Governor DeSantis’ actions during COVID where he deliberately downplayed the benefits of the vaccine resulted in fewer people in vulnerable groups receiving the vaccine in Florida, and sent hospitalizations and deaths soaring there. The story he tells on the campaign trail is one that is solely focused on what went right, while ridiculing all safeguards that were being recommended by scientists, not propagandists.
Scientists have been following a mysterious light that has been blinking in space every twenty-one minutes for 35 years, and scientists have no idea what the source is. There are many phenomena in the universe which do emit light, but nothing on such a consistent basis, both in terms of frequency and the strength of the light. Maybe someone is reaching out and this is some form of code that they are sending, or it could be some far away star that is burning out. The mysteries of space and our universe are mindboggling.
Business Insider reports that Mexico replaced China as America’s top trading partner but only an inch over Canada. This demonstrates how the global economy is rapidly transforming. Bi-lateral trade in the first four months of this year was $263 billion which converts to about $800 billion dollars annually if the trend continues. Mexico represented 15.4% of our imports and exported goods, while Canada was at 15.2%, and China at 12%. When one ties this together with the issues the Chinese economy is experiencing one has to give at least some thought to whether or not that bustling economy will have to turn inward in order to remain successful and competitive.
The House passed an $886 billion defense bill largely along party lines. Unfortunately for Republicans, this is a messaging bill that has no chance of being passed in the Senate. This will result in a Conference Committee between the two chambers much like the debt ceiling bill will require compromises in order to get done. Mr. McCarthy moves from crisis to crisis, and it is hard to figure which one them will get him. In my view, this is one of the more difficult issues for him to get past because he has a significant segment of people, apparently including our Congresswoman Ms. Stefanik, who are more interested in the Republican message than supporting the troops.
Mr. Trump blasted the prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case, whom he appointed for not giving Hunter Biden a death sentence. I don’t believe any of the crimes Hunter Biden was charged with or agreed to plead guilty to carry that as a maximum sentence. My question to Mr. Trump is “what punishment does he think he should get?” Maybe something closer to William Wallace would be appropriate.
There was an interesting piece regarding purchasing power parity between Canada and the US. The example given was the price of a margarita in Calgary being $8.75, when converted to US dollars it came out to $6.65. That is a significant bargain and an often-posed question is why it exists. Many experts focus on the cost of labor because it is assumed the cost of the ingredients was roughly the same. I wonder if this conclusion is accurate. Irrespective, it looks like there are bargains to be had in Canada. You might want to think about a trip to Montreal or Toronto the next time you are going out on the town.
NPR broadcast a story about volunteer firemen that was focused on the declining membership, difficulties in securing new members, as well as how these departments are facing more intense events. The firefighters were from rural Colorado, the Hudson Valley and Washington, DC. These individuals presented a broad landscape of the United States covering the different types of communities in which they live. The volunteerism that existed in the 50’s into the 70’s has substantially dissipated, and the need for volunteer firemen, volunteer EMS providers is critical to virtually all suburban and rural communities. We will have to become more creative with how we support these folks and encourage others to join.
The continuing fallout from Brexit has resulted in English and Welsh factories share of exports declining, even though the rest of the globe is experiencing a boom in the manufacturing sector. Even though Boris is gone, he is still helping his fellow citizens.
One of the top topics experts say you should concentrate on as you attempt to understand where our economy is going are: the fact that inflation is easing in most advanced countries, while core measures are more persistent. Note, the fed on July 26th raised interest rates again, the labor market is slowing but remains healthy, adding jobs, producing relatively low unemployment numbers, and the fact that there continues to be a significant number of unfilled jobs; and that the central banks world-wide are committing to taming inflationary pressures, even if it means keeping rates higher, and as we noted, the US fed did so recently.
May’s US/Canada transborder trade declined by 2.3%, which, in and of itself, is not a significant economic indicator, but if the trend were to continue, then we would need to begin paying attention.
GDP grew by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, with a slowing of consumer spending but still continuing at a strong pace, while business investment picked-up on equipment, and jobless claims fell to 221,000. This strength was not predicted, and this information somewhat contradicts the actions of the fed on February 26th in raising interest rates again by a quarter of a point. It seems like the fed may be making the classic mistake of pushing the economy into a recession, not lifting it out.
A few shorts.
In the Ukraine we saw attacks on Moscow and the collapse of the Grain deal as well as some success in the Ukrainian counter offensive.
IPOs are up in something of a surprise.
Israel is suffering unrest as Netanyahu pursues fascist legislation attacking the Israeli Supreme Court.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.