Law & Order

Countries that create and execute laws regardless of color, creed, status will always do better than those that don’t. America which was a beacon in this regard for a century is struggling now. Illegal immigration, terrorism, and a lack of meritocracy are all battles worth fighting but you need to fight it by following the law. Both the right (with its high handedness) and the left (with “woke” excuses and total disregard for judicial principles) are in the wrong. Can they please watch and learn from Bill Maher?

Asset prices

In the last decade US stocks are up 225% which by itself is good for shareholders but they are strongly overvalued now based on Buffet Indicator. Gold is up 211% due to a hedge against inflation (heck, Central Banks world over are buying the metal). What does the future portend? Definitely a correction for stocks but gold…?

Upward mobility

In 1999, about 33% of households earned $52,000 (today’s equivalent of $100,000 when inflation adjusted). As of 2023, about 41% of US households earned $100,000 or more. So in a quarter century, we have seen roughly an 8 percentage point increase in upward mobility for these income earners. Almost all income groups have seen upward mobility. Searching online (US Census, Statista…) provides more such nuggets of information.

Fundamentalism

There has been a lot of push back against Islamic fundamentalism worldwide and it is about time. But fundamentalism needs to be looked at based on how fundamentalists treat or mistreat their own people. That keeps the conversation apples to apples and more objective. Islamic countries are rife with autocracy, severe gender discrimination, torture, and murder in the name of Islamic justice. In this regard, all those Islamic sympathizers in the west need to focus on fixing that elephant in the room before they feign righteous indignation upon non-Muslim countries for relatively fewer incidences.

In Birmingham, England there are Muslim communities that impose “voluntary” community laws. Why? Especially when English common law is much more humane and fair in its process. If Islamic laws are really better, why has most of the world adopted English common law (and freely so) and not other forms of justice?

Stagflation

Tariffs and the man: In the past few months, we have started working more for the same dollar. Our dollar buys less than it did a few months ago. We are seeing an uptick in unemployment. Dear world, we have a numbskull in the White House.