August 25, 2018 — Real interest rates tend to have a negative effect on real prices of commodities: oil and gas, minerals, and agricultural commodities. One might hazard the prediction that US real interest rates are headed up, and therefore, other things equal, real commodity prices will decline.
August 8, 2018 –– President Trump and European Commission President Juncker, in the Rose Garden July 25, announced EU-US trade negotiations. Here are my answers to questions on the negotiations, in the event they actually take place.
July 26, 2018 — American presidents are supposed to take America’s side when dealing with other countries. (“My country, right or wrong.”) When Barack Obama was (falsely) accused of starting his presidency with an “apology tour” of the Middle East, it was understood that apologizing to foreigners would have been a bad thing, if true. Last week Donald Trump received a lot of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for failing to take the side of his own intelligence services and law enforcement agencies when their findings ran counter to what his friend Vladimir Putin solemnly assured him to be the truth.