Another Epidemic Hitting Hard, Rolling from the Top Down, in Business and Politics.

TRUTH DECAY...A new theme of study of the Rand Corporation, one of the world's leading "Think and Research Centers".  Epidemic Definition:  We are not speaking of a "medical epidemic" although that is on a lot of minds these days. That one is "A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time."  Our credit and thanks go to those patriots at the Rand Corporation (one of the world's great think tanks). 

We are referring to a social epidemic as Malcom Gladwell defined. in his book: The Tipping Point.   "Gladwell's epidemics are social. He believes that many ideas, products, messages and behaviors we find in society can be characterized by their rapid, exponential spread through our population."  One illustration from the concept of The Tipping Point. 

At 32 degrees Fahrenheit, water molecules slow their movement or vibration, they they begin to form a crystalline structure.  That becomes ice. Below 32 degrees water becomes ice. 32 degrees is "the tipping point". …

TRUMPS TARIFFS COST AMERICANS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

TRUMP TARIFFS HAVE HURT U.S. MANUFACTURING, COST AMERICAN JOBS: FEDERAL RESERVE ECONOMISTS CREDIT ARTICLE SOURCES TO THE HUFFINGTON POST AND FEDERAL RESERVE “We find that tariff increases enacted in 2018 are associated with relative reductions in manufacturing employment and relative increases in producer prices,” the economists concluded...

FARMING BUSINESS TRENDS: TARIFF CONFLICTS IMPACTING MARKETS

FARMING TRENDS ARE SIGNIFICANT TO OUR ECONOMY and the American people. Every farmer should read this. You have our permission to copy and send it out. Agriculture is a huge business in the USA, billions and billions of dollars. Thus trends in agriculture are important to watch...

RECESSION DURING A RECOVERY? IT HAPPENED IN 1937

A Recession After A Depression (how to avoid). By Ben Boothe, Sr. We all know of the stock market crash of 1929, the panic in financial markets, and the reasons. The Federal Government was shrinking the supply of money at the very time when liquidity was needed in the financial marketplace. Federal Reserve Policy is critical during times of recession or recovery...

U. S. ECONOMY SLOWING

We at have repeatedly warned that there are emerging structural weaknesses in the United States Economy , and these are beginning to show. First, we agreed with the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco when their economists pointed out a negative or inverse yield curve where short term treasury notes were now yielding less than short term money market indicators...

Industry Trends 2019-2020 and Impacts on Value

Trends and Impacts on Value By Ben Boothe, Sr. (Commercial Appraisals and Valuations) by trend research, appraisal data from

Farming Industries: Farmers are seeing markets in flux with some agricultural prices are down because of trade wars, uncertain demand and unpredictable political leadership...

Tariff and Trade Wars Hurting Jobs, Economy

Economists and financial observers like us at are watching the impact of job creation or job losses as a result of uncertainties and economic impacts of the "trade war" and "tariff battles" initiated by the White House. During the last 18 months of the Obama administration and the first 12 months of the Trump administration, we became accustomed to seeing growth of 120,000 to 250,000 new jobs per month...

GEORGIA AND LOUISIANA MAY LOSE MUCH OF THEIR MOVIE PRODUCTION BUSINESS

DISNEY, NETFLIX, HBO ACTORS, PINEWOOD STUDIOS AND MANY ACTORS MAY NOT WANT TO WORK IN GEORGIA OR LOUISIANA ANY MORE BECAUSE OF NEW "EXCESSIVE" ABORTION LAWS JUST PASSED THERE
This could bode well for the state of New Mexico, where Netflix has purchased a large studio complex in Albuquerque...

I'LL GLADLY PAY YOU TUESDAY FOR A HAMBURGER TODAY

From government to high-flying finance deals, I am reminded of Wimpy, a character of the old Popeye cartoons I used to delight in when a child. The place of my enjoyment was the “LAWS BROTHERS DRUG STORE” located in White Settlement, Texas. It was next door to my father’s Ben Franklin Store...

Evidence of Economic Impacts and Cost/Rewards from Tariff and Trade War Policies

From the Publisher: We have been watching for a scholarly and non-political evaluation of impacts of the tariff and trade war policies. Finally, we offer two articles, one from Bloomberg Financial reporting of a study by reputable economists and universities, and another from the Huffington Post. We give them full credit...

FARMERS GOING BANKRUPT IN RISING NUMBERS, WHY? TRUMP POLICIES

Our credit and thanks to Mary Papenfuss, writer of Huffington Post, for this article which confirms independent research of We have always believed in the "heartland," and American farmers represent the heartland of the United States of America. Therefore we watch the economic issues of farmers...