As the U.S.stock market continues to blithely march ahead, seemingly unmoved by the continued societal devolution unfolding weekly on the streets of America, one has to wonder when or if it will ever matter to Wall Street what Main St is feeling. When I lived in the U.S. as a teenager, the Vietnam War was raging, and youth disaffection with the business community was palpable. Today's youth has a similar disdain for the establishment, as they see a disconnect between the elit

There's been much hand-wringing over the "K-shaped" economic recovery since the Covid 19 recession lows, and with good reason. The massive stimulus that followed fiscal and monetary policy responses to that crisis created multiple economic distortions, not the least of which is now described as the 'affordability' crisis. Despite the stock market's all-time highs, the 'Average Josephine' is in a serious funk. This chart says it all. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment -

I have been alerted that today is Epiphany thanks to my Google calendar and its incessant nagging. That's what I get for clicking the 'holiday' setting, but it helps me avoid confusion since every day is a holiday when you're retired. The original 'Epiphany', 2000 years ago, marked the realization of something that had seemed implausible but later became apparent. Do I have any epiphanies for the year ahead? I list a few below in no particular order, and they are subject to