People are neither always good nor always bad, but they are always subject to influence. The last three decades tells them they can get other peoples’ stuff without ever paying for it.
I have no issue with the general thesis that we are due for a market correction. Well overdue in fact. From my economics class instruction from my High School days (over fifty years ago), we were instructed that economic cycles generally run in eleven to thirteen year increments - so yeah, a correction from the low of 2008 to this current high in 2025 is a foregone conclusion. Better to ask why it hasn't occurred to date. Prolific money printing by the Fed, I suspect.
As to the Feds 2% forecast for inflation, this one's far harder to rationalize.
Having spent about fifty years as a Process Plant design engineer/Capex estimator, our forecast for multi-year domestic industrial projects expenditures were always forecasting a 2.5% - 3% annual inflation rate for the $US- and we made a lot of money the old-fashioned way.
I would suggest that people now dive into the latest chart from Dan Denning related to the CPI of end September 2024-2025. Note that the Trump inflation that was predicted from his tariff campaign has never really materialized. We continue to keep our fingers and toes crossed.
Further note that the inflation we are seeing is very much associated with food and energy prices. Two major items produced domestically and not on Trumps tariff list.
Now, understand fully that any energy induced inflation will quickly work through the entire economy - starting with farming. Of course, a drought didn't help (never does) but the energy inflation involved in producing fertilizers and fuel for tractor, feed for animals and transport of product to market, is rather immediate. Higher food prices and energy cost for commuting and heating and AC costs mean higher wages are required for everyone. QED, ipso facto, and all that rot.
I've commented here in the past citing McGraw-Hill's Engineering News Record (ENR) inflation data. ENR has been in publication since 1915 and, from first-hand experience, I can assure readers that it's very accurate within a tight range of probability.
My most recent issue now shows an annual "Building Cost Index" forecast for inflation recently jumping from a 3.1% to 3.6% - quite a bump. When digging in, however, we see that the materials portion - one heavily reflective of imports - has hardly moved for the entire year. The Labor portion, one entirely dependent on domestic supply is the entire root of the increase being seen. Domestic Labor wage increase harkens back to the general domestic rate of inflation and as demonstrated, is reflective of the obscene increases to energy costs. One that predates el' heffe' (Trump) and is directly correlated to Bidens IRA era literal "tilting at windmills" campaign.
I rest my case. This mess the Progressive DC lawyers energy scheme has put us under a dark cloud. One that will take years to work out from under.
If we now decide to throw open our border once again with an invitation to the world for free medical insurance, etc. - as the "Sanctuary City" Marxist inspired democrats are proposing, we may never see a sane inflation rate or a coherent economy, ever again.
Ed, perhaps you could replace Bill at the helm, your prose makes so much sense! I was wondering the same thing, if gold climbs to 10k, and the market continues to climb, how is that removing risk??? Makes no sense! Thanks for a fine write up.
Thanks for the kind words but let's agree that Bill is a fine writer. Although, I continue to be baffled by both his turn to the Left and his decision to then advertise his politics in this publication. I have other very well meaning and highly educated friends who espouse their Leftist politics as well. "Chocolate and Vanilla" as they say. I just don't understand how they can be so wrong for so long and yet "keep the faith". Analytical credibility is extremely important to me.
I'm probably a bit ADHD, but our mantra back in the day, in dealing with top-shelf Blue Chip clients, held that one tiny mistake in a calculation would invalidate the entire budgetary estimate. "falsus uno, falsus semper" as it has been observed.
Our projects ran from a small $100mm to $1bn and we worked all around the world, An estimate would take six to eight weeks to produce at a cost of $350k - $400k. A lot of pressure to deal with and over a protracted career to boot.
Bill is dealing with this sort of pressure as well and I suspect he knows it. Makes monitoring and doing a comparative analysis of our own world and holding up Bills notes a fascinating thing to watch in real time, doesn't it?
No doubt, I think the hard turn to the left has made many of us begin to doubt his direction. It’s not a subtle dig or jab, but a full frontal assault. Not what we signed up for. I do agree his ability to craft, with words, is far and above what most of us are capable of, and when he is focused on financials it is always a pleasurable and informative read. Like you I think many of us are baffled with the political exposure. Having worked for one of the big four, I am familiar with the 8 week estimate range (and the long hours it took (more like 16 weeks when calculating the time we put in)) Thanks again for sharing your intelligence.
CPA’s are annalogous to being like cousins- our mutual mucking around with the Financial stuff. Accountants always appreciated the “anal-retentive” nature of engineering world record keeping. We were both basically looking at the same data.,Different level of granularity and area of focus perhaps.
Sorry to mis-lead, 10 year Navy man, EE (Thank you Uncle Sam), retired, data center design, build, analyze, operate. Yes, i retired as the industry transitioned from smoke to raging fire! I like to think I got out just in time! That is not to say the "anal-retentive" doesn’t apply, in fact it might even more so as one mis-calculation and were short of power, cooling, perhaps space!!! Guess whose fault that would be???
Bongo Bill's seemingly "turn to the left" is nothing more than a manifestation of his Trump Derangement Syndrome. He really hasn't turned to the left. He just ignores everything Trump is doing right as he looks for scraps from the left-wing media in order to bash Trump.
Thank you, Mr. Burns! I’ve reached the conclusion that America is grappling with a severe mental health crisis and a troubling rise in ignorance. This, I believe, is cause of the current state of the Democratic Party. I wholeheartedly support any suggestion for Mr. Bill’s replacement…his time as a serious writer seems to have passed. I always appreciate your insights and expertise as we pray for the state of our Republic, and its rapid recovery thanks to President Trump. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Appreciate your support but I won’t be looking to create a Substack presence. I’m working through a personal business project at the moment. I actually like Bills work. Not sure I support mixing business and politics however. No..Scratch that. I actually really and objectively, don’t like it. However, I never argue with a person as to how to run their own business.In fact, that’s a core freedom that we all support. I like these guys for the Tom & Dan synergistic data-digs and Bill? Let’s just say that it’s always entertaining.
I think it is a great deal of insanity, the position the communists have put the country in with debt, saving everything from financial consequences / speculation has a big part. Congress isperpetually promising to take care of everyone when they simply can't even grow the economy by keeping their hands off and they have all learned to play the game with their support team, big pharma, while they run America's health into the ground. Of course all these things have produced a huge wall of poor economics for the young while the teaching at universities is unAmerican, why? Are these professors not being paid sufficiently? More Marxist jealousy instead of preparing oneself for the future with greater flexibility. Then when one looks at the subjects that so many students have borrowed money to focus on they aren't about making a living. It's more about supporting one's political objectives. America needs a good recession / depression to teach the reality of making a living, supporting a family, gradual improvement to financial independence and long term life's improvement. The stories being told are more dreams than reality. Even though I can't stand Bill's left wing nonsense it seems he is pointing out that so many promises aren't realistic.
Ed, I believe, all of Bill's critics on his politics (mostly foolish republinuts)saying he is a hard leftist,commie and other things worse, are too stupid to know, all Bill does is comment on all the unlawfu,crazy things our megalomaniacal, dictatorial POTUS is doing in real time. Leftie ,righty and TDS have nothing to do it.
Maybe Bill and you can win some support here. All you have to do is explain to the rest of us why one political party gets to jettison constitutionally established Law ( I & C law) and expect to be appreciated by those that are law-abiding. As Charlie would say “prove me wrong”. Or else, gird for the fight that is being caused by the Left.
What is the the "Progressive DC lawyers energy scheme?"
More: as an apolitical observer, your remark about "throw open our border once again with an invitation to the world for free medical insurance" is good polemic but factually wrong.
Without official residency, all others who injure themselves in the US are treated as foreign tourists none of whom can avail themselves of any USG funded medical insurance.
They can however avail themselves of charitable medical services.
This policy is applicable worldwide, which is why US insurance firms sell travel insurance, which ain't cheap even for short trips.
"Progressive DC Lawyers" as a cabal are how your government elects to adopt an energy policy totally at odds with science. Specifically, how the Department of Energy (DOE) forecast sees a fossil fuel driven economy out until 2050 - based on expertise and science - while an elected gaggle of mostly Lawyers (our EPA is essentially the DC chapter of the Sierra Club) declare an end of FF by 2035. And then get shown up when none of their plans work out in the real world with skyrocketing household energy costs and dismal EV sales on the car lots..
Windmill lawsuits now wending their way through the courts - brought by foreign firms like the Norwegian ocean windmill company Orsted, against the state of NJ. Why? because they need more money than Bidens IRA gave them.
Ford motor company lost $44,000 on each EV they were forced to produce.
The democrats, right now are trying to Blackmail the Republicans into providing more funding for their broken Obamacare... it just never ends and the taxpayers are sick of it.
How you get reptiles like Comey and McCabe to subvert a FISA court to push the "Russian Dossier Hoax" and engage in domestic spying on a presidential candidate - and now we find out recently that they also ran this same scam on sitting Senators
The IRS to target conservatives and I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, this is how our government gets hijacked by career-driven partisans who plot to outmaneuver the American voter. They all need to go to Leavenworth in irons IMO.
The Founders had a single lawyer in John Adams. The rest were essentially agrarian businessmen. That, to me was a far better model. Since then, our system has regressed.
I've had lawyers come after me in the past and I reveled in their defeat every-single-time. Their recurring problem is that they always work on the false assumption that they're the smartest guys in the room. A person like Joe Biden who is obviously of diminished intellectual capacity on his best day (but inexplicably, with a JD degree in hand) , becomes the pliant mannequin in the window for the rubes, while his handlers get to plot behind the scenes.
You seem to be blissfully unaware of those same lawyers flying in illegals on planes, in order to allow them to get entitlement aid. "Laws, Shmaws" as the lawyers say.
What else can be said about Immigration and Customs Laws, duly enacted by our Legislature and under the Supremacy Clause in our Constitution - as we take in the spectacle of blatant insurrection on display with Blue state Sanctuary Zones defended by mobs of violent anarchists.
Trump is the voters answer to all of these criminals and their crimes, Bondi and Patel his Generals. We also have the second amendment as a "plan B".
I say, "Let the games begin!" and to all Blue partisans, with or without Law degrees, yet intent on fomenting anarchy - "Bring it!"
As a political atheist I'm disgusted by both parties so I don't suffer from TDS but PDS. Bit if Trump is the answer to crime and criminals his deputies are doing a great job protecting criminals. Blondi said she had the Epstein list on her desk but then said there was no list. Pre-election Cash Patel and JD Vance talking about releasing the Epstein blackmail operation files but then said there were no files - Epstein was trafficking girls for himself. Allowing pedos off the hook and refusing to investigate who was behind the blackmail operation and which politicians have been compromised is anything but an answer to the crime in the DC Swamp.
Unlimited aid to Israel. Warped Speed experimental mRNA vaccines. Bailout of Argentina to help out Bessent's hedge fund buddy Rob Citrine. Scott Bessent - protege of the evil George Soros. Peter Theil's puppet JD Vance as VP. Golf trips every weekend on the taxpayers dime.
A litany of opposition viewpoints. Hey, I get it. My wife watches “The View”, Ice Skating events - Baseball and Football. People are complicated. She votes Blue too (boo hoo). Me? I just laugh.
feeling vindicated? As I said, there has to be something in those files implicating many (as Bernie would call em) oligarchs. If Trump was implicated you know the TDS far left would have hung him out to dry under bidens years. yet, for some reason neither the biden nor trump admins are compelled. Gots to be something extremely hurtful to the country for them to agree on this potential cover up - hmmmm.....
Mr. Burns, Excellent analysis. And, following your line of analysis, the average 40% rise in turkey prices for Thanksgiving is mostly because of disease, not tariffs. But I expect the leftist media will flip this.
This is exactly what happens when America ditches the paper dollar! Oh yeah, brilliant plan, because nothing screams “stability” like turning the entire economy into an app. The same people who can’t open a PDF are now supposed to trade groceries in Bitcoin.
You think inflation’s bad now?
Wait until your retirement account disappears because you forgot your crypto password. Blockchain isn’t money, it’s a $5,000 scratch-off ticket with extra steps.
And the Administration’s out there preaching it like gospel, “Don’t worry folks, we’ve digitized prosperity!” Yeah, and I digitized my ass, too, it’s still broke.
Since Nixon terminated the paper dollar convertibility to gold, they became IOUs from clowns in suits. But now they’re replacing them with digital IOUs you can’t even hold. At least with paper you could roll a joint, snort a line, or wipe your ass. Try doing that with a blockchain wallet. America’s sprinting away from paper money like it’s radioactive, but guess what? The radiation was always in your head. You’re not free. You’re just trading one leash for another, only now the leash is made of code. When the bubble bursts, you’ll wish you had paper just to burn for heat. Your paychecks will go straight into a digital wallet, until the server crashes in Malaysia. Then you’re broke, but hey, at least your socks don’t have holes thanks to AI. You know, the paper dollar has some dignity. You can hold it, fold it, and hide it in your mattress. Try hiding your crypto wallet in your mattress, unless you like sleeping on a laptop that bursts into flames. But don’t worry, the Administration says it will be fine. Just like they said about Iraq and Afghanistan, yeah, It all turned out great.
So we’re supposed to jump back in this market if gold hits $10k/oz and the Dow Jones hits 50k? Sorry but that makes zero sense, according to what you’ve been preaching about the markets for the last several years. Make it make sense please!
Absolutely pull a one eighty. Other than the fact that people think gold is a safe haven.Idea what it's intrinsic value is. A chrome bumper is shinier than a gold goblet. I dare gold proponents to go to the grocery store and try and buy something with gold. Its value is based on what people hear what its value is.
Yes Mike, it makes about as much sense as his “investment of the decade”…. It would have made sense if the insane left was capable of stealing the last election. America and its industries would have been destroyed, oil companies and refineries would have been shut down, and the price of oil would have gone through the roof. The democrats dream. Maybe this is why Bill is so angry, and suffering from such crippling TDS, while his dreams are melting away, and President Trump and America keep on winning 💪🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
"It would have made sense if the insane left was capable of stealing the last election. America and its industries would have been destroyed, oil companies and refineries would have been shut down, and the price of oil would have gone through the roof."
EXACTLY! Trump was never to be President again, Hence, the trade of the decade! Smart if their corrupt plans came to fruition. instead, they got the American people saying enough of this shit! Bill got caught at the outhouse, with his pants around his ankles - TRUMP WON! Now the trade of the decade is n the toilet, unless you bought in when it was first announced, but even that has given back some.
Time for a new plan Billy. Your sycophants have succumbed to a hard taste of reality. I love it when you encounter people whom think they are the smartest in the room and end up wearing egg not only on their face, but all over! Asshats one and all, the audacity!!!
No worries, AI will lead the way to utopia. I feel better already. AI has the answer to all. But garbage in garbage out is still true to. How do I know AI output isn't garbage? I still have to think for myself I think, but let me ask chatGPT about that.
believe that is based on consensus of data.. Trust the science.. Stand six feet apart keep children out of school. The virus came from a market. The world is flat. The sun revolves around the earth. AI Has depicted George Washington as a young black man with a broad smile. Not garbage. Just wrong! I do like the quick response on mathematical problems though. Still.
The idea behind AI is that it goes out there and goes thru all the human "knowledge" on the internet and then presents an average of that or that which dominates. But if human's were so smart then why can't the grow their economies when they deficit spend like mad men? So far I've not seen any indication that AI can tell right from wrong on controversial topics or predict the future. It uses the programmers opinions, like George Washington was black. What AI needs is insight, you know that human trait called common sense, that brings in new ideas and realizes that it must search for more knowledge when it doesn't fully understand a topic.
Saying you cannot go to the grocery store and buy food with gold, is akin to saying you can't eat gold. Have you ever tried chowing down on a $20 note?
I think Bill might be guilty of stirring the pot in an effort to sell more soap. I'm content to hear a different point of view from time to time, the more outrageous the more entertaining.
In the end nothing we think or do will change anything in the economy or in Washington, DC.
I liken the current dollar based global economy to barge floating down the Niagara river Lake Erie is ahead but there's a drop off along the way. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face” - Mike Tyson
After thinking a little I would definitely say JFK. If it's true that he planned on withdrawing from Vietnam I wonder what the US would be like now. No need to get off the Gold Standard because of war spending. Plus he was neutral on the Arab/Israeli front. No need to fight endless wars for the Zionists.
As did Charlie Kirk. Going to continue to get uglier and uglier. Those that have been in power since colonies spread worldwide will not go peacefully into the night! Going to be horrific this time as the world continues to decouple from the West.
“If gold goes to 10,000...while the Dow advances only to 50,000...we’d get the ratio we’ve been waiting for.”…but if stocks are still at insane valuations, why would simply hitting a Dow/gold ratio make them a buy? What am I missing here?
Maybe that they're waiting to take your money? Remember, the government is still the government, and you'll never get back your time. Time is the ultimate money once that fact is understood. (I think the 5:1 ratio rule presumes that stocks and gold shall have receded to more traditional value-levels. I would not take comfort if the 5-to-1 ration is 10 to the 5th power, meaning non-crashed...) Best always. PM
Wow, Bill actually blaming the folks again. That is twice this year. Amazing! He usually acts like the folks are just innocent little lambs that politicians can easily manipulate.
And like his good friend, Addison Wiggin, he has returned to challenging the Hollywood hype about A.I. as he did pertaining to the internet some years ago. I remember one of his insightful remarks about the internet: "With the internet, the world might be stuffed with information, yet starved for wisdom." So true!
There are many things that I do not understand, for example, the price of an ounce of gold is given in terms of US $dollars. Yet every article one reads on the value of the US $dollar, shout the decline of the dollars value. Thus, the reference value to an ounce of gold would seem to be a fictitious value based on the dollars value.
I have no issue with the general thesis that we are due for a market correction. Well overdue in fact. From my economics class instruction from my High School days (over fifty years ago), we were instructed that economic cycles generally run in eleven to thirteen year increments - so yeah, a correction from the low of 2008 to this current high in 2025 is a foregone conclusion. Better to ask why it hasn't occurred to date. Prolific money printing by the Fed, I suspect.
As to the Feds 2% forecast for inflation, this one's far harder to rationalize.
Having spent about fifty years as a Process Plant design engineer/Capex estimator, our forecast for multi-year domestic industrial projects expenditures were always forecasting a 2.5% - 3% annual inflation rate for the $US- and we made a lot of money the old-fashioned way.
I would suggest that people now dive into the latest chart from Dan Denning related to the CPI of end September 2024-2025. Note that the Trump inflation that was predicted from his tariff campaign has never really materialized. We continue to keep our fingers and toes crossed.
Further note that the inflation we are seeing is very much associated with food and energy prices. Two major items produced domestically and not on Trumps tariff list.
Now, understand fully that any energy induced inflation will quickly work through the entire economy - starting with farming. Of course, a drought didn't help (never does) but the energy inflation involved in producing fertilizers and fuel for tractor, feed for animals and transport of product to market, is rather immediate. Higher food prices and energy cost for commuting and heating and AC costs mean higher wages are required for everyone. QED, ipso facto, and all that rot.
I've commented here in the past citing McGraw-Hill's Engineering News Record (ENR) inflation data. ENR has been in publication since 1915 and, from first-hand experience, I can assure readers that it's very accurate within a tight range of probability.
My most recent issue now shows an annual "Building Cost Index" forecast for inflation recently jumping from a 3.1% to 3.6% - quite a bump. When digging in, however, we see that the materials portion - one heavily reflective of imports - has hardly moved for the entire year. The Labor portion, one entirely dependent on domestic supply is the entire root of the increase being seen. Domestic Labor wage increase harkens back to the general domestic rate of inflation and as demonstrated, is reflective of the obscene increases to energy costs. One that predates el' heffe' (Trump) and is directly correlated to Bidens IRA era literal "tilting at windmills" campaign.
I rest my case. This mess the Progressive DC lawyers energy scheme has put us under a dark cloud. One that will take years to work out from under.
If we now decide to throw open our border once again with an invitation to the world for free medical insurance, etc. - as the "Sanctuary City" Marxist inspired democrats are proposing, we may never see a sane inflation rate or a coherent economy, ever again.
Ed, perhaps you could replace Bill at the helm, your prose makes so much sense! I was wondering the same thing, if gold climbs to 10k, and the market continues to climb, how is that removing risk??? Makes no sense! Thanks for a fine write up.
Thanks for the kind words but let's agree that Bill is a fine writer. Although, I continue to be baffled by both his turn to the Left and his decision to then advertise his politics in this publication. I have other very well meaning and highly educated friends who espouse their Leftist politics as well. "Chocolate and Vanilla" as they say. I just don't understand how they can be so wrong for so long and yet "keep the faith". Analytical credibility is extremely important to me.
I'm probably a bit ADHD, but our mantra back in the day, in dealing with top-shelf Blue Chip clients, held that one tiny mistake in a calculation would invalidate the entire budgetary estimate. "falsus uno, falsus semper" as it has been observed.
Our projects ran from a small $100mm to $1bn and we worked all around the world, An estimate would take six to eight weeks to produce at a cost of $350k - $400k. A lot of pressure to deal with and over a protracted career to boot.
Bill is dealing with this sort of pressure as well and I suspect he knows it. Makes monitoring and doing a comparative analysis of our own world and holding up Bills notes a fascinating thing to watch in real time, doesn't it?
No doubt, I think the hard turn to the left has made many of us begin to doubt his direction. It’s not a subtle dig or jab, but a full frontal assault. Not what we signed up for. I do agree his ability to craft, with words, is far and above what most of us are capable of, and when he is focused on financials it is always a pleasurable and informative read. Like you I think many of us are baffled with the political exposure. Having worked for one of the big four, I am familiar with the 8 week estimate range (and the long hours it took (more like 16 weeks when calculating the time we put in)) Thanks again for sharing your intelligence.
CPA’s are annalogous to being like cousins- our mutual mucking around with the Financial stuff. Accountants always appreciated the “anal-retentive” nature of engineering world record keeping. We were both basically looking at the same data.,Different level of granularity and area of focus perhaps.
Sorry to mis-lead, 10 year Navy man, EE (Thank you Uncle Sam), retired, data center design, build, analyze, operate. Yes, i retired as the industry transitioned from smoke to raging fire! I like to think I got out just in time! That is not to say the "anal-retentive" doesn’t apply, in fact it might even more so as one mis-calculation and were short of power, cooling, perhaps space!!! Guess whose fault that would be???
Thanks for your service.
Bongo Bill's seemingly "turn to the left" is nothing more than a manifestation of his Trump Derangement Syndrome. He really hasn't turned to the left. He just ignores everything Trump is doing right as he looks for scraps from the left-wing media in order to bash Trump.
Thank you, Mr. Burns! I’ve reached the conclusion that America is grappling with a severe mental health crisis and a troubling rise in ignorance. This, I believe, is cause of the current state of the Democratic Party. I wholeheartedly support any suggestion for Mr. Bill’s replacement…his time as a serious writer seems to have passed. I always appreciate your insights and expertise as we pray for the state of our Republic, and its rapid recovery thanks to President Trump. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Appreciate your support but I won’t be looking to create a Substack presence. I’m working through a personal business project at the moment. I actually like Bills work. Not sure I support mixing business and politics however. No..Scratch that. I actually really and objectively, don’t like it. However, I never argue with a person as to how to run their own business.In fact, that’s a core freedom that we all support. I like these guys for the Tom & Dan synergistic data-digs and Bill? Let’s just say that it’s always entertaining.
Let's just say that I didn't act on BPR's offer to recruit new membership due to Bill's columns.
I chose not to act too.
"I like these guys for the Tom & Dan synergistic data-digs and Bill? Let’s just say that it’s always entertaining."
Here....Here
I think it is a great deal of insanity, the position the communists have put the country in with debt, saving everything from financial consequences / speculation has a big part. Congress isperpetually promising to take care of everyone when they simply can't even grow the economy by keeping their hands off and they have all learned to play the game with their support team, big pharma, while they run America's health into the ground. Of course all these things have produced a huge wall of poor economics for the young while the teaching at universities is unAmerican, why? Are these professors not being paid sufficiently? More Marxist jealousy instead of preparing oneself for the future with greater flexibility. Then when one looks at the subjects that so many students have borrowed money to focus on they aren't about making a living. It's more about supporting one's political objectives. America needs a good recession / depression to teach the reality of making a living, supporting a family, gradual improvement to financial independence and long term life's improvement. The stories being told are more dreams than reality. Even though I can't stand Bill's left wing nonsense it seems he is pointing out that so many promises aren't realistic.
Ed, I believe, all of Bill's critics on his politics (mostly foolish republinuts)saying he is a hard leftist,commie and other things worse, are too stupid to know, all Bill does is comment on all the unlawfu,crazy things our megalomaniacal, dictatorial POTUS is doing in real time. Leftie ,righty and TDS have nothing to do it.
Maybe Bill and you can win some support here. All you have to do is explain to the rest of us why one political party gets to jettison constitutionally established Law ( I & C law) and expect to be appreciated by those that are law-abiding. As Charlie would say “prove me wrong”. Or else, gird for the fight that is being caused by the Left.
HuH? It's a forgone conclusion, just stay up on Ur current affaires.
What is the the "Progressive DC lawyers energy scheme?"
More: as an apolitical observer, your remark about "throw open our border once again with an invitation to the world for free medical insurance" is good polemic but factually wrong.
Without official residency, all others who injure themselves in the US are treated as foreign tourists none of whom can avail themselves of any USG funded medical insurance.
They can however avail themselves of charitable medical services.
This policy is applicable worldwide, which is why US insurance firms sell travel insurance, which ain't cheap even for short trips.
"Progressive DC Lawyers" as a cabal are how your government elects to adopt an energy policy totally at odds with science. Specifically, how the Department of Energy (DOE) forecast sees a fossil fuel driven economy out until 2050 - based on expertise and science - while an elected gaggle of mostly Lawyers (our EPA is essentially the DC chapter of the Sierra Club) declare an end of FF by 2035. And then get shown up when none of their plans work out in the real world with skyrocketing household energy costs and dismal EV sales on the car lots..
Windmill lawsuits now wending their way through the courts - brought by foreign firms like the Norwegian ocean windmill company Orsted, against the state of NJ. Why? because they need more money than Bidens IRA gave them.
Ford motor company lost $44,000 on each EV they were forced to produce.
The democrats, right now are trying to Blackmail the Republicans into providing more funding for their broken Obamacare... it just never ends and the taxpayers are sick of it.
How you get reptiles like Comey and McCabe to subvert a FISA court to push the "Russian Dossier Hoax" and engage in domestic spying on a presidential candidate - and now we find out recently that they also ran this same scam on sitting Senators
The IRS to target conservatives and I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, this is how our government gets hijacked by career-driven partisans who plot to outmaneuver the American voter. They all need to go to Leavenworth in irons IMO.
The Founders had a single lawyer in John Adams. The rest were essentially agrarian businessmen. That, to me was a far better model. Since then, our system has regressed.
I've had lawyers come after me in the past and I reveled in their defeat every-single-time. Their recurring problem is that they always work on the false assumption that they're the smartest guys in the room. A person like Joe Biden who is obviously of diminished intellectual capacity on his best day (but inexplicably, with a JD degree in hand) , becomes the pliant mannequin in the window for the rubes, while his handlers get to plot behind the scenes.
You seem to be blissfully unaware of those same lawyers flying in illegals on planes, in order to allow them to get entitlement aid. "Laws, Shmaws" as the lawyers say.
What else can be said about Immigration and Customs Laws, duly enacted by our Legislature and under the Supremacy Clause in our Constitution - as we take in the spectacle of blatant insurrection on display with Blue state Sanctuary Zones defended by mobs of violent anarchists.
Trump is the voters answer to all of these criminals and their crimes, Bondi and Patel his Generals. We also have the second amendment as a "plan B".
I say, "Let the games begin!" and to all Blue partisans, with or without Law degrees, yet intent on fomenting anarchy - "Bring it!"
Am I discerning anarchy here Ed?
Anyone second Mr Burns for President 🤔🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Just “self-defense”, Your Honor.
As a political atheist I'm disgusted by both parties so I don't suffer from TDS but PDS. Bit if Trump is the answer to crime and criminals his deputies are doing a great job protecting criminals. Blondi said she had the Epstein list on her desk but then said there was no list. Pre-election Cash Patel and JD Vance talking about releasing the Epstein blackmail operation files but then said there were no files - Epstein was trafficking girls for himself. Allowing pedos off the hook and refusing to investigate who was behind the blackmail operation and which politicians have been compromised is anything but an answer to the crime in the DC Swamp.
With all the problems and challenges in the world which Trump is doing his best to address, is this all you got - Epstein?
Unlimited aid to Israel. Warped Speed experimental mRNA vaccines. Bailout of Argentina to help out Bessent's hedge fund buddy Rob Citrine. Scott Bessent - protege of the evil George Soros. Peter Theil's puppet JD Vance as VP. Golf trips every weekend on the taxpayers dime.
CA, Are you even a legal citizen?
A litany of opposition viewpoints. Hey, I get it. My wife watches “The View”, Ice Skating events - Baseball and Football. People are complicated. She votes Blue too (boo hoo). Me? I just laugh.
The View🤔 the all female audience is 100% blue. Very low logic and common sense involved.
But a lot of naked emotion. Only the emotion… Don’t be unduly alarmed.
Stop confusing Jimm with the facts. Excellent posts by you, BTW.
I was going to extend a similar reply. Don't need to.
feeling vindicated? As I said, there has to be something in those files implicating many (as Bernie would call em) oligarchs. If Trump was implicated you know the TDS far left would have hung him out to dry under bidens years. yet, for some reason neither the biden nor trump admins are compelled. Gots to be something extremely hurtful to the country for them to agree on this potential cover up - hmmmm.....
Yeah. A plot to cover a smattering of both Dem & Rep named. Or, there really isn’t much there. IDK.
Mr. Burns (excellent! your picture is here to the left) wrote:
"so a correction from the low of 2008 to this current high in 2025 is a foregone conclusion. Better to ask why it hasn't occurred to date."
Schwab announced over one million brokerage accounts booked every quarter for the last four, brokerage firms everywhere are signing up new accounts.
Particularly young folks have nowhere else to put their money.
It's no surprise the S&P is up, it likely will continue for a while as "investing" becomes more popular.
Many of them have finally learned the value of compound interest. Robinhood is really well regarded by younger people with careers and money to save.
The cycles between asset classes investment will always occur. Whether Gold, Tulips, Crypto or Rare (or fissile) metals, is the current question.
Mr. Burns, Excellent analysis. And, following your line of analysis, the average 40% rise in turkey prices for Thanksgiving is mostly because of disease, not tariffs. But I expect the leftist media will flip this.
This is exactly what happens when America ditches the paper dollar! Oh yeah, brilliant plan, because nothing screams “stability” like turning the entire economy into an app. The same people who can’t open a PDF are now supposed to trade groceries in Bitcoin.
You think inflation’s bad now?
Wait until your retirement account disappears because you forgot your crypto password. Blockchain isn’t money, it’s a $5,000 scratch-off ticket with extra steps.
And the Administration’s out there preaching it like gospel, “Don’t worry folks, we’ve digitized prosperity!” Yeah, and I digitized my ass, too, it’s still broke.
Since Nixon terminated the paper dollar convertibility to gold, they became IOUs from clowns in suits. But now they’re replacing them with digital IOUs you can’t even hold. At least with paper you could roll a joint, snort a line, or wipe your ass. Try doing that with a blockchain wallet. America’s sprinting away from paper money like it’s radioactive, but guess what? The radiation was always in your head. You’re not free. You’re just trading one leash for another, only now the leash is made of code. When the bubble bursts, you’ll wish you had paper just to burn for heat. Your paychecks will go straight into a digital wallet, until the server crashes in Malaysia. Then you’re broke, but hey, at least your socks don’t have holes thanks to AI. You know, the paper dollar has some dignity. You can hold it, fold it, and hide it in your mattress. Try hiding your crypto wallet in your mattress, unless you like sleeping on a laptop that bursts into flames. But don’t worry, the Administration says it will be fine. Just like they said about Iraq and Afghanistan, yeah, It all turned out great.
So we’re supposed to jump back in this market if gold hits $10k/oz and the Dow Jones hits 50k? Sorry but that makes zero sense, according to what you’ve been preaching about the markets for the last several years. Make it make sense please!
Absolutely pull a one eighty. Other than the fact that people think gold is a safe haven.Idea what it's intrinsic value is. A chrome bumper is shinier than a gold goblet. I dare gold proponents to go to the grocery store and try and buy something with gold. Its value is based on what people hear what its value is.
That said.. Go silver!
Yes Mike, it makes about as much sense as his “investment of the decade”…. It would have made sense if the insane left was capable of stealing the last election. America and its industries would have been destroyed, oil companies and refineries would have been shut down, and the price of oil would have gone through the roof. The democrats dream. Maybe this is why Bill is so angry, and suffering from such crippling TDS, while his dreams are melting away, and President Trump and America keep on winning 💪🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
"It would have made sense if the insane left was capable of stealing the last election. America and its industries would have been destroyed, oil companies and refineries would have been shut down, and the price of oil would have gone through the roof."
EXACTLY! Trump was never to be President again, Hence, the trade of the decade! Smart if their corrupt plans came to fruition. instead, they got the American people saying enough of this shit! Bill got caught at the outhouse, with his pants around his ankles - TRUMP WON! Now the trade of the decade is n the toilet, unless you bought in when it was first announced, but even that has given back some.
Time for a new plan Billy. Your sycophants have succumbed to a hard taste of reality. I love it when you encounter people whom think they are the smartest in the room and end up wearing egg not only on their face, but all over! Asshats one and all, the audacity!!!
No worries, AI will lead the way to utopia. I feel better already. AI has the answer to all. But garbage in garbage out is still true to. How do I know AI output isn't garbage? I still have to think for myself I think, but let me ask chatGPT about that.
Do not believe that a I output is garbage. I do
believe that is based on consensus of data.. Trust the science.. Stand six feet apart keep children out of school. The virus came from a market. The world is flat. The sun revolves around the earth. AI Has depicted George Washington as a young black man with a broad smile. Not garbage. Just wrong! I do like the quick response on mathematical problems though. Still.
have to check if it's engineering.
The idea behind AI is that it goes out there and goes thru all the human "knowledge" on the internet and then presents an average of that or that which dominates. But if human's were so smart then why can't the grow their economies when they deficit spend like mad men? So far I've not seen any indication that AI can tell right from wrong on controversial topics or predict the future. It uses the programmers opinions, like George Washington was black. What AI needs is insight, you know that human trait called common sense, that brings in new ideas and realizes that it must search for more knowledge when it doesn't fully understand a topic.
There is no special alchemy that creates wisdom from data.
...so true, but data seems to embolden self-proclaimed "experts".
Saying you cannot go to the grocery store and buy food with gold, is akin to saying you can't eat gold. Have you ever tried chowing down on a $20 note?
I think it’s difficult to predict illusions when many people continue to buy into them even with a reality line in their way.
I think Bill might be guilty of stirring the pot in an effort to sell more soap. I'm content to hear a different point of view from time to time, the more outrageous the more entertaining.
In the end nothing we think or do will change anything in the economy or in Washington, DC.
I liken the current dollar based global economy to barge floating down the Niagara river Lake Erie is ahead but there's a drop off along the way. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face” - Mike Tyson
After thinking a little I would definitely say JFK. If it's true that he planned on withdrawing from Vietnam I wonder what the US would be like now. No need to get off the Gold Standard because of war spending. Plus he was neutral on the Arab/Israeli front. No need to fight endless wars for the Zionists.
No need to wonder why, JFK, had his life ended early.
As did Charlie Kirk. Going to continue to get uglier and uglier. Those that have been in power since colonies spread worldwide will not go peacefully into the night! Going to be horrific this time as the world continues to decouple from the West.
“If gold goes to 10,000...while the Dow advances only to 50,000...we’d get the ratio we’ve been waiting for.”…but if stocks are still at insane valuations, why would simply hitting a Dow/gold ratio make them a buy? What am I missing here?
Maybe that they're waiting to take your money? Remember, the government is still the government, and you'll never get back your time. Time is the ultimate money once that fact is understood. (I think the 5:1 ratio rule presumes that stocks and gold shall have receded to more traditional value-levels. I would not take comfort if the 5-to-1 ration is 10 to the 5th power, meaning non-crashed...) Best always. PM
Yep ,that time thing that We will never ever get back. Oh well!
Wow, Bill actually blaming the folks again. That is twice this year. Amazing! He usually acts like the folks are just innocent little lambs that politicians can easily manipulate.
And like his good friend, Addison Wiggin, he has returned to challenging the Hollywood hype about A.I. as he did pertaining to the internet some years ago. I remember one of his insightful remarks about the internet: "With the internet, the world might be stuffed with information, yet starved for wisdom." So true!
There are many things that I do not understand, for example, the price of an ounce of gold is given in terms of US $dollars. Yet every article one reads on the value of the US $dollar, shout the decline of the dollars value. Thus, the reference value to an ounce of gold would seem to be a fictitious value based on the dollars value.
I appreciate and have learned from BPR to always compare tangible goods when assessing value to gold.
1920 Average blue collar wage $1.50/hour = 14 hours of work per oz
2025 average blue collar wage $30/hour = 130 hours of work per oz
Seems gold is perhaps somewhat ahead of itself?
The Dow/Gold ratio is what has happened in history, maybe this time is really different. If the US $ goes to zero with a replacement $?
Anyone's guess! And those of you Argentina followers, good news.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-27/javier-milei-wins-argentina-midterm-elections/105939600