In light of Nobel Prizes being given to two researchers of mRNA covid-19 vaccinations, beltway establishments like that of the Cato Institute have lauded praises onto the decision. To Cato, as evidenced by a blog post by Ian Vásquez, the production of these vaccines was a “victory of globalization!” Whilst it certainly required a vast scale of global resources and networking, it was hardly what one could consider a free market victory.

In the international fixed-income markets, interest rates are rising, and the decades-long trend of declining bond yields has undoubtedly been broken. On August 2, 2022, the ten-year United States Treasury yield was 0.5 percent; on October 9, 2023, it had risen to 4.8 percent. Long-term interest rates in Europe, Asia, and Latin America have also risen sharply.

The upcoming general election in Argentina would pass moderately unnoticed in the rest of the world, as it normally does, except for an unexpected fly in the ointment that is making headlines internationally: libertarian candidate Javier Milei is leading the polls to become the next president of Argentina.

There are many factors that affect the yield on government bonds. Yet, it is surely no coincidence that we continue to see yields climb as the federal government churns out new government debt at a breakneck speed never before seen during peacetime. 

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield—i.e., the interest taxpayers must pay on new government debt—reached an average of 4.38 percent in September. That’s the highest since October of 2007, and if the yield continues to climb, we’ll soon see it topping a 20-year high. 

There’s constant carping about people streaming across the U.S. southern border, giving the word immigration a bad name. Here in Nevada we have people migrating to the Silver State from the west and local leaders couldn’t be happier.