10/3/22

Putin – The Nuclear Noose Tightens – BOOM!

Putin will order the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine before the the end of October. Allow me to lay out the case for why it happens.

How did we get here, Big Red Car?

The time line looks like this:

 1. Putin began to move troops onto the border of Ukraine on 21 February 2021, less than a month after Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day. Putin said these soldiers, airborne troopers, were there to “conduct exercises.”

 2. On 30 August 2021, the United States conducted its incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan exposing its feckless leadership and dwindling resolve.

Russia watched carefully and Putin rubbed his hands in glee sensing the Americans (and by association, NATO) were vulnerable. Continue reading →

09/16/22

Embedded Inflation

Do y’all recall when inflation was “transitory?” When the Secretary of the Treasury and the POTUS used to assure us that inflation was going to come and go? That the target would continue to be 2% – which, in fact, it had been?

Well it’s more than a year later and, clearly, that is not going to happen. In fact, we are in this inflationary spiral for the long term — meaning three years until there is any relief.

How did we get here, Big Red Car?

Let’s review the bidding to see how we got here, shall we?

This chart is not lying to you. Study it.

Continue reading →

09/12/22

Quiet Quitting

Once the folks have left the farm and seen Paris, it is hard to get them back in the traces. During the pandemic — which is officially over, right? — the work force got used to working from home.

WFH had huge real and perceived benefits: no commute, no cost to commute, no commute stress, no time lost in commuting, pajamas, improved work-life balance meaning you could jam personal time into company time, and a sense of control over things.

WFH also extracted huge costs in the employer – employee relationship.
Continue reading →

09/7/22

The German Blunder, Chancellor Merkel’s Disaster

In late September 2018 — four years before the Russian invasion of Ukraine — the American President gave a speech, a prescient and foretelling speech, at the United Nations in which he cautioned the German nation not to become dependent upon Russia for its energy needs.

President Donald J Trump in a reflective moment before giving his best foreign policy speech at the United Nations at the high point of his tenure.

In that speech the American President said:

Reliance on a single foreign supplier can leave a nation vulnerable to extortion and intimidation. That is why we congratulate European states, such as Poland, for leading the construction of a Baltic pipeline so that nations are not dependent on Russia to meet their energy needs. Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course.

He was referring to the completion of NordStream II and the continuing operation of NordStream I.

Continue reading →