John T. Reed’s news blog

I highly praised Tucker Carlson here in the last year I think. . But I noted he has some blind spots. Nowadays, he is essentially an absolute isolationist, a believer in the notion that we must retreat from all nuclear weapons owners who threaten to use them against us..By definition, if all nations were absolute isolationists who would only fight when they were invaded, evil dictators could take over the world one county at a time by the salami-slice gradual divide-and-conquer approach. . He acknowledges that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is totally wrong, but rejects doing anything to stop or reverse...

We got AC work done today. One estimate was $17,767. The other was $9,142. This was to replace the heating and air-conditioning for the first floor of our two-story home.  The second-floor systems were replaced about seven years ago. The third company we asked for an estimate was the one who replaced the second floor HVAC seven years ago. They charged us over $12,000 then, so it is not likely that they would would have made a competitive bid this time. They promised to give us an estimate this time, but did not. This got us a 3-ton, 14 SEER condenser and...

‘Real Estate Isn’t Always a[n inflation] Shelter’ is the headline in a WSJ article from yesterday. Excuse me. Real estate is not a dollar-denominated asset. ALL assets that are NOT dollar-denominated ARE inflation hedges. What is the author Carol Ryan talking about? When inflation accelerates, as in WW II and the 1970s, it is common for the federal government to enact price controls including rent controls. NYC still has rent control left over from WW II. But Ryan manages never to mention rent control in an article about inflation other than mentioning that already existing German “government regulations cap” residential...

Wall Street Journal today has an article about Argentines coping with inflation by hoarding. Yeah. My hyperinflation book has a chapter titled “Advance purchase and sale.” It is about stocking up on necessities now before the prices get higher. Obvious hedge against inflation. I also say to get rid of all the stuff you may try to sell via Craiglist and eBay now rather than when everyone in America is doing that. . I do NOT have a freezer. Hoarding is trickier than that. I have lots of UHT milk, Mormon dry pack #10 cans of food, and freeze-dried #10...