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On February 27, 2009 the global financial crisis had been raging for five long months. Many of us remember it like it was yesterday. Entire economies were ravaged. Some of the world’s largest businesses failed. Others only survived thanks to unprecedented government bailouts. Unemployment surged. Countless people lost their homes. It was brutal—
On July 1, 1862, with the Civil War still raging across America, US President Abraham Lincoln signed the “Pacific Railroad Act” into law to establish the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. Lincoln felt that the massive infrastructure project would be critical to support the war effort and stabilize the US economy. But he also
In the more than four decades since the Department of Education was created in 1979, it has spent literally TRILLIONS of dollars, presumably to make America’s youth smarter and more competitive. But what’s been the result? Well, just take a look at the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) long-term reading and mathematics
Politicians love creating new programs and agencies. But no one ever bothers to check if they actually work. There’s no accountability, no metrics, no plan—just endless bureaucratic expansion. Take Elizabeth Warren’s pet project, even before she was a Senator— the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Warren ensured the CFPB had less oversight than a
Once again, the media missed the real story. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times, among many others, reported that consumer prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, rose 3% year-over-year. And everybody seems to accept that story, that annual inflation is now up to 3%. This is a small uptick
And almost on cue, gold is at another all time high today and rapidly closing in on $3,000 per troy ounce. It’s not hard to understand why. We’ve been talking about this for quite some time— foreign governments, central banks, and even some large foreign corporations now are trading their dollars for gold.
In the late 1990s, the Internet was brand new… and sizzling hot. And most people thought it would bring radical change to the world, practically overnight. This is a common theme with disruptive technology. Enthusiasts often overestimate the impact of new technology in the short run, and underestimate its impact in the long
Well that was fast. The smoke had barely cleared on the opening salvo of the Great North American trade war, when all sides called a truce to talk out their differences. Just as we wrote yesterday, this is exactly what I was hoping would happen. In fact, in a Zoom call that Peter
It was early spring in the year 1171 AD when Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos decided to go to war against his much smaller ally– Venice. And the historical record shows that it was a really bad idea. The Byzantine Empire was still a vast and powerful state by the late 12th century.
In a 2022 interview, then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg discussed how we was going to spend $1.2 trillion of taxpayer money from the recently passed infrastructure bill. “The main thing I’m thinking about,” he said, “is how do we make sure we take all this money— you know it’s $1.2 trillion— and actually deliver
It was known as the “Timber Famine” in 18th-century Great Britain. And it was no exaggeration to say that it was a national crisis: Britain was running out of wood. The first major reason was population growth; wood was the major material and fuel source of the era, used for cooking, heating, and
Herbert Hoover was an unstoppable force in 1928. The Roaring Twenties were in full swing. Prosperity (it seemed) was everywhere. The stock market was soaring. People were making money hand over fist. And Hoover was the ‘status quo’ Presidential candidate that year. In other words, a vote for Hoover was a vote for
When the Founding Fathers put the finishing touches on the Constitution in late September of 1787, they probably had no idea whether or not it would be formally adopted by the states. There had been intense debate. Criticism. Dissent. And so the ratification of the Constitution was by no means guaranteed. Delaware became
Bank of America released its quarterly earnings report this morning, bright and early at 6:45am. And according to their newest financial statements, the bank is currently sitting on a whopping $112 BILLION in net unrealized bond losses. To say this is atrocious would be a massive understatement. Yet Bank of America had the
The summer of 64 AD was a hot one in ancient Rome, and the evening of July 18th was especially warm. The air was dry, and harsh winds blew fiercely throughout the city. So, when a fire broke out that night in the Cirus Maximus district, weather conditions were perfect for a major
