John T. Reed’s news blog

I got a notice to renew my drivers license. Don’t know why. It expires in 2028. Maybe my age. Had to do it in person because of eye test and written test. . I checked the hours. It is now at a local indoor mall. To my surprise, they open at 8AM there. . Relatively efficient for the DMV which is sort of the quintessential example of government worker sloth. . I wanted my veteran status in the license, but they said I needed a paper I never heard of to prove it. Never mind. . A year or so...

There is a big WSJ article today about whether the Fed can bring about a "soft landing" from high inflation. . They omit a possibility other than a "soft" or "hard landing"---permanent death of the USD. That never happened before. But we never had a debt-to-GDP ratio of 126% before either. . If we raise interest rates 10% now, that increase federal spending on us government interest to 10% x $30T which is $3T a year. US government tax revenues are about $4.5T a year so all federal spending other than defense, federal workers Social Security and maybe Medicare would...

To tame inflation, interest rates must exceed inflation. Inflation for March only was double digits. That means interest rates of 15% or higher. So probably not the best time to pass up 5% interest rates to wait for 2.5% to come back. I think 5% is lower than any in my adult other than the recent few years. Historically, 5% has been a bargain. And it is not subjective. Interest rates less than inflation rates mean borrow. Generally, American consumers can pay off loans whenever rates fall. There used to be prepayment penalties. Probably still are on commercial loans.

I was in Malmo Sweden in 2015. Creeped me out. Many angry Muslim demonstrators in the main square. They are now rooting there because a Danish-Swedish politician (whatever that is) is deliberately provoking the Muslims. I do not know about Swedish law, but in the U. S. that would be legal as free speech. . This is the legacy of the apparently insane or stupid Angela Merkel who pushed Biden-like open the gates immigrant swarms from the Mideast, ending nuclear power, Nordstream I and II, and probably other suicidal policies I do not remenber.

Some are touting converting coal power plants to small modular nuclear plants to act as backup to the oh so virtuous solar cells and windmills because they do not work at night or when it is cloudy or at night. . That is stupid on its face. Since the nukes work 24/7 and produce no CO2, just build those and screw solar cells and windmills. You would only build solar cells and windmills if the power they produced was cheaper than the variable costs of operating the nuclear plant without any subsidies or mandates for solar/wind. Variable costs are those...