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Roughly another $125 billion in value has been wiped out among Chicago's largest public companies as warnings from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that the damage of a trade war will be worse than expected escalated a mass sell-off among traders today.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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In the immortal word of Bugs Bunny: “Wait.”
This is the long overdue slap to the face our so-called friends around the world have needed. We pay for many of these countries’ defense in addition to having to charge the superfluous tariffs these friends charge on American products.
This will shake out better once the dust settles. Patience is required. People dumping their stocks already missed out on the peak, so selling like this makes little sense.
Here’s the optimistic scenario: Everybody agrees that we have long been cheated on trade terms. Even Tim Walz recently said that. OK so far. Next, Trump negotiates away the tariffs in exchange for true reciprocity, which indeed should be the goal. See a particularly smart interview here with former Commerce Secretary Gutierrez why he thinks that will happen by year-end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlyDnbNBiXE . And if we do get true reciprocity with anybody, the next logical step, which is inexorable, is going to no tariffs. That would maintain reciprocity and be better for everybody. My complaint with Trump is that he should… Read more »
I don’t want true reciprocity and neither does Trump. Yes, Higher tariffs can result in higher prices for consumers including for American made products. Yet, with those higher prices come national security. Free traders tend to make the mistake of thinking that everything will be always be hunky-dory and there will never be any disruptions to supply chains. 100 years ago, the European Bankers were the most shocked because they had always assumed that countries that engaged in free trade would never go to war, naively believing that business and politics were the same thing. We’ve lost so many critical… Read more »
Those sensitive industries are the exceptions where tariffs and other barriers are appropriate. Chips, too. Trump has said repeatedly reciprocity is his goal, and he effectively includes non-tariff barriers in that, too, as he should.
England sold its soul to wokeness decades ago and has paid the price. Do we really want to follow their lead? I for one say NO, and so does the only president who knows what he’s doing.
All at once is the only way to administer medicine of this kind. President Trump understands that this reset will cause some short term disruptions, making time an even more valuable (as in scarce) asset. To move things along, he is using the Sheriff Buford T. Justice method: “That’s an attention getter.”
The rabbit’s word stands.
“trade war” come on. trump knows what he’s doing. the man hates wars of all kinds. if the eu loves america so much, they should become a part of it.
There goes billions in investments around the country.
Because someone doesn’t understand trade imbalances. And no one has the testicular fortitude to stop him or tell him he’s wrong.
LOL.
Sure thing, Brian Jones. You have no idea what investors are thinking, nor do I, nor do the editors of this blog. You know who does? TRUMP.