David Reavill

Trump And The Coming Global Trade War

President Donald J. Trump is a consummate salesman and a master marketer. On April 2, Liberation Day, the day he announced his worldwide tariffs, it was a presentation long on benefits but short on costs.Like any salesman, Trump was anxious to "sell" the country on the benefits of this new import tax. The new tariffs would provide a short-term, one-time price boost, while offering a lasting income stream to "even the playing field" in international trade, said Trump.

How A Temporary Presidential Directive Took Us Off The Gold Standard

It was the mid summer in 1971 when President Richard M. Nixon gathered 15 of the nation's leaders together to discuss the twin problems of high inflation and slow economic growth, what came to be known as "Stagflation."

Think Your Credit Card Bill Is Too High? Here's Why

With all the talk about a slowing economy and President Trump's push for lower interest rates, you may believe that banks and other lenders are making loans more affordable.Regrettably, that's not the case.

Why Manufacturing Left America

It would be years before I learned that Berkshire Hathaway had been taken over by one of the preeminent investors of all time, Warren Buffett. Buffett had identified Berkshire as an undervalued company that made a worthwhile product. And at that time in his evolution as a portfolio manager, Buffett was renowned for buying what some on Wall Street labeled as “cigar-butt” companies. Companies that weren’t particularly attractive or scintillating but produced positive financial results year after year.

Who Pays For Tariffs? Jeeps Answer

It's been the burning question since President Donald Trump stepped out in the White House Rose Garden and announced that he was ordering tariffs on virtually all countries, worldwide. Everyone wanted to know just “who would pay for these tariffs?”

President Trump's Tariffs - His 40 Year-Old Strategy

On April 2, President Trump announced that the United States would impose tariffs on all its trading partners. He called it "Liberation Day." From his perspective, the day that America would be "freed" from being "ripped off" by other countries' predatory trade practices.The President would go on to tell us that this was an idea he had thought of 40 years ago.

It's Time To Look At Some Radical Alternatives To Our Nation's Finances

Imagine a situation where nearly four cents of every dollar you earn is taken away, charged as a tax, yet contributes nothing. As a citizen, this charge provides no services, no schools, no national defense, no social services; in the words of economist Lacy Hunt, it is simply a "dead weight loss."

Trump's Tariffs In A World Of Floating Exchange

Perhaps the most regrettable aspect of our debates on public policies is our tendency to over-simplify. After all, much of the debate occurs in the media or on the internet, where brevity is prized. Does it fit into a 30-second soundbite? Or a 180-charter tweet?

Today's America And The Just War Theory

Since the end of World War II, America has been on the "warpath," a series of regional wars stretching around the globe: first the Korean Police Action, then Vietnam, more recently the Iraq incursion, and this past weekend, the bombing of Iran. These are just the highlights of what has become a steadily growing list of direct and indirect (Ukraine) military incursions into the affairs of opposing sovereign nations.

Is The President Stuck In The 1960s?

The answer to that question will be readily apparent to those of a certain age, but a total enigma to our younger fellows. During the entire period of the Cold War, which lasted for more than 40 years from the post-war years until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, the overwhelming threat was from a Soviet Nuclear Bomb.