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Why China Crushed Its Own Tech Giants
In late 2020, Beijing did the unthinkable: it attacked its own champions. Trillions in market value vanished, the world’s largest IPO was halted, and entire industries were banned overnight. Western investors called it “economic suicide,” but they were looking at stock prices while China was looking at its society. This episode explains why the “Golden […]
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Regime Change at the Fed: From Big Bank Bailouts to Local Productivity
On January 30, when former Federal Reserve board member Kevin Warsh was nominated by President Trump as the central bank’s next chair, markets sold off and gold and silver plunged. Investors were positioned for a “dove,” someone inclined to cut rates aggressively and keep money loose; and Warsh has a long-standing reputation as a “hawk.” So wrote Michael […]
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Citizens and Government Actions in Economics, Trade, and Financial
Read Part 1 and 2. A. Trade Measures & Market Signaling Economic pressure can be applied instantly and scaled without violence. Immediate Measures (within a week) Government boycott US goods and services A very powerful signal which over time will be felt. Targeted tariffs on selected U.S. goods Symbolic but high-visibility sectors send a clear […]
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Why New York City Needs a Public Bank
We will build a city-owned bank — not to serve shareholders, but to serve you. A bank that invests in housing, in transit, in climate resilience. A bank that puts our money to work for our people. — Zohran Mamdani, Victory Speech, Nov. 4, 2025 New York City has elected a mayor who dares to challenge […]
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Consultants and Artificial Intelligence: The Next Great Confidence Trick
Why trust these gold-seeking buffoons of questionable expertise? Overpaid as they are by gullible clients who really ought to know better, consultancy firms are now getting paid for work done by non-humans, conventionally called “generative artificial intelligence”. Occupying some kind of purgatorial space of amoral pursuit, these vague, private sector entities offer services that could […]
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Profits, Prophets and Overvalued AI Stock I
In an industry of seedy soothsayers, cocksure charlatans and resourceful rogues, honest and accurate appraisals are exquisitely rare. When it comes to economics, investments and finance, this is particularly so. Certitude, however, tends to be in abundance for those predicting the next financial crash, the sort that will singe earnings and strafe savings. Take, for […]
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Stagflation: Stagnation, Inflation, and Beyond
Since my prediction in April of 2007 of an impending economic crash, I’ve vowed not to risk my unblemished record with any further predictions. But a simple thing that I learned from the run-up to that catastrophe was when the “little people” — the “every man and every-woman” — found their way into stock market […]
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Fatal Decline of the Imperial Power
A previous article, “Challenging China,” described the mixed and managed economy that enables China (PRC) to overcome the economic pressures posed by an overly contentious America. More to it. China’s mixed and managed economy is designed to match its stage of development and is well managed. The U.S. non-managed economy has no design and does […]