The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a final rule Friday that gives President Donald Trump what he hopes will be a political boost in the Midwestern corn belt, where many of his supporters live: permission for gasoline retailers to start selling higher blends of ethanol fuel to drivers over the summer months, effective immediately. The agricultural and biofuels industries had […]
U.S. Announces 2nd Round of Financial Aid for Farmers Hit by Trade War
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced it would plow $16 billion into financial assistance for farmers to help make up for financial losses from President Donald Trump’s trade tit-for-tat with China. “After China decided to renege on commitments they already made, [Trump] directed me immediately to implement a program,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Thursday in a […]
U.S. Announces 2nd Round of Financial Aid for Farmers Hit by Trade War with China
U.S. Department of Agriculture Announces Farm Aid Program
The sun is shining on Detroit again
Whether you read travel magazines or just hard news, you have probably heard Detroit is undergoing a resurgence, most of it centered around the Downtown and Midtown areas, at least for now. I have been observing the changes for at least 10 years now. Here are some images taken within the last 6 months. (Be sure and click on some […]
At War Over Who We Are
April 6, 2017 — It was the night of January 30, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Bingham Graves, of Knoxville, Tenn., stood outside in the near-freezing Washington, D.C., weather, her head held high, facing the general direction of the U.S. Supreme Court, with the dome of the U.S. Capitol providing a backdrop. She held aloft a home-made […]
SEC Nominee Would Ease Way Into Capital Markets for Mid-sized Firms
UPDATE 4/5/2017: The nomination of Jay Clayton as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission was approved by the Senate Committee on Banking and Urban Affairs on Tuesday, April 4. The full Senate is expected to vote on the confirmation later in the month. Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s nominee to chair the Securities and Exchange […]
Financial Regulatory Rollback to Be More Slow and Steady, Less Shock and Awe
Rescission of PE Registration Requirement Won’t Happen Anytime Soon President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to roll back financial regulatory reform, but Republican lawmakers warn not to expect significant changes — if any — to the massive financial regulatory package known as Dodd-Frank before year-end, as the GOP-led Congress sorts out the priorities of its ambitious legislative agenda. […]
Demonstrable Facts About Donald J. Trump (The Ones that Wouldn’t Fit in My Other Post)
All of these are demonstrable facts: Trump was under a federal investigation, involving six agencies, on potential ties with the Kremlin, when he took the oath of office on Jan. 20. Trump gave FBI James Comey a hug. Trump didn’t hug anyone else in the room. James Comey wrote a letter to Congress saying that he had some questionable […]
A ‘Dr. Evil’ Moment for House Republicans
On January 6, this tweet appeared. Uhhhh, holy shit pic.twitter.com/9rthmnuuEH — Sebastian @SF (@gundamman) January 5, 2017 The top photo is real, although a reasonable person might suspect it was manipulated (or posed?), so striking is the resemblance to the still from the 1997 comedy “Austin Powers,” featuring Mike Myers in one of his two roles, here, Dr. Evil. […]
The horse he rode in on
Below is a letter I sent to The Wall Street Journal editor in chief, Gerard Baker, on Nov. 14, in response to his message about the new format of the newspaper, a kind of Journal Lite, or so he seems to be saying. I’m posting it here just in case he doesn’t read the copy sent to the paper’s […]