On Monday, in “JPM Looks At Draghi’s ‘Package,’ Finds It ‘Solid’ But Underwhelming,” we noted that according to Mislav Matejka, investors would do well to fade the ECB’s latest attempt to jumpstart inflation, growth, and of course asset prices with Draghi's version of a Keynesian kitchen sink.
“Overall, we believe the latest package is far from a game changer,” Matejka opined.
The nuances of foreign policy do not feature heavily in the ongoing presidential campaign. Every candidate intends to “destroy” the Islamic State; each has concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korea, and China; every one of them will defend Israel; and no one wants to talk much about anything else—except, in the case of the Republicans, who rattle their sabers against Iran.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump released the first of what we assume will be many Hillary Clinton attack ads.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17EOM3RTD1Y
As I drove away from Reagan National Airport on Monday, I heard a report on WMAL radio that a group supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders had tweeted out a congratulations to those who had forced the cancellation of Donald Trump’s speech in Chicago.
The tweet called the cancellation a “great victory” and saluted the “thousands” of people and “dozen” groups that had helped bring about the protest.
By the next day (Tuesday), the “victory” did not look so great.
Incredible waste is, of course, natural to Washington, particularly in the trillion dollar national security budget—which includes nuclear bombs, intelligence, and veterans’ costs. Three years ago, when I suggested “16 Ways to Cut Defense Spending,” one of the cost savings I wrote about was duplicative hospital costs, this from a system of separate Army, Navy, and Air Force medical services. They should be combined into a single system, but imagine the screaming about lost jobs.