Please don’t buy the hype; it’s a scam. Social media exists to collect and sell data and is long overdue for some more heavy-handed congressional oversight.

The post Senators Seek to ‘Ban’ Children From Using Social Media without Adult OK appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Electric Vehicles will play an important role in America’s future. But it is critical to let the market sort that out with as little interference from an overzealous government as possible.

The post Will Joe Biden Make You Buy an Electric Car? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Newsom – and the green movement in general – loves to pitch EV policy as the ultimate no-cost alternative to “dirty” energy sources such as gas. That isn't reality.

The post What Gavin Newsom Won’t Tell You About EVs appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Though firearms sales in April were down from the record highs of two years ago, it still marked the 45th month in a row that saw gun sales exceed one million units.

The post America Can’t Stop Buying Millions of Guns Every Year appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Is Fox News Doomed Post-Tucker? – Tucker Carlson, the Fox News megastar wrongly maligned as a “far-right extremist” by radicals at CNN and elsewhere, parted ways with the network in late April under still-unexplained circumstances. In a statement, Fox News thanked Tucker for his service to the network, both as a host of Tucker Carlson Tonight and […]

The post Is Fox News Doomed? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letter to Kevin McCarthy that the government could default on its obligations as soon as June 1.

The post Debt Ceiling Fight: Will Democrats and Republicans Destroy the Economy? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

There is never a good time for a political showdown that carries with it the possibility that the U.S. government might default, even briefly, on its debt obligations. However, now is an especially bad time for our politicians to play a game of chicken with the country’s credit.

The post Is America Headed for A Debt Crisis? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

What the Biden administration has done here is penalize the people who have worked hard, the people who have saved their money, the people who have lived within their means, and the people who have made good on their debts.

The post Joe Biden’s Mortgage Plan Is a Disaster appeared first on 19FortyFive.

In past decades, conservatism was often about valorizing small businesses and encouraging economic growth. But today’s right appears to have little knowledge of anything about the business world, if it can’t be filtered through the flawed lens of “go woke, go broke.” Earlier this week, the retail chain Bed, Bath & Beyond announced that it was […]

The post Is the GOP Anti-Businesses Now? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Just as the world was grappling with the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia invaded Ukraine. In February 2022, inflation coupled with grain, energy, and fertilizer supply shortages damaged the global economy. In Europe, natural gas prices are still roughly triple what they were prior to Russia’s invasion.  Ukraine: A War Like No Other […]

The post Is Ukraine’s Economy Destroyed? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Default on the nation’s bills looms large come June. President Joe Biden, the Democrats, and the Republicans in Congress appear to be playing a game of chicken to see who jumps out first. 

The post Joe Biden vs. GOP: Could America Default on Its Debt? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Today’s disappointing GDP numbers are yet a further indication that the Federal Reserve might be engaged in monetary policy overkill to regain inflation control.

The post The Federal Reserve Needs to Pause Interest Rate Hikes Now appeared first on 19FortyFive.

NASA will use the X-59 to gather data on how effective the technology is in terms of public acceptance. That data will be provided to regulators to consider lifting the ban on commercial supersonic travel over land.

The post NASA’s X-59 Could Help Make Supersonic Travel A Reality appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Most airlines charge families extra fees for sitting together. The Biden administration wants to change that. The U.S. Department of Transportation created a website to help travelers shop for airlines that do not charge extra fees when families wish to sit together.

The post Joe Biden Is Cracking Down on Airline Family Seating Fees appeared first on 19FortyFive.

The Biden administration plans to force those with higher credit scores to subsidize loans for those with credit scores under 680. The rule proposed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency is set to take effect May 1.

The post Joe Biden Wants You To Pay a ‘Fee’ To Give Loans to People with Bad Credit appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Congress and the White House are expected later this year to have a showdown over the debt ceiling, but the topic has mostly been out of the news. But this week, President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy swapped words over the topic. The White House and Republicans in Congress are still at a standstill […]

The post Joe Biden Needs to Worry About the Debt Ceiling appeared first on 19FortyFive.

In the 2019 election for the director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Chinese candidate, Qu Dongyu, won a resounding victory with 108 of the 191 total available votes. In comparison, the French candidate, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, earned 71 while the U.S.-backed Georgian candidate, Davit Kirvalidze, earned only 12. The staggering electoral defeat of the West at the […]

The post Did The U.S. Get Rolled Again at the FAO? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Especially after SVBs failure, we must hope that it is not beyond the Fed’s grasp to anticipate that there will be many other casualties of its newfound monetary policy religion as high interest rates and a weaker economy increase the incidence of loan defaults. We also have to hope that the Fed is preparing itself for likely increased financial market turbulence as a result of an anticipated bruising debt ceiling later this summer. If instead, the Fed continues to look in the rearview mirror and continues to raise interest rates by ignoring the financial troubles that lie ahead, we should brace ourselves for a very hard economic landing.

The post Silicon Valley Bank’s Wake Up Call for the Federal Reserve appeared first on 19FortyFive.

The world is disentangling from the US dollar out of fear of America’s horrific economic state and the elected leaders of the United States are too busy posturing against and bickering with one another on the most absurd topics imaginable. Neither the Democratic nor Republican Parties are inclined to come to an agreement designed to raise the debt ceiling so that the country can avoid entering another major recession (or something scarier). 

The post How America Could Commit Financial Suicide appeared first on 19FortyFive.

A big part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appeal to the Republican electorate in a presidential nominating contest is that he’s willing to go farther than most when it comes to using the machinery of government to fight culture war battles. One such battle was DeSantis’ move, earlier this year, to give the state control over the Reedy Creek Improvement District. That’s the special district that contains Walt Disney World and has long given Disney extraordinary powers to govern the area where it is located. 

The post How Disney Beat Ron DeSantis appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Yesterday’s decision by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by 25 basis points rather than by 50 basis points was the right decision under the circumstances. However, that is far from saying that it will save us from a hard economic landing later this year as the price for the Fed’s egregious monetary policy mistakes in 2021. […]

The post The Federal Reserve is in a Hole of Its Own Making: Hard Economic Landing Imminent? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

“Mr. Biden essentially embraced the progressive’s modern monetary theory, which admittedly became universal amid the pandemic, positing that the U.S. government could print and spend money without inflation...”

The post Did Joe Biden Break America’s Banks? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

America is Going to Default This Summer – Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) wants to have a confab with President Joe Biden to iron out the details of a possible deal to avoid a default on America’s titanic national debt level. McCarthy, who is by far the weakest Speaker the House has had […]

The post Why the U.S. Economy Could Crash This Summer appeared first on 19FortyFive.

French President Emmanuel Macron raised France’s retirement age from 62 to 64 – without a legislative vote. “The move sparked widespread outrage in the French Parliament and across the country as protesters took to the streets to push against the new law, which they have been demonstrating against since January” The Hill reported. The news of Macron’s unilateral […]

The post France’s Retirement Age Just Jumped. Could It Happen Here in America? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

By bailing out all depositors—even those who had more than the already insured $250,000 in the banks in question—the federal government has just nationalized the banking sector. 

The post Joe Biden Might Have Just Destroyed America’s Banks appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Banks in centuries past were often formidable buildings, with large columns in the front and big, stout doors. There was a reason for this: Banks were meant to represent a safe place to put one’s money. Although the shape and size of banks has changed, they maintain a central role of inspiring confidence and trust. […]

The post Silicon Valley Bank’s Failure, Confidence, and the Federal Reserve’s Rate Cycle appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Following talks with United Nations officials, Russia announced this week that the Black Sea Initiative – a grain export deal brokered by the UN and China – would be extended, but only for 60 days.  In a statement, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin confirmed that another round of consultations had taken place between UN […]

The post Putin’s Next Ukraine War Weapon: Food? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Donald Trump – Blame Him for Silicon Valley Bank Downfall? In the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, the blame game has begun – with many critics focusing their blame on Donald Trump and the Republicans. Before falling apart last week, SVB had served as the primary lender to tech firms and startups. What happened? SVB announced last […]

The post Did Donald Trump Make Silicon Valley Bank Collapse? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

U.S. Gun Sales Pass One Million Mark for 43rd Month in a Row in February – Though sales are down from their record highs of 2020 and 2021, guns are still in hot demand based on the latest retail data and FBI background checks. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearm industry […]

The post 1.3 Million Guns Sold Last Month: Firearms Sales Still Near Record Levels appeared first on 19FortyFive.

The Silicon Valley Bank failure should be a wake-up call for the Federal Reserve that the chickens of its past policy mistakes are now coming home to roost. By earlier having pursued an overly easy monetary policy in response to the Covid pandemic, the Fed created both an inflation problem and an asset-price and credit […]

The post The Silicon Valley Bank Failure Should Terrify the Federal Reserve appeared first on 19FortyFive.

China’s Legislative Session Delivers Ominous Message to Investors, and Businesses – The annual session of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, left businesses and investors with no shortage of friendly rhetoric. However, beneath the surface of pledges to attract foreign investment and improve the business environment lies a message that should worry the business […]

The post Economic Growth Is No Longer the Chinese Government’s End Game appeared first on 19FortyFive.

How much trouble is the U.S. economy in? There is an old joke about someone having jumped off the Empire State building. When asked how it was going as he passed the fortieth floor, he replied “so far so good”. We have to wonder whether something similar might be happening to the Federal Reserve as […]

The post Is the U.S. Economy Destined for a Historic Hard Landing? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

The GOP’s No-Win Scenario in the Debt Ceiling Fight – The Republican Party is barely hanging on by a thread. Yes, it won a slim majority in the United States House of Representatives, but the overall performance of the GOP in the 2022 Midterm elections was lackluster. This came on the heels of the Republicans’ […]

The post The GOP’s Debt Ceiling War Is One Giant Mistake appeared first on 19FortyFive.

To Save Medicare: Medicare is expected to dry up in the next 5 years; by 2028, Medicare will be insolvent. The Biden administration has unveiled a plan to extend the life of the program, which provides free health care to senior citizens. The plan in a nutshell: Biden intends to tax wealthy Americans. The plan, announced […]

The post Study the Photo: Joe Biden Wants to Raise Taxes For One Reason appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Could Ron DeSantis Destroy Disney World? – At the forefront of the governor’s culture wars has been his battle with Disney, which culminated in a state takeover of Walt Disney World’s business district. Now, the likely future presidential candidate has nominated a donor to the district’s board.  Ron DeSantis vs. Disney Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, […]

The post Could Ron DeSantis Destroy Disney World?  appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Gen Xers Be Warned – Social Security Running Out of Funds  Sooner Than Expected – Generation X will likely always be remembered for its angst, but perhaps that is for good reason. Just as the middle generation which is wedged between Boomers and Millennials begins to reach the age of retirement, there won’t be enough […]

The post Is Social Security Slowly Dying? New Data Shows Problems Ahead appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Nero is said to have fiddled while Rome burned. Today, it seems that Washington’s politicians prefer to play games with the debt ceiling. They do so at a time when the country could soon default on its debt and when the country’s public finances seem to have gone from bad to worse. Advisory on the […]

The post The Nightmare Scenario: Could America Really Default on Its Debt? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Inflation Is Still Around, Despite the Headlines, You Saw: Read the headlines this week, and it would seem that some economists have rose-colored glasses – or are simply used to paying more at the checkout lane. The Washington Post reported “CPI: Prices rise 6.4 percent in January, seventh month of easing inflation,” while The Wall […]

The post Sorry, Joe Biden: Inflation Is Back (It Never Went Away) appeared first on 19FortyFive.

"The situation is so bad for Russia's defense and aerospace industries that they scrounge for semiconductors from fridges and dishwashers."

The post Putin Is Angry: Ukraine Sanctions Are Hitting the Russian Military Hard appeared first on 19FortyFive.

The deficit has been less of a contentious political issue during the Joe Biden presidency than during some others. But the president has come up with a plan to reduce it.  The politics of the deficit and the national debt are often very strange. The national debt, for the most part, always rises, while the […]

The post Joe Biden Wants to Tax the Rich to Slash the Deficit appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein arrives in Washington, D.C., on Friday to, according to a White House statement, “ensure that Iraq’s economy is delivering for the Iraqi people.” Translation: The Iraqi delegation wants the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank of New York to relax recently imposed stringent rules on Iraq’s dollar transactions. President Joe Biden […]

The post Maintain Tight Banking Controls on Iraq to Defund Iran appeared first on 19FortyFive.

All Turks deserve prayers and assistance as they work to rescue survivors and recover from a series of devastating earthquakes. Every country that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened in recent years — Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Armenia, and even the largely Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)— has offered Turkey assistance […]

The post Don’t Let Erdogan Weaponize Earthquake Aid for Turkey appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Hope springs eternal at the IMF. Despite an unusual constellation of imminent downside world economic risks, the IMF has raised its 2023 world economic forecast to 2.9 percent and is now predicting that both the United States and the world will avoid an economic recession this year. This is inducing the IMF to call for continued world […]

The post The IMF’s Economic Crystal Ball Seems to Be Broken appeared first on 19FortyFive.

There is a trick question most elementary students know when it comes to the mysteries of the universe – namely, what is the closest star to Earth? It is, of course, the sun, also known as “Sol,” from the Latin for “Solis.” For the record, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which since 1922 has been […]

The post What Is The Closest Star to Earth? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

When the Federal Reserve meets next week, it would do well to recall two of Milton Friedman’s fundamental economic teachings. The first is that monetary policy operates with long and variable lags. The second is that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it is and can be produced only by […]

The post The Federal Reserve Needs to Pause Raising Interest Rates appeared first on 19FortyFive.

The War for Ukraine: What Movies Could We See? Since the founding of the medium, film has gone hand-in-hand with war. (Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here. 19FortyFive publishes original videos every day.) In both World War I and World War II, the global cinematic industry rapidly shifted to wartime production, with nearly every major […]

The post 5 Movies the Ukraine War Could Inspire appeared first on 19FortyFive.

With Republicans in the House ready to take on the White House over potential spending cuts, the question has been raised about where exactly those cuts may come from. Because a great deal of the federal budget is taken up by entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, would the GOP dare try to […]

The post Donald Trump: The Great Protector of Social Security? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Donald Trump Massively Increased the National Debt: The Republican Party has long been associated with fiscal restraint. The enormous budget deficits and federal debt in the United States were the result of Democrat tax and spend policies, according to the GOP. Republicans used to call for the “Balanced Budget” amendment in which it would be Constitutionally required that the […]

The post Donald Trump’s Biggest Mistake: He Trashed America’s Finances? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

There is never a good time for a protracted fight over raising the US government debt ceiling. However, today would seem to be a particularly bad time for such a fight. Not only do the US and world economies appear to be on the cusp of recession. US and world financial markets appear to be […]

The post America Seems Headed for a Debt Ceiling Showdown appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Yes, after all this time, there are still some stimulus checks programs: just not run by the federal government: On three occasions early on in the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government approved rounds of stimulus checks. This happened in the CARES Act in early 2020, and again later that year. After the Biden Administration came into […]

The post 2023 Fourth Stimulus Checks Update: Yes, You Can Still Get a ‘Check’ appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Shocking news came out of Afghanistan recently when the Taliban announced a $540 million oil extraction deal with the People’s Republic of China. The agreement, the Taliban’s first major energy investment contract since its 2021 takeover, represents China’s growing strategic interest in the Islamic Emirate. Despite the growing number of terrorist attacks targeting Chinese nationals […]

The post China Is Buying Oil from Afghanistan (America Must Pay Attention) appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Donald Trump Has More Drama Coming His Way: New York judge Juan Merchan has handed down a penalty in the Trump Organization’s tax fraud case. The Trump Organization has been ordered to pay $1.6 million in fines – the maximum possible penalty. The fine was a “symbolic moment” according to CNN “because it is the […]

The post Donald Trump Is Officially a Tax Cheat (Well, His Company Is) appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Egregious budget and monetary policy mistakes in 2021 contributed to last year’s multi-decade high inflation. Today, there seems to be a real risk that budget and monetary policy mistakes will contribute to an unnecessary recession. That is unless the Federal Reserve soon takes its foot off the monetary policy brakes. In 2021, an over-expansive budget […]

The post How the Federal Reserve Can Stop a Recession in 2023 appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Pam and Tommy, the 2022 docudrama on Hulu, was part of the recent trend of shows and movies that look back at the scandals of the 1990s through the lens of today while noting that the female protagonist of the story was treated terribly unfairly.  We’ve seen it with Tonya Harding, Monica Lewinsky, Marcia Clark, […]

The post Why You Need to Watch the Pamela Anderson Netflix Documentary appeared first on 19FortyFive.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the G7 and some 50 other countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia. They consist of two broad categories: real and financial. Real sanctions include restrictions on trade with Russia and the revocation of its most-favored-nation status. Financial ones involve a freeze on Russian assets held abroad and […]

The post Can Sanctions Punish Russia Enough to Stop the Ukraine War? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Ukraine War Shows Why Digital Giants Will Play A Growing Role In Global Security – The Russo-Ukrainian War is the world’s first digital conflict with profound implications for U.S. national security and the future of conflict. While Russia’s cyber offensive at the outset of hostilities was expected, what came as a surprise was Ukraine’s ability […]

The post Ukraine War Proves the U.S. Government Needs Tech Giants Like Google As Allies appeared first on 19FortyFive.

As we start 2023, the key question for both for the U.S. and world economies is whether we should believe the Federal Reserve’s relatively rosy economic forecast. Today, the Fed is asking us to believe that sticking to its policy of keeping interest rates high to regain control over inflation will deliver a soft economic […]

The post Can We Really Trust the Federal Reserve? appeared first on 19FortyFive.

For the last several months, the crew here at 19FortyFive has been looking at the Disney Company from a few different perspectives. As 19FortyFive loves to cover U.S. culture, we think Disney matters as a cultural icon that Americans worship. And as the nation heads back out more and more on vacations and looks for […]

The post Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge: The Best ‘Themed’ Hotel at the Magic Kingdom appeared first on 19FortyFive.

Friday was the moment that many Donald Trump watchers have been waiting for nearly seven years: The former president’s taxes were finally released to the public.  (Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here. Check out More 19FortyFive Videos Here) The taxes arrived at the end of a very long process, and two years after Trump left […]

The post Donald Trump Looks Like a Tax Cheat appeared first on 19FortyFive.

In the Southwest debacle, is Pete Buttigieg to blame?: Travel snafus over the holidays, as well as during nationwide bouts of bad weather, are far from rare. But what’s going on right now with Southwest Airlines is far beyond the norm.  (Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here. Check out More 19FortyFive Videos Here) Southwest has cancelled […]

The post Southwest Is In Meltdown Mode: Blame Pete Buttigieg? appeared first on 19FortyFive.