THE SUMMER LETTER And when in their wake nothing remains but a desert, they call that peace.” - Tacitus Economic Perspective President Trump has launched a trade war without a plan for winning it. Our trading partners, friend and foe, retaliated with competitive tariff imposition.   There is … [Read more...]

THE WINTER LETTER Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” - Lao Tzu Economic Perspective Economic participants wrestle with what to make of the recent corporate tax cuts. Will they be squandered on stock buybacks and dividend increases or invested in capital goods? Have the … [Read more...]

THE AUTUMN LETTER Glaub, was wahr ist; Lieb, was rar ist; Trink was klar ist, (Believe, what is true; love what is rare; drink what is clear.)” - German proverb Economic Perspective (Just back from a family expedition to my natal city of Munich. And a testing of the … [Read more...]

THE SUMMER LETTER Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein Economic Perspective There is little doubt the American polity is beset by political discord of the most venomous variety. Yet, with occasional … [Read more...]

THE WINTER LETTER Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke Economic Perspective President Trump promises corporate tax reform (read tax cuts), a reduced regulatory burden (gutting Dodd-Frank and dropping the DOL’s fiduciary requirement for … [Read more...]

THE AUTUMN LETTER If I knew my own mind, I would not make essays. I would make decisions.” - Michel de Montaigne Economic Perspective One can barely contemplate the current Presidential electoral race without calling barbarians to mind. Starting school in Francophone Africa, I read an … [Read more...]

THE SUMMER LETTER God dug the bloody Channel for us, why do we keep trying to fill it in?” - an old Royal Marines veteran to Neal Ascherson Brexit And thus the Little Englanders won the Brexit vote to Leave the EU. Though “What is the EU?” was the most Googled question in Britain the morning … [Read more...]

THE WINTER LETTER Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it is just the opposite.” - Soviet era joke Economic Perspective Europe remains mired in economic stagnation and political paralysis aggravated by recent jihadist attacks in Paris and the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. … [Read more...]

If you don’t know who you are, [the stock market] is an expensive place to find out.” - George J. W. Goodman aka “Adam Smith” in The Money Game (1968) Economic Perspective Extremely cold winter weather clobbered the American economy in the first quarter, which recorded its first significant … [Read more...]

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle I no longer despair for the future of the human race.” -- H. G. Wells Economic Perspective The long U. S. industrial decline may be reversing. In March, manufacturing expanded for the fifty-sixth consecutive month. Manufacturing’s share of GDP has ended a … [Read more...]