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.

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).

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”

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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.

Not an economics post, but I cannot resist.

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Full quote:

“We’re getting really bad dudes out of this country, and at a rate that nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said Thursday. “And they’re the bad ones. And it’s a military operation.”

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Since the Senate Majority Leader has closed down “the greatest deliberative body in the world” by invoking Rule XIX against Senator Elizabeth Warren, I take the opportunity to share what Mitch McConnell was so afraid to have heard.

A quote:

“Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts.”

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On the occasion of Black History Month [1]:

“Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.”

’nuff said.

From Draft Executive Order dated 1/23/2017:

…DHS and State Department to establish new standards and regulations for determining when aliens will become subject to the “public charge” grounds of inadmissibility and deportability (i.e., their likelihood of requiring public assistance after being admitted into the United States);

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