For a variety of reasons, I haven\u2019t written much after the last post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I never really wanted to focus on economic issues, here. I am as much an expert on economic issues as the Uber drivers from Auburn are on foreign policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Honestly, though, my attention has largely been focused on personal matters. Though I was ardently opposed to doing it, it seems that I am going to have to apply for Social Security disability. Though I haven\u2019t done that, and will delay it until I\u2019m forced to do it, it appears that I\u2019m going to have to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s also a lot of disruption with the government \u201cshutdown\u201d here in the Beltway Swamp. The what appeared to be a somewhat sparsely-attended \u201cNo Kings\u201d rallies yesterday showed that to the paid protestors, the only thing that\u2019s acceptable to cut from the Federal Government is Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, on the economics issues, there have been a couple of other reports coming out that explain why the Bureau of Labor Statistics is having to significantly-restate more numbers. The money folks say that the lack of numbers really won\u2019t affect market performance<\/a>. I think the biggest story that\u2019s come out is the massive restatement of job numbers<\/a> for the period preceding Trump\u2019s inauguration. Things were not as rosy as the Biden Administration was trying to say they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was trying to get to the bigger point here<\/a> \u2014 if you\u2019re not good at your job, there\u2019s nothing wrong with you getting fired. It\u2019s not the end of the world, and things will continue without you continuing to put out your low-quality work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fundamental reasons for the economy\u2019s performance are unchanged \u2014 interest rates that don\u2019t even approach inflation combined with incredible government overspending. Senator Paul continues to be the Republican against reopening the government, though he wants to pay the govvies and troops<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, though, the government shutdown is being used as a rationale for all sorts of omissions on data. I can understand with the big news about the Gaza cease-fire. I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s a way you could really overstate the importance of that. No, I don\u2019t think that it automatically meant that President Trump should have won the Nobel Peace Prize, though the kvetching doubt him not winning overshadowed the announcement a couple of days later about the Nobel Prize in Economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is the announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n