Notes in the Margin

Paul Ehrlich, the leading false prophet of inevitable environmental doom and author of the infamous The Population Bomb, has died at age 93.

"77 percent of [Republicans] support the war, on average. But that’s exactly what we’d expect for almost any Trump policy."

"Wright's use of the word "unlikely" was a veiled concession that a spike to $200 was possible, though he repeated that the price jump would be weeks not months."

Growth in gross domestic product was down sharply from 4.4% in last year’s Q3 and 3.8% in Q2. The fourth-quarter number was half the govt’s first estimate of 1.4%

"A 'multitude' of intelligence reports provide 'consistent analysis that the regime is not in danger' of collapse and 'retains control of the Iranian public.'"

"The recent increase shows that, unlike other producers, their shipments are unimpeded and that China hasn’t lost its appetite for Tehran’s crude."

A flurry of bad news has drawn fresh scrutiny to the roughly $2 tln private credit market, as investors question the health of loan portfolios.

The rise in oil prices defied a U.S. effort hours earlier to reassure markets with an announcement of the second-largest ever release from the nation's petroleum reserve.

In the nearly 10 days since the State Department directed non-emergency government employees to leave Iraq amid the war with Iran, the U.S. has struggled to remove all personnel.

With the passage of NDAA expected this week, a sweeping change to the Selective Service will attempt to 'automatically' sign American males up to serve.