ECONOMICS

After soaring in September (by the most in three years), on the back of a 92.5% MoM surge in non-defense aircraft spending, it is no surprise that durable goods orders were expected to decline MoM in preliminary October data released this morning.

Against expectations of a 3.2% MoM decline, early October data actually plunged 5.4% (and September's 4.6% jump was revised down to +4.0%).

Source: Bloomberg

This dragged the YoY change for Durable Goods Orders down to just (more…)

Authored by David Stockman via InternationalMan.com,

Here’s one that will make your hair stand on end: The US Treasury closed the books on FY 2023, bringing the four-year cumulative deficit to $9.0 trillion!

That’s right. During the last 1,461 days (FY 2020 thru FY 2023), Uncle Sam has generated $6.2 billion of red ink each and every day including weekends, holidays and snow-days. For anyone keeping score at home, that’s $4.2 million of red ink per minute.

For the purpose of perspective, here’s how long it took to generate the first $9 trillion of US government debt: It took all of 43 presidents and 219 years to reach $9 trillion of public debt in July 2007. So the national debt clock has now accelerated to hyper-drive.

Market Value of Public Debt Outstanding, 1940 to July 2007

And, yes, we do mean accelerate. It turns out that when you remove the budgetary Mickey Mouse from the numbers, the federal deficit for FY 2023 clocked in at over $2.0 trillion, or double the comparable (more…)

Authored by Artis Shepherd via The Mises Institute,

It has become popular, especially in certain fields and among certain crowds, to glorify failure. So-called entrepreneurs and social influencers often brag about their failures. Multinational corporations publish poems encouraging failure. Vapid mottos rejecting the fear of failure are ubiquitous on motivational posters and T-shirts.

These efforts are apparently meant to convey an enterprising spirit and a fearlessness about trying (more…)