The archive

Feb 11

Trump’s Economic Vision: A European Replay?

Kevin Hassett lays out the administration's plan — expand labor supply, cut aggregate demand — and it reads like post-GFC Europe. That experiment produced stagnation, weak wages, and worse inflation when the supply shock came. Free Feb 11

02/11/2025 Market Update

Consolidation below 6,100 with hedged, defensive positioning underneath. The update weighs deficit spending running about $25 billion under last year's cumulative pace against a credit cycle that needs roughly three percent loan growth to hold up demand. Members Feb 5

02/05/2025 Market Update

The video update works through the S&P's stalled test of 6,100, what the debt-ceiling issuance freeze and TGA measures are doing to yields, and simulation runs that model tariffs as a direct tax on importers. Members Feb 4

Tariffs, Growth, and Inflation: What No One is Talking About

Tariffs are a tax: they drain financial assets from the private sector and slow growth unless offset by spending. Whether they're inflationary turns on pass-through — in 2018, firms mostly ate the cost, and margins, not prices, took the hit. Free Feb 3

The Credit Cycle, Government Spending Cuts, and the Macroeconomic Outlook

Government spending is slowing — spending pauses, DOGE cuts, roughly $250 billion in tariff revenue — leaving private credit creation, growing about 3% on a $42.5 trillion base, to carry aggregate demand. Whether it can is the question this piece works through. Jan 28

01/28/2025 Market Update

The DeepSeek selloff and the rebound that followed, the OMB funding-freeze drama, DOGE's spending review, and what a slowing fiscal engine means for a market that would have to run on private credit — with the dotcom-era parallel in view. Members Jan 26

The Trump Administration’s First Moves: Credit Cycle to Credit Bubble?

Week one of the Trump administration puts an estimated $250-500 billion of spending cuts in motion. When deficits decelerate, growth leans on private credit creation - the classic bubble setup, with private debt near 145-155% of GDP. Jan 24

Trump 2.0: What It Means for Markets and Fiscal Flows

DOGE promises up to $2 trillion in cuts; the arithmetic of non-discretionary spending says $250-500 billion at most. A flow-by-flow accounting of the new administration's fiscal agenda and what it leaves intact for markets. Free Jan 20

01/20/2025 Market Update

An inauguration-week read: what Trump's speech did and didn't say on tariffs and spending, plus fiscal flows, bank credit, interest income, and the setup into February's options expiration and the April tax season. Members Jan 17

Understanding Rising Treasury Yields: Debunking the Macro Bear Narratives

Long-end yields are climbing and the doom chorus is back. Rising growth and inflation expectations explain the move; the debt-crisis and no-demand-for-Treasuries stories don't survive how reserves and issuance actually work. Free Jan 16

Inflection Point for Yields - Inflation & Employment

The long end has risen sharply while markets pare back rate-cut expectations. An MMT reading of the move: rate hikes as interest-income injections, the labor-market feedback loop, and the transition from Quad 4 to Quad 3. Jan 11

01/11/2025 Market Update

After a week of heavy selling, the video update works through the volatility setup, the fiscal flow sentiment ratio, dark pool activity, the January 17 options expiration, and where oil, Bitcoin, and gold sit ahead of Wednesday's CPI. Members