A Consumer Bubble?

2026 is not 1929 when your doorman was receiving a hot stock tip from the elevator operator and then mortgaging his house to go buy the shares. The bulk of inflation there is now is from the spike in oil prices caused by the war and the downstream rise in the cost of virtually everything because it is made with petroleum, grown with oil byproducts, and transported with diesel or gasoline. The primary reason interest rates should be raised is to curb "irrational exuberance", but there is little of that now, with the vast majority of Americans just struggling to make ends meet. I pray the Federal Reserve does not punish us further by raising the interest rate, when it was not us work-a-day folks who decided to embark on a war of choice that skyrocketed the burden we are already having to bear. 

For the Ages

The Knicks looked deader than Kelsey's ghost through almost four and a half quarters, trailing by 22 points with around seven minutes left. Then, it was as if the spirit of Willis Reed possessed the New Yorkers, and they came clawing back. They almost could not miss, and Cleveland started to play as if in a stupor. Somehow our Big Apple heroes stormed their way into an overtime session they simply dominated. Part of it must be said to be Cavalier collapse and that was brought about by an inexplicable attempt at reliance on James Harden, who seems to have proven he falls apart in the playoff clutch, a sad thing for an otherwise great player. 

An Amazing Performance

If Wemby stays healthy and maintains his desire to compete, he will be among the all-time greats. His more than forty points and twenty rebounds against the defending champs were the tip of what he can do. He has the softest shooting touch of any center I have seen. 

Training for Tomorrow

Let us hope somewhere Iranians are being trained and armed to overthrow their religious fanatic oppressors. Of course, those opposed to the mullahs would likely be doing this discreetly, but I fear it may not be being done at all. If the theocrats still control Iran at the conclusion of this battle, they will develop nuclear weapons and attack the world, no matter what they agree to in negotiations now. 

No Negotiating Partner

So long as there is an Islamo-Fascist dictatorship oppressing the Iranian People, America will find no arbiter in Tehran who advances peace. The purpose of the mullah regime is to bring forth the Twelfth Imam who has been hiding in a well for more than a thousand years; so the United States is not dealing with negotiators who are chock full of sanity, but rather religious fanatics impervious to reason and unconcerned with the welfare of Iranians or even their personal survival. 

A Numbers Game

Did the Unite the Kingdom rally draw two million as Tommy Robinson contends or only fifty thousand as others claim? That is no small disparity but a huge difference in the count. Is this a minor demonstration or an earth-shaking movement? I am not certain that Robinson's assessment is absolutely right, but I do not believe the British government, the controlled media, or Robinson's Leftist detractors. He is much more credible than all of them put together. 

A Successful Summit

It seems President Trump's China trip went well. We have trade agreements rather than nuclear missiles flying. I call that success.