The United States and other countries are debating whether to admit Ukraine into NATO which, of course, would virtually guarantee an all-out nuclear war between the United States and Russia. I’ve got a better idea: Dismantle this old Cold War dinosaur, or at the very least, the United States should withdraw from it, which would undoubtedly lead to its demise anyway.
While the jobs report came in less than hot, Reuters still described the labor market as “still-tight” on the first Friday of July. Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the other experts in charge of destroying jobs and job opportunities for common folk will no doubt raise rates this month and next.
Like ships taking on water, banks are throwing assets overboard trying to stay afloat. PacWest sold $3.5 billion in lender finance loans to private lender Ares last week. The Financial Times reports, “Ares paid $2.01bn in cash for the first tranche, less than its principal balance of $2.07bn. PacWest had previously raised $2.36bn by selling construction loans to real estate investors Kennedy Wilson.”
Depending on one’s perspective, technology can be viewed as either an opportunity or a threat. Some people celebrate technical advances while others show disdain. Entrepreneurs are frequently eager to capitalize on the potential advantages of new technologies, but where entrepreneurs see room for dynamism, naysayers see doom. In this story, entrepreneurs are akin to wizards who use the magic of technology to improve the world, and naysayers are prophets of pessimism.
The world since 1900 has experienced two major world-encompassing wars. Wars cost a lot of money, and countries—even if they were once on a gold standard—usually start printing massive amounts of money to finance their wars.
