As you know, it’s been an up-and-down year for the markets. Recent declines reflect weakening “soft” indicators, things like consumer confidence. Tariff proposals have contributed to those more pessimistic views.
The “hard” data is more positive (more on that here). The question now is how much the soft data will influence economic decision making. The post linked above explains the good and bad cases.
We agree with the ultimate conclusion, that consistency during times of volatility is normally the best approach.
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- We liked this podcast on tariffs. If you aren’t sick of the subject, you can see the key arguments for why tariffs are generally considered poor economic policy.
- During World War II, the United States built a huge number of ships to support the war effort. This is how we did it.
- We’re suckers for animal info (see jellyfish story below) and thought this was fascinating: Orcas can imitate human speech, not just for fun, but as a way to communicate with humans. Scientists don’t yet know what they are saying, but it is clear that the animals are adapting to human contact.
- Online sports betting is a plague. We feel strongly that it will continue to provide negative effects, such as those explained in this Northwestern University research. Those effects include increased bankruptcy and lower investment. Moreover, the sports betting companies know precisely how to avoid “good” bettors and cater to losers.
- You can't live forever, but this jelly fish can! Turritopsis dohrnii, known as the "immortal jellyfish," can revert its cells to an earlier state, effectively bypassing death and potentially living indefinitely.
- When Cale visited Montreal last summer, several of the locals informed him that they enjoy vacationing in Florida during the summer. However, infuriated by annexation talk, many Canadians are now boycotting their American vacations.
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