The market continues to rejoice in the prospect of several rate cuts coming next year. According to the Fed’s own projections, things appear to be quite promising:

If the economy evolves as projected, the median participant projects that the appropriate level of the federal funds rate will be 4.6 percent at the end of 2024, 3.6 percent at the end of 2025, and 2.9 percent at the end of 2026, still above the median longer-term rate.

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Donald Trump cannot appear on the primary election ballot in the state. In a 4-3 decision, the judges in the majority claimed that Trump had been disqualified by his participation in the January 6 “insurrection.” The judges didn’t indicate in which court of law Trump had been convicted of such a charge. They could not do so, of course, since Trump has not even been charged with the crime of insurrection or anything similar. 

In 2022 economist Larry Summers predicted that inflation would only be brought down by an increase in the unemployment rate for a couple of years. Why? If workers expect high price inflation in the near future, they press for wage increases. Wage increases discourage employers from hiring . A low unemployment rate equilibrium requires a balance of financial interests, and common perceptions of economic conditions, between ordinary people and policymakers.

There are many reasons to support the breaking up states into smaller pieces. This is done via secession, and acts of secession produce smaller states. All else being equal, smaller states tend to be richer and they tend to have lower taxes. They tend to exercise less power over the resident population—because it’s easier for people to escape smaller states than larger ones.