Was having a bad day yesterday; got up too early and then got interrupted every time I tried to lie down again..so didn’t try to write until evening…then found the site to be down..thank you, as always, dear brother John for fixing the server.

So what’s on tap for today? I guess I’m still thinking about the economy…a quick glance at Marketwatch and I find the Dow is down a trifle, on news about the bond market being inverted…yes, it is and it will likely stay that way for a while. It takes a fair length of time for the recession to show up after this indicator starts beeping.

Paul Krugman’s column is about Trump picking a fight with Europe over tariffs (dumb) and how wrong-headed the Germans have been about debt (they have some experience with too much of it) and how they need to spend on infrastructure – as do we. Geez…duh..duh..duh.

Why do we keep repeating these things over and over? Several reasons. Start with Japan. Instead of taking the pain of writing off zombie loans, they poured money into building what is now referred to as ‘bridges to nowhere’. Japan – the same country that brought you the Fukushima disaster – clearly has some institutional/cultural issues that keep getting in their way to righting their tilting ship – tilting for the past 20 years. They have demographic issues; gender issues (women no longer wanting to be stay at home moms – gee I wonder why? Another DUH!) and they have no immigration. But I digress…Japan is held up as the reason why countries like Germany avoid spending on needed infrastructure to try to stimulate a moribund economy. It was Larry Summers that proposed the idea of negative interest rates, which Europe adopted…helped a bit … but not really.

Then there’s nationalist politics. You can’t fight demographics unless you’re willing to embrace immigration, which Europe is now not willing to do. So everybody is doing exactly the wrong thing to fix their problems and political economists are cheering on the wrong headed ideas because of ideology, not pragmatism. It appears to be the story of the moment…everywhere. Where is another John Maynard Keynes when you need him – or her?

How will all this end? Wow – the shadow? Already showed him. War. That’s the next logical step..feels a bit overdue, you say? Be careful what you wish for.

I’m sorry this isn’t a better post – I need to get focused on book 3, and not get so distracted by current events. Try to do better tomorrow.