Connecting the Dots

The news headlines after last Friday’s jobs report proved it again: Life is hard (and getting harder) for low-skilled workers. Illegal immigrants take their service industry jobs. Robots take their manufacturing industry jobs.

Happy New Year. Against all odds, we made it through 2016.

We Americans love our pets almost as much as our children.

This month, President-elect Trump annoyed some people when he criticized two top defense contractors on Twitter.

The stakes were high at last September’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. Federal Reserve officials had hinted all year that a rate hike was coming. Traders assumed it would come at a quarter-end meeting, coinciding with one of Janet Yellen’s news conferences. If so, it would be the Fed’s last chance until December.

The Trump administration’s economic team is beginning to take shape, but we still don’t have nominees for two Federal Reserve Board vacancies.

Every day brings a new warning: robots are coming to take our jobs. Soon we’ll all be unemployed… and unable to buy what the robots produce.

Two weeks ago, millions of Americans voted against Hillary Clinton because, among other reasons, we thought she would raise taxes or otherwise take our money.

After the initial shock-and-awe reaction to the surprise Trump victory, the markets rejoiced last week… a lot.

Some people say Obamacare was designed to fail, a clever attempt to pull us toward socialized healthcare.

Little things add up.