Recent Posts

China isn’t using yuan to fight tariffs

Since April, the yuan has fallen by almost 8 percent against the US dollar. This has led many analysts and politicians to speculate that China is intentionally trying to devalue its currency to offset the effect of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. It almost certainly isn’t. In theory, the price of the yuan is set by a basket of more than ...

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GDP isn’t growing fast enough for markets

President Donald Trump promised last week that the second-quarter gross domestic product number would be unthinkable. The number was, instead, what everyone expected, and that could pose a problem. The Commerce Department reported later that the second-quarter GDP rose an annualized 4.1 percent, just slightly less than forecasts for 4.2 percent. The biggest issue is that the number indicates that ...

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Trump’s petty insult to former intel chiefs

President Trump has threatened to take away the security clearances of former high-ranking intelligence officials who’ve criticized his policies. Intended as punishment for the likes of former FBI director James Comey, former director of national intelligence James Clapper and former CIA and NSA head Michael Hayden, the idea is petty even by this president’s standards. Fortunately, it’s also largely pointless. ...

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