Personal Economics 101

By JIM GERAGHTY, National Review Here’s an observation about the Republican presidential primary: Every now and then, I’ll hear someone express a preference for a candidate with the words, “I like what he’s saying.” I don’t want to disparage anyone’s criteria for picking a candidate, but I will note that saying things that you, the voter, like to hear is really just about the easiest part of running for president. You don’t have to actually do anything; you just toss out a bunch of ideas and repeat the ones that get the most applause. Anybody can show up and promise, “I’ll do this,” or “I’ll do that.”  And the candidates who are really unprepared for the job think it will be easy. There’s only so much a president can do with executive orders, given that the next president of the opposite party can rescind such orders with the stroke of a pen. To really enact lasting changes, a president must be able to persuade Congress to turn his agenda into law.  The job of the president is...

 This plan would actually benefit the wealthy more than the poor.  It might be the biggest giveaway in American history and goes much further than anything Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren have proposed. Biden now wants to cancel more than $1 trillion dollars in student loans – he's already let college graduates delay repayments for years. This plan makes suckers out of the millions of Americans who have felt honor bound to pay off their debts. Even more lavishly subsidizing higher education will only push tuition even higher and making the next round of student debt even higher. But who would ever pay off a student loan after this blanket forgiveness program. Who would benefit? The most recent Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances found that only 22% of families had student loan debt and "student debt has consistently been disproportionately held by higher-income families." Canceling all student loans is supported by 19% of voters according to the latest poll – ...

 As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the unemployment rate in April nationwide was 6.1%, but this obscures giant variations in the states.  With some exceptions, those run by Democrats such as California (8.3%) and New York (8.2%) continued to suffer significantly higher unemployment than those led by Republicans such as South Dakota (2.8%) and Montana (3.7%).  It’s rare to see differences that are so stark based on party control in states. But the current partisan differences reflect different policy choices over the length and severity of pandemic lockdowns and now government benefits such as jobless insurance. Nine of the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates are led by Republicans. The exception is Wisconsin whose Supreme Court last May invalidated Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’s lockdown... Most states in the Midwest, South and Mountain West aren’t far off their pre-pandemic employment peaks. One obstacle to a faster recovery may be the $300 federal unemploym...

Dan Crenshaw, R-TX, speaks to Arizona State University students on socialism, taxation, gratitude, the role of government and other subjects of interest. Liberty is ordered freedom. Well worth the 51 minutes of your time. https://youtu.be/Z45r0OUS4Gg

https://youtu.be/kl 0-n0zWVJk

Chronology: Trump Was On Top Of Coronavirus While Biden Mocked : No media or Nancy Pelosi false narratives or phony Joe Biden campaign ad can change the truth about the real chronology of the coronavirus. The FDA Graveyard: Absurd Bureaucratic strictures are hindering the efforts to fight Covid-19 Americans are dying daily because of FDA regulations that have repeatedly delayed testing for the Covid-19 virus and impeded the manufacture and deployment of masks and other protective equipment. Pelosi Says Congress Will NOT Reopen In April, Warns Trump Not To Restart Economy : Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told Politico Friday that she is considering keeping the House of Representatives out of session longer than the April 20th return-from-recess date, and may not bring Congress back until well into May — and she’s warned President Donald Trump to keep the country under lockdown even longer. Not everyone is getting a $1,200 coronavirus stimulus check : Not everyone qualifies fo...

It seems that the Democrat party of JFK has long died. I used to vote for Democratic candidates if I thought they were the better choice. I was once recently told that politics and economics are different and to keep them separate. But, and here's a big but: Politics affect economics, and economics affect politics. Everything affects everything. I even have a text-book at home titled: "The Political Economics of the United States."  I think this person in question, during an discussion on a local discussion board on the economic policies of running our local city, wanted to avoid politics because he was the president of the neighborhood democrat party. But the two are related. Don't get me wrong. The Republicans have their own troubles, like being just plain old wimps. That's why I'm glad I live in Texas and don't have to register with either party to vote.  So I get a lot of newsletters, and here's some samplings from the last day or so. In my m...

As expected, the Democrats took control of the House, the Republicans kept the Senate. This is what the market expected, so there is no longer any uncertainty. Markets hate uncertainty.  While I can't predict the future, I think we can expect markets to return some gains over the next several months. Today may be the confirmation that the correction has changed to another uptrend. I added to my equity holdings Monday in anticipation of this event.  But having said that, make sure you have a plan to exit (sell) if the market should decide otherwise.  Really, I don't think anything is going to happen as far as Washington D.C. is concerned. With a split government, there'll be a lot of talk, but little action. No changes in taxes, immigration, health care, etc. Just the status quo. Which also may be good for the markets. With Democrats in control of House committees, expect more investigations, grandstanding and plenty of theatrics. But this will go nowhere, and just w...

Four hundred and thirty-five seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, while 35 of the 100 Senate seats are also on the ballot. Betting markets have suggested that Democrats will gain control of the House, but Republicans will keep their grip on the Senate. The vote is expected to draw historic numbers to the polls and could spark further volatility in the wider financial markets. Schwab's Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Michael T. Townsend thinks that a Democratic victory in the House is what the markets are expecting. He adds that if Democrats win a majority in the House, expect a lot of investigations in 2019 of the president and efforts to roll back some of his legislative accomplishments of the past two years. But he points out that those efforts are not likely to succeed because of a narrowly divided Senate and the fact that the president still wields the veto pen. That’s why Michael thinks the markets are anticipating more gridlock in 2019...

(Note: This is not a political blog. But politics do affect economics and personal finance. And voting is both a responsibility and duty. This is a brief summary of what I think are some of the differences are right now between our two parties,  from some fairly extensive research on my part. But don't take my word on it. Do your own research on the issues. Just for the record, I'm neither a registered Republican or Democrat, since you don't do that in Texas. I tend toward Libertarian views anyway). Your Money When House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that bonuses stimulated by President Trump’s tax cut were “crumbs” she meant it. And item No. 1 on the Democrats’ agenda will be to repeal the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. For the 90 percent of Americans who have seen more money in their pockets this year because of tax reform, kiss it goodbye. Republicans want to make the tax changes permanent. However, neither party problem seems to not have the courage to attack...