From The Wichita Eagle:
Lawmakers rolled back Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature tax policy over his objections Tuesday night, forcing into law tax increases to fix a budget shortfall and provide more money for schools.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Implications of the President’s Muslim Travel Ban
Since the President has acknowledged that the intent of his restrictions on entry of individuals from certain countries is actually a “travel ban”, it is of interest to assess the impact on foreign travel to the United States, and consequent impact on the US economy.
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Slowdown? Recession Indicators as of June 5, 2017
As the prospects for a fiscal stimulus fade, and the prospects for protectionist backlash remain, some observers ponder whether growth will stall before it gets started.
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Kansas Employment below Peak
and declining.
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Pondering Economic Policy Implementation over the Next Four Years
From Reuters today:
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract good people to work in this administration,” said one senior official. “In other cases, veteran people with expertise are leaving or seeking posts overseas and away from this White House.”
FinCEN to Share Information with Senate Intelligence Committee
As noted in Wednesday’s post, FinCEN — the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — was asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee about information regarding connections between Russia and Trump and his associates. News reports indicate that FinCEN will provide the requested information.
Stock Prices around October 20, 1973 (The Saturday Night Massacre)
Reader Julian Silk asks what happened to indicators around the Saturday Night Massacre, when President Nixon fired the Independent Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. The Baker, Bloom and Davis daily version of the Economic Policy Index only extends back to 1985. Here is the Nasdaq around that date. Since October 20th was a Saturday, the relevant dates are 10/19 and 10/22.
Figure 1: Nasdaq index, June 1973-January 1974.
The Nasdaq rose slightly today. The true issue is what happens as events unfold.
What Is FinCEN?
Several accounts [1] [2] [3] have noted that the Senate Intelligence Committee has requested information regarding related to President Donald Trump, his senior officials and his campaign staffers from the Treasury’s FinCEN. What is FinCEN?
It’s shortened form for “Financial Crimes Enforcement Network”.
From the official website:
The mission of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities.
For the record, the current acting director is Jamal El-Hindi (as of 2:22PM Pacific).
Technically Correct, but Betraying a Certain Mindset
From the Washington Examiner:
I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the president of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power”
Event Analysis: How Not to Conduct Public Relations
United Airlines had security drag a passenger off an airplane on Sunday. The CEO of United did not apologize until just a little while ago. Story and video here.
It’s apparent that the previous statement (discussion here) which did not include an apology was not having the desired effect.
Source: Reuters, accessed noon CST 11 April 2017.