Bill Owens

Recent inflation reports indicate that prices are falling for food, transportation and warehousing, and that wholesale prices rose just 2.3%, which is the 10th straight month of slow-down, and the lowest figure since January 2021. Lower energy prices also helped to slow down the annual inflation rate and we are now beginning to see numbers in the 3% range, as compared to 12 months earlier. Automobile sales are still a major hurdle to get over.

The US and our allies are struggling with the need and how to, in terms of dealing with China and our economic reliance on it. The issues that have to be dealt with clearly involve reducing China’s access to information, technology, etc., that could potentially damage national security, but at the same time, not placing ourselves in a position where we have substantially injured our economic growth since obviously China my decide to retaliate if that is the path that we move down. Something of a bit of tricky business.

A group of economists led by Mark Zandi, along with his colleagues Cristian DeRitis and Bernard Yaros have prepared an analysis which they recently presented to the Senate Banking Committees – Subcommittee on Economic Policy. The bottom line of the report - If the debt ceiling is not raised for a brief period, the economic impact will be a million jobs lost. If it goes on for months, it could be many millions more jobs lost and will surely throw the economy into a severe recession. This seems to be falling on deaf ears with the Republican right, and it is a question of how well Mr. McCarthy comprehends the risk that he is taking. I suspect if the Republicans cause this to happen, although they may win the deeply red states, they will lose nationally.

It has been a few weeks since we last chatted, and many of the issues we have been discussing are still in the news.

Representative Stefanik announces she and Representative Tunney were sponsoring a Resolution declaring the recent NY gun legislation to be unconstitutional. I didn’t know the House has that power over the State Legislation.

It appears that there is good news on the horizon, at least for mice, and maybe for humans as scientists believe they have had a major breakthrough in understanding what causes cells to age. A scientist at the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard indicates that he has broken through a barrier that may impact the aging clock, and potentially reverse the aging of cells. This, obviously, is good news for many of us, maybe for all of us. My question is, will it regrow the cartilage in my knees?

Former New York Congressman Bill Owens reflects on the news of the past week.

The chaos in the Capital with Mr. McCarthy loosing 14 votes, then being elected as speaker was an embarrassing way for the Republicans to start, and as the Wall Street Journal pointed out it will not give confidence even to their most avid supporters that Republicans can govern. In contrast, although the Democrats had a lot of boisterous voices on the left, it did not impede the selection of Speaker Pelosi on one ballot, and although it took approximately a year to coalesce, they did so and passed some significant legislation. This is true whether you agree or disagree with the content of that legislation. The adoption of House Rules is likely to be as messy as The Speaker’s election.

President Trump’s recent announcement that we should suspend or cancel the constitution or at least some aspects of it was a surprise, I think. I wonder if he understands the Bill of Rights might be gone as well. His base boss won’t like losing the 2nd Amendment.

I recently read for the first time about climate proof towns, which are apparently being developed throughout the United States. These are planned communities, and generally are the most weather resilient developments in the country. Some of the elements included are raising the ground level, placing all utilities underground and providing alternate sources of power including solar. Most importantly the developer considers the weather risks in the area.