on.

Join Jim and Greg as they applaud the direct and devastating attack from GOP New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti, as he blasted Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for grabbing the crotch of a male staffer, claiming she did nothing wrong, but also paying the staffer $150,000 to settle the complaint while forbidding the staffer from discussing the matter publicly. Ronchetti was also very effective at calling out the governor for imposing lockdowns she violated on numerous occasions. They also cringe over the latest consumer inflation numbers that come in worse than expected and prove higher prices aren’t going anywhere for awhile. Finally, they slam Politico Europe for naming Vladimir Putin as their top “green” figure because ending dependence upon Russian energy will force a revolution in renewables – ignoring the reality of people freezing to death and facing astronomical energy costs.

Join Jim and Greg as they wince over the larger-than-expected jump in the Producer Price Index in September and brace for the consumer inflation numbers tomorrow. They also discuss Jim’s in-depth reporting on Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman and the media that have coddled him for many years. And they shake their heads as the Quinnipiac Poll, which was spectacularly wrong at times in 2020, shows not only Sen. Warnock growing his lead over Herschel Walker but Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams in an alleged dead heat in the governor’s race.

Join Jim and Greg as they welcome analysis from MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki showing the economy and inflation as the biggest concerns for voters in the midterms and Republicans ahead overwhelmingly among those voters. They also credit the New York Times for shedding the light on the insane boondoggle of California’s high-speed rail project that is $80 billion over budget and won’t be done in our lifetimes. Finally, they discuss former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard officially leaving the Democrats and urging others fed up with the party to do the same.

Welcome to the New (Brainwashed) Civilization

 

I had a disturbing conversation with a relative, a cousin who is an off-the-charts left-leaning liberal and much older than me. She lives out west. She’s my flesh and blood and I let it drop today that I, and others in our family and my husband’s family had not been vaccinated.  My reasons are personal preference due to major food allergies and a very bad reaction to a flu shot in 2008.

She and her husband have been vaccinated and boosted out the tail. When I disclosed this, she had a meltdown. “OH! OH! Oh no!! Oh!  NO!  I never would have thought you were like that!  I am sweating — I can’t talk — I have to end this conversation! Oh no! A super spreader — how could you not?!!  We had no post-symptoms!

Riochet.com Editor-in-Chief Jon Gabriel is in for Jim today. Join Jon and Greg as they are pleased to see Dr. Oz and the GOP exposing John Fetterman’s radical record of coddling violent criminals. They also shudder as the government confirms a recession as the negative economic growth in the second quarter of this year becomes official, and they nod glumly as former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers ties the inflation mess back to a spending binge that started 18 months ago. And they sigh as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says it is not at all odd that President Biden would ask if a deceased congresswoman was in the audience because she was “top of mind.”

Join Jim and Greg as they eagerly welcome a poll showing Republicans with a 21-point advantage in competitive House districts. They also shudder as more signs emerge of a worsening economy from – from energy to housing to hiring. And they discuss the left and the media branding incoming Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as a fascist. But since the left now tars anyone who disagrees with them as “fascist,” the word has lost much of it’s meaning.

Quote of the Day: The Economy and Government Mismanagement

 

“The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.” – Milton Friedman

We are going to see a repeat of this over the next year or two.  We are headed for recession, and possibly depression (although no one will call it that) even if the Republicans take over control of both houses of Congress next year. Part of that is due to existing inflation. But an even larger part will be due to government mismanagement.

Join Jim and Greg as they serve up three more good martinis! First, they like where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stands in his re-election bid and they enjoy watching another progressive darling cruising towards defeat. They don’t like the state of the the economy but they’re also relieved to see nearly 70 percent of Americans rejecting the Biden administration’s bogus argument that we’re not really in a recession.  And they cheer Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin for blasting Fairfax County Public Schools for failing to remove a middle school counselor for soliciting a minor for sex until almost two years after the fact.