price

Why Invade Ukraine, Uncle Vlad?

Putin tried but failed to justify his war to the West. He did fool a lot of people leading up to the conflict, but since then he’s been overmatched; Europe has learned to fear and mistrust him, and much of the United States loves an underdog too much to want to believe him. In another article, we dealt with a few of his claims (and some others from across the internet), and the actual truth behind them. The bottom line is, there’s just not much truth to them.

But if not the plight of expatriate Russians, what could possibly motivate a modern dictator to get involved in a land war in Eurasia?

(more…)

Fear and Loathing: The Plague Market

After opening fifteen hundred points down, the stock market dropped another two thousand.  Consumer goods are up 20% — hoarding toilet paper does some good after all — but the rest of the market is through the floor.

Coronavirus fears, a massive price war for oil, and a certainty among financial wonks that a downturn is due:  All these come together to create a truly nasty couple of days, (more…)

Why Gas Is Cheap (Hint: It’s Bad News)

Some of my olde– uh… more experienced readers may remember when gasoline first topped one dollar a gallon at the pumps.  If you’re finding it tough to put a date to the event, here’s some hints:  Jimmy Carter was President, there were hostages in Iran (which was about to be at war with Iraq), and America was in the grip of an energy crisis. (more…)