Commentary According to the Wall Street Journal, “Zillow Group said on Thursday that it lost $881 million on its algorithmic-driven home-flipping business last year in its first earnings report since the real-estate company shut down that operation in the fall.” The emphasis is, naturally, mine because, frankly, it’s mind-boggling. Zillow accounts for nearly a third…
Zillow’s (Near) $1 Billion Blowout: What’s the Lesson?
March 14, 2022
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Business & EconomyBusiness Columnistshousing bubbleInvestmentOpinionreal estatestock marketViewpointsZillow
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Major US Companies Exit Russia—But Don’t Be Fooled
Commentary A number of highly influential tech companies have suspended their operations in Russia. Their collective decision was, of course, inspired by events in Ukraine. The first week of March saw the likes of Netflix, PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa, to name just four American multinationals, all exit the Russian market. Will they return? In truth,…
Rate Hike Guessing Misses the Point
Commentary It’s like Jeopardy on acid. I’m talking about the blizzard of guesses surrounding the Fed’s rate-hiking plans to combat this bout of inflation. What is 50 basis points in March, Alex? I’ll take seven rate hikes this year for a thousand. The reality is most of this speculation doesn’t matter. The Fed has never…
War, Sanctions, and the US Economy
Commentary Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine has created untold hardship. So also have the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and its allies. Everyone in assessing these matters should keep in mind the relative degrees of suffering. Worst is the pain imposed on the Ukrainian people, as is apparent in the pictures and…
War in Ukraine: An Honest Discussion of the Costs for US Citizens
Commentary During a webinar last week on Ukraine, Russia, and U.S. Foreign Policy, a couple of expressed opinions drew a lot of attention. The first was that the conflict in Ukraine is likely to last somewhere between a couple of months and several years. The second was that western sanctions on Russia would have been…
Rates Are Rising: Where Do You Park Your Cash?
Commentary Russian invasions, skyrocketing inflation, Fed rate hikes, new COVID variants, you name it—financial markets are coming under siege by an army of factors that threaten everyone’s wealth. It’s a confusing time for investors. You hear one thing from the talking heads on CNBC and something completely different from the ones on Fox Business. Is…
Progressive Governance Needs a Social Credit State
March 13, 2022
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Big Tech, Censorship, and SocialismBusiness & EconomyBusiness Columnistscancel culturecommunistconstitutional rightsDefending Americaeconomic policieseconomyFeatured TopicsOpinionsocial creditUSViewpoints
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Commentary Critics of the Chinese Communist regime often point toward the government’s social credit system, in which the government traces individuals’ electronic paths, from their comments on social media to items they purchase, and issues rewards and punishments based on the information collected. For example, a Chinese citizen who receives a “bad” social credit score might…
Moving the World Past ‘Peak China’
Commentary This is the second of two articles on the increasing risks of doing business with China, and how America and other Western-style democracies can move past it. The Russia-Ukraine war has shown it is impossible to rely on trade with, or investment in, a country bereft of democratic norms, especially a totalitarian regime like…
Biden’s Fake Prosperity: There Is No Strong Recovery
Commentary “Initial estimate of fourth-quarter 2021 annualized real gross domestic product (GDP) showed that the bulk of recent economic growth and ‘recovery,’ in second-half 2021, reflected no more than a continued, accelerating pace of buildup in unsold inventories, resulting from extraordinarily weak demand. … Of the stronger than expected headline fourth-quarter 2021 real annualized GDP…
Crude Oil Hits Record Highs
Commentary “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—and the western response to it—will exuberant the supply-demand imbalance that lies at the heart of the global inflation surge. Reducing trade with a current account surplus country via sanctions and boycotts means that the rest of the world needs to produce a larger share of what it consumes,” said Jan Hatzius,…
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