The story of Ukraine, and to a lesser extent, its conflict with Russia, reflects a new trend in society’s power distribution. Traditionally, Western Democracies consider power to reside in the State, an entity elected by the power, and in which resides ultimate legal authority. Here in the United States, we see maximum authority residing in our tripartite government: the Congress, the Courts, and the President (legislative, judicial, and executive). However, in Ukraine, other sectors of society exert their power and influence. Those “other sectors” included several high-profile oligarchs and their “private armies.” Stepan Bandera Now, private militias, as they’re known…
Author: Admin
Many of us see the Autumn as our favorite time of the year. The humidity and high temperatures are behind us now, and we can enjoy pleasant temperatures and often fair skies. That’s how it is in Moscow, Russia, currently. The weather forecast for the rest of September calls for a light breeze, with temperatures in the high 60s and 70s. Napoleon found the same weather when he was there in the Autumn of 1812. He had just conquered most of western Russia and enjoyed September in Moscow. But he stayed too long.You’re undoubtedly familiar with this ancient parable: “For…
The contrast between how this President began his term and today could not be more stark. You may recall that the newly elected President, Joe Biden, sat at the Resolute Desk signing Executive Order after Executive Order for the first few days in office. He set a record of creating new policies and initiatives for the country. Today, the country sits adrift with policies far beyond their shelf-life. There are at least three significant areas in which circumstances have so changed that the original policies, initiated just a year and a half or two years ago, no longer make sense.…
I confess that I’m an “Annual Meeting” fanatic. I enjoy attending these once-a-year meetings of management and shareholders. It’s the recap of the past 12 months, the best opportunity I know of to get to know the people who run the organization: to catch a glimpse of their personalities and what they have planned for the future.Just such a meeting occurred on Monday, although it needed more structure and detail provided at the Annual Meetings for public companies we have here in the US.The occasion was the 15th anniversary of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the halfway point of…
At 8:30 a.m. this morning, Eastern Time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the most important economic report of the month, guaranteed to be the report that has the most impact on our financial well-being. It is the announcement of last month’s change in Consumer Prices. As the cost of almost everything in our country is constantly rising, we consider this one of the best measures of inflation.The Index was created during the dark days of World War I. While American soldiers were overseas in Europe, food shortages and transportation issues began to appear back home in America. Food…
On this day, September 11, 1990, the American President announced the beginning of the New World Order. Appropriately enough, it was President George HW Bush who made the announcement. After all, he was its chief architect. Before a special Joint Congress session, Bush outlined his vision for this New Order of the Ages.It was a time of extraordinary global turmoil. The United States was putting in place the men and equipment that would invade Iraq next year. While on the other side of the Globe, Estonia, Lithuania, and Georgia were declaring that they were each a Sovereignty Country. And, in…
It’s been a half-century since President Richard M. Nixon set the United States firmly on the path to globalism. The date was February 28, 1973, when the President sat down with Premier Chou En-lai of the People’s Republic of China and signed the Shanghai Communique. Named after the city, they were meeting in, this was merely an agreement to talk. But it was the most revolutionary economic statement of the Twentieth Century.The Communique would set in motion a trading agreement between what would become the two largest economies in the world. For China, this marked when they emerged from their…
It is the final month of this organization’s fiscal year. In just 24 days, they will have to wrap up their annual reports. As this is a very significant organization, its bookkeepers and accountants over in the Treasury Department have been working diligently to produce the most accurate and up-to-date reports on the latest financial position of the organization.But as is the case most years, upper management continues to squabble over spending those last few dollars of income and, most importantly, how to budget for next year. The fact that management’s arguments have broken out in the open and are…
When this conflict in Ukraine began, it all seemed so black and white, so clear cut. Russia, in a wanton act of aggression and with no provocation, had invaded Ukraine. And, as has often been the case throughout our history, America rode to the rescue of Ukraine.But as time passes, that initial confirmation has all but faded away. New facts have come forth, and the American public has discovered that things were not as they appeared in February 2022.The Fall Of The USSRThe area we know today as Ukraine has, for centuries, been marked by conflict and revolt. However, modern…
Those Economic Reports that you see nearly every day are based, by and large, on fundamental econometric models. Reports like overall economic growth, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), employment reports, the Civilian Labor Force, or the Participation Rate rely heavily on underlying mathematics models. Many of those models have been used for years and years and have proven to be an accurate and reliable measure of the economy.Recently, however, some of those models and the Economic Reports they produce have gone off the rails. It’s especially true for reports on the number of gainfully employed workers.There is no doubt that…