Trump and his boys are dangerous. Only a big boost of Helicopter money would allow US citizens to accumulate the dollars to make his plan work. And really, the helicopter money would make the current system work better without all the grief and danger that the Trump radicals want.

The Fed no longer can wait for the economy. The banks want an IOR raise and they will get it. I don't think it will do much for the long rates,. But it will insulate the banks from lending to that lazy, irresponsible American consumer. But in reality, it is the Fed that is lazy and irresponsible.

Banks didn't have a boat load of reserves back in those days. Now a rise in rates is a rise on return on those reserves.

This is a very interesting article. I am thinking that if main street was left to itself, deflation would have appeared. I was in Las Vegas when the bottom was reached with housing. There was a big quiet, and then, within months, almost all the houses, and there were a lot of empty houses, had been gobbled up by the investor class and Wall Street. Inflation in housing was purely because so much money had gravitated to the top that the elite forced the prices up by themselves! One could say the same thing about oil. When it was time to reflate, contracts become scarce. It doesn't mean oil is scarce. We have oil running out of our ears. I guess it just seems to me like inflation off the bottom was pretty much contrived. You can't blame main street for it.

Will popping the bubble in stocks come without a destruction of capital formation? It will be interesting to look at that going forward: www.talkmarkets.com/.../a-great-depression-lesson-for-our-time

I noticed POTUS spoke of a border tax last night. He seems to really want it. If it isn't in the plans it is fake news from a prideful man. If it is in the plans, retail will take a beating.

If Donald Trump is eating humble pie he must be boiling mad. It is infinitely more difficult to manage the US economy than it is to manage a hotel. I just hope we don't bounce along zero or negative once this euphoria wears off.

"it's going to be focused on middle income tax cuts" I didn't know that the Treasury Secretary was a comedian. Those tax cuts will be swallowed up by higher retail prices from the border tax. And the poorer folks will also finance big business cuts if the border tax takes hold. Retail is already reporting below par figures. Unless they get hold of their senses, these boys in the White House will crush retail and the economy.

I wonder if the Trump effect is causing shoppers to cut back as well.

I think the Eurozone is a bad idea. But certainly the unwind could cause world financial trouble.