John T. Reed’s news blog

Dem presidential candidates have to win CA on Super Tuesday. That means they have to solve the housing "affordability" crisis here, or seem to.   Limits on supply High prices of anything are caused by insufficient supply in relation to demand. Insufficient supply of houses in CA is caused by land-use regulations like zoning and the CA Coastal Commission.   The only real solution is to reduce land-use regulation—drastically.   But one man's affordability is another man's home value. Owners of existing homes, like businessmen, want government regulators to prevent anyone from competing with them when they sell their home,...

Further on the sale of rare coins. I called Heritage San Francisco. They only accept coins for auction if the predicted sale price is $5,000 or more. The first one I want to sell is appraised at $625 by PCGS—1928 Peace Dollar, minted in Philadelphia, not San Francisco, with a grade of MS 63.So I cannot sell THROUGH Heritage, but I can sell TO Heritage. I doubt they would be the high bidder.So that takes me back to the Internet. I have never sold anything on eBay so I have no reputation there. But I have been in business selling...

Smollett may be in bigger trouble for the threatening letter “sent” to him ostensibly by white supremacists. According to the Washington Post, Smollett’s recent fame was a three-step process:1. He was unhappy with the amount 20th Century Fox paid him for his work on the Empire TV series.2. In an attempt to pressure Fox to increase his pay, he sent a threatening letter with white powder to the Empire producers.3. When that got little publicity, he staged the MAGA Country assault on 1/29/19.The letter, which arrived at Empire on 1/22/19, used letters cut out of a magazine like a ransom...

This is Black History Month. When is white history month? There is none because EVERY month throughout American history has been white history month and there was no Black History Month until 1976. . Do whites in America WANT a White History Month? Nah. Affirmative action crap like that is for losers and whiners and professional victims. . However, I was amazed at what I learned reading about Black History Month in an article in today’s WSJ. . • More than 10 M blacks were brought to the Western Hemisphere in 36,000 voyages; but only 400K went to the US....

I have repeatedly said that the federal government will be forced to have the Federal Reserve ”print” money to pay the bills in the foreseeable future..The Fed does that by “buying” US government bonds with money that does not exist. They write check on an empty bank account, but the checks do not bounce. The dollar falls in purchasing power, a.k.a. inflation or hyperinflation..I figured the politicians would just pressure the Fed to do this the way they did in the recent Quantitative Easing I, II, and III..I underestimated the total absence of subtleness in Ocasio-Cortez’s world view. Her Green New...