It’s interesting how often the most memorable and thought-provoking parts of a given discussion are to be found in the tangents away from it.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) signed into law on December 22, 2017 promises no relief from one big tax on income — the inflation tax. Quite the contrary, there are strong grounds to expect this burden to increase as new and unannounced methods of collection evolve further.

A day after Bill Gross called bonds a bear market, reports are out that the Chinese government is considering slowing our halting US Treasury purchases.

Few people outside New York City noticed that Bill de Blasio was sworn in for a second term as mayor of the Big Apple, as the Usual Luminaries did not show up for the occasion. However low-key the ceremony might have been on that freezing January day, it was significant one thing: the political leadership of New York once again is looking to unabashed socialism as the guiding light (or, perhaps more appropriate, darkness) for the city’s future.

Axios is reporting today on commentary from Deutsche Bank economist Torsten Slok in which Slok concludes that Americans now have a smaller net worth than they did in 1989: 

The Red Robin chain of 570 restaurants has decided to eliminate busboys due to rising labor costs. Its business is mostly in western states several of which have raised the local minimum wage rate. Previously they eliminated the job of “expediter” who prepared plates in the kitchen due to rising labor costs. Clearly the labor force is losing jobs due to the increases in the minimum wage.

The number of police officers killed on duty dropped to near a 50-year low in 2017. As of December 28, 2017, 128 officers died in the line of duty. That’s down 10% from 2016, when 143 officers died, according to new data from National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The only other year with fewer deaths in the past five decades was 2013, when 116 officers were killed.