More mortgage fraud, goodbye AJC, hello socialism and other thoughts

More mortgage fraud, goodbye AJC, hello socialism and other thoughts

The mortgage fraud allegation just hit Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general who is looking to unseat incumbent senator John Cornyn. So now Paxton joins Adam Schiff, Letitia James and of course Lisa Cook in what some people say is rather common but seldom prosecuted. But what strikes me is that the clamor is only for Lisa Cook to be fired. You would think there would be demands for James to step down, for Schiff to resign his senate seat and for Paxton to leave the Texas race. But no. Why not? Seems to me that there should be pressure on all to resign not just Cook.

One under the radar thing to be aware of is that Trump may be hoisting himself on his own petard (I’ve always wanted to say that). The saying is from Hamlet and means that Trump may harm himself by his actions to bring harm on others. Consider that Trump is boasting that he will soon have control over the Fed with four of the seven governors being his nominees. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that this is true. If so, I guarantee that the bond market will react with higher yields and a lower value of the dollar. The higher yields would be the opposite of what Trump wants. Recall that he wants lower rates in order to be able to keep spending more at a lower cost of borrowing. But most of the Treasury issues are no Treasury bills but longer term notes and bonds. So Trump controlling the Fed would likely lead to higher, not lower, borrowing costs.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is eliminating its print edition at the end of the year. Its print circulation has fallen from 600,000 to 40,000 so they are going digital only. I grew up with that newspaper. Its editor Ralph McGill was a moderate and sane voice during the turbulent civil rights times in Atlanta.  For a time he was the only white editor who covered the civil rights movement and was an outspoken opponent of segregation. He was vilified, threatened, crosses were burned in his yard and his shots were fired at his house. He never wavered. He was called all sorts of names and branded a communist. But in those days any threat to the status quo of segregation was called a communist. After he retired, the AJC morphed into a typical left wing media voice of the democrat party and I recall once writing a letter to the editor saying that a particular stance by the paper would have McGill rolling in his grave. Still I would buy the Sunday AJC on my trips to see my Mom. I still have visions of my Dad picking up the paper and always first reading the comics. RIP all.

I subscribe to both the print and digital editions of the Wall Street Journal. I enjoy the print edition more.

Speaking of which there was a story in the Journal with the headline “Higher prices are coming for household staples.” Well I guess people will have to use paper clips instead.

Trump’s stake in Intel dilutes stockholder’s value. I wonder if any Intel stockholder would sue? I know I would.

Has there ever been a successful government assisted private business? Typically government involvement means less competition, less innovation and less consumer value. All the while there is cronyism, favoritism, kickback, graft and bribes. What’s not to love?

The amount that companies spent on lobbying expenditures has jumped 277 percent since Trump has been in office. I bet if you follow the money you will see all the carve outs that have occurred and are occurring under the guise of negotiations and dealmaking. The number of registered lobbyists has increased from 89 to 212 in the same period. Not surprisingly the firm most closely aligned with the president has profited the most. Ballard Partners revenue has tripled since Trump became president. Its clients are all large corporations giving further evidence that Trump’s policies favor bib business and the impact may well be anti-small business.

Isn’t it interesting that while Trump is bringing more socialism to America, the erstwhile socialist countries in Latin America are throwing out their rulers and are electing more market oriented leaders. First there was Argentina. The media scoffed when Milei was elected president of Argentina. But he has slashed inflation from over 200% to under 2 percent. Poverty rates have fallen as well and there is less ridicule for Milei than before. Bolivia has just thrown out its socialist government. Ecuador, a country where I have spent a bit of time, has also gone from socialist to a more market oriented leader in Daniel Noboa. Elections are coming in Chile and Honduras with candidates right of center favored to win. This leaves only Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as bastions on the far left. This would be a wonderful time for Trump to scrap the tariffs on these countries moving away from socialism and enter into free trade agreements to help bolster their economies and to end their previous leaning toward China. But alas, I won’t hold my breath.