Bill Owens

Consumer confidence slipped in September by just a bit, inflation is consistently in the 3% range, while housing prices are falling.

John Bolton has been indicted for exactly the same issues as Mr. Trump. It appears that Mr. Trump sees no relationship between the two crimes other than his claim that as President, he is entitled to do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court seems to be going along with him. We will see how this plays out over time and whether or not the Supreme Court ultimately will be very embarrassed by their decisions.

Speaker Johnson indicated that he thought this could be the longest government shutdown on record and continued to condition negotiations on the Democrats dropping the demand for modifying the health insurance cuts. I find this fascinating only because of how, excuse the term, ridiculous it is.

The philosophy driving the Supreme Court is essentially founded on the concept of the Unitary Executive.

It was reported last Friday that inflation rose slightly in August, but not enough to suggest that it was impacted by US tariffs that are either here or on the way. What affect that will have on the Fed and interest rate changes seems to be under discussion with no clear indication of how the Fed intends to proceed.

The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel after the action taken against Mr. Colbert raises significant 1st Amendment issues, as well as issues related when coupled with the threats from AG Bondi to prosecute people who make, in effect, “unfavorable comments or pose difficult questions” to the President.

Mr. Trump managed by alienating India with a ridiculous level of tariffs to bring together Putin, Modi, and Xi in a demonstration of their unity.

The so-called de minimis shipping rules changed on Friday, August 29th. A number of foreign post offices, including the Deutsche Post and Nordic countries, have stopped shipping to the US these small packages as the rules are unclear in terms of how these packages will now have to be identified and processed by US Customs since they will each be subject to tariffs and individual processing as opposed to bulk processing.

A recent event in Plattsburgh found Congresswoman Stefanik confronted by a significant number of constituents who were seeking to compel her to hold a Town Hall, which she has not held in many years.

Inflation for consumers increased 2.7% over the prior year, and July showed prices increasing at the fastest annual pace in five months which is indicative of the fact that businesses are passing along the increased costs of tariffs which Mr. Trump said would never happen. More importantly, wholesale prices surged by 9/10ths of 1%, which is an advanced indicator of what customers will feel down the road.