Shot in the Dark

Category: Business, The Economy and The Markets

  • Generational Failure

    Socialists are usually children of wealth who feel cheated out of their on success. So – what if we have an entire generation like that?

  • High Caffeine Pools?

    One might just as easily train a chimpanzee to recite Byron as to teach a Democrat economics. But I may just have a plan, here.

  • The Invisible Hangover

    Fads in bars: 1990:  every bar that could find three TVs was re-branding itself as a “sports bar”.  2000s:  those same bars found a couple old church pews and a Guinness tap, and became “Irish Bars”.   2010s:  Those same bars found themselves some brew vats and became “Microbreweries”.  I don’t drink a lot of beer…

  • More Vibrancy!

    Not sure if I’m getting tired of Trump winning – but I’ve had enough of Saint Paul losing.   The Cub on University Avenue is closing after several decades: The store at 1440 University Ave. W. will close its doors to the public on Aug. 2, and 96 store employees will be laid off starting on…

  • The DFL At Work

    The wages of DFL control are languishing as a backwater.     Count the zeros: that’s 90 billion in Pennsylvania…: And 33 million in Minnesota: Other than the number of zeros, the big difference is that the big, Pennsylvania number comes from private investors. Ripe marks…er, taxpayers covered it in Minnesota. So yeah – while I’m…

  • Unmarketable Marketing

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: It’s nice that Amazon is so concerned about me, they send me email telling me how to avoid be scammed.   It’s annoying they send the email to my cell phone at 3:09 am.   I leave my cell phone on overnight in case I get an emergency call:…

  • He’s Got Questions

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: Why is there a rebate for electric bicycles, what’s wrong with the old-fashioned Schwinn bicycle?   Why do teacher pensions need a boost from the state, why aren’t they paid from teacher contributions?   Why do any illegal aliens get free healthcare whether they are children or not?…

  • Opportunity Knocks

    Joe Doakes, once of Como Park, emails: Members of the German Parliament have been talking tough about Trumps tariffs.The tariffs will hurt Americans worse than Germans. America doesn’t make anything anymore.  There’s nothing they need from us.     Excellent. High tariffs are gone. And so are our soldiers, airmen, Marines.  Germany can have those empty…

  • Late To The Party

    Joe Doakes, once of Como Park, emails: John Hinderaker from Powerline looks at the data and comes to the conclusion that Nixon taking us off the gold standard was a mistake. Welcome to the club.  Never too late to wake up to the truth. Now, about the 2020 election . . . Joe Doakes Right.…

  • The Devil Is In The Details

    So, the Saint Paul City Council appears to be rolling back its stupid, ruinous “rent control” ordinance… …sort of.  But – only the buildings built after 2004? I’m no expert, but this sounds to me like it’s a plan to: Make it impossible to pay the upkeep and taxes on older buildings, and so to…

  • Calculated Risk

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: Scott Johnson from Powerline has a column explaining why Trump’s tariffs are calculated incorrectly and are therefore too high.  He gives a formula from some academics showing that the inelasticity of trade was improperly factored into setting our new rates. Missing the point, Scott.  The point is foreign…

  • Just Like Shakespeare Said; All Them Marketers Oughtta Be Dead

    Joe Doakes, once of Como Park, emails: I get lots of spam emails but never see them.  My spam filter works fine for real spam.  It’s spam-ish emails that get through.  “Legitimate” spam, so to speak.   Marketing people will tell you that the best source of business is your existing customer list.  They already…

  • Ripping Off The Bandaid

    OK, so work with me here [1]. I’m not especially a fan of tariffs. Some of the arguments against them aren’t much better, though. If they go through, they are taxes, yes indeed. And if they don’t – if they are leverage, used to successfully change trade policy, or in some cases safeguard an industry…

  • Missing The Forest For The Dust

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: I notice a common theme running through Berg’s Third Law (disasters) and Mother Jones Corollary to the Tenth Law (vicious lies) and 18th Law of Media Latency (48 hour rule): the media rushes to lie about Conservatives, so thoughtful readers will wait for the dust to settle an…

  • Resolution

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Until someone has the guts to go after the big entitlement programs, it’s all performance.  The best case is that Trump curbs the chaos long enough for the economy to switch to “puree”, which might forestall but not prevent the inevitable reckoning.  Can we get to that without getting…

  • Battlespace Preparation IV

    Joe Doakes formerly of Como Park emails: One of the upshots of Americans (induced) economic illiteracy is that if they’ve gotten any education in economics at all, it’s been in Keynesianism. As such, they think the natural, effective response to an economic downturn is to pour taxpayer money into the situation. Which merely stretches out…

  • Battlespace Preparation III

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: More tomorrow.

  • Battlespace Preparation II

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: Part III coming up tomorrow. 

  • Battlespace Preparation I

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: Two more parts to come.  I’ll save my comments for after Part III.

  • Hear Me Out

    On the one hand, it’s amusing to see that suddenly “cultural appropriation” – in this case, a bunch of rhythmically-challenged Argentine leftist “Karens” But I think this is a good thing.  Hear me out. Until the mid 1940s, Argentina was a wealthy first-world country, with a per capita GDP competitive with the US.  Then, the…

  • I Was Told There Would Be Pouncing

    While this is good – and expected – news, I feel a little cheated. Companies are ditching DEI because it’s bad for the bottom line; they can practice equality without flogging “equity”.  But notice how it’s framed: “under pressure from conservative activists”.  I mean, if you’re going to “blame” companies’ rediscovering economic and social sanity…

  • And To Think We Accuse Them Of Economic Illiteracy

    To:  “Prez”, Dim Little Progressive Social Media BulbFrom:  Mitch Berg, obstreporous peasant who passed Econ 201Re:  Not The “Own” You Think It Is “Prez”, Re your sentiment expressed over the weekend: I mean, saving more money is good for you – might make you a conservative, eventually, actually.   And unless you save that money in…

  • Never Forget

    The Vice President of the United States actively worked to bail out rioters, convicted rapists and scads of violent goons: Not a single national Democrat or local DFLer denounced this erosion of our legal system. Some, including much of the metro and state “progressive” power elite, celebrated and participated in it. This needs to be…

  • We’re #1!

    Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: It’s talking about fiscal policy and, well… No choking in the finals in this contest…

  • Digging Into The Memory Hole

    During the last couple of legislative sessions, the DFL wrote a whole bunch of moral checks. Since we’ve got an election coming up, how about we see how many of them bounced? Abortion Unrestricted abortion is one promise the DFL trifected promised and delivered on.  Perhaps very very overdelivered. The DFL brought a certain brusque…