Author: James K. Bishop

This author has written 452 articles

Thursday Takes

Quick Takes: Thursday Takes House Passes Amended Budget Resolution The House narrowly passed the Senate-amended budget resolution for fiscal year 2025 on April 9, 2025, by a vote of 216-214. This resolution sets the stage for a reconciliation process, allowing Republicans to advance major tax and spending legislation with a simple majority, bypassing the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster. It includes provisions for extending tax cuts, increasing border security and defense spending, and implementing federal spending reductions. The passage faced resistance, with two Republicans voting against it, reflecting internal party tensions. This step moves Congress closer to drafting a reconciliation bill to enact…

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Midweek Manufacturing

Well, we're waiting here in Allentown For the Pennsylvania we never found For the promises our teachers gave If we worked hard, if we behaved So the graduations hang on the wall But they never really helped us at all No they never taught us what was real Iron and coke, chromium steel --Billy Joel "Allentown" Salena Zito wrote this week for the Washington Post exploring the Mon Valley Works Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, a U.S. Steel facility central to the region’s identity and President Trump’s second-term agenda. The plant, employing 850 workers, produces steel for everyday products using…

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Tech Tuesday

Parenting, Technology, and A.I. One year after its publication on March 26, 2024, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt sparked a global movement addressing the harmful effects of smartphones and social media on children. The book framed the issue as a collective action problem, offering practical solutions that empowered communities to act together. Its success reflects a cultural tipping point, driven by widespread frustration with technology’s impact on youth, and hints at broader prospects for societal renewal amidst rapid technological change. Rather than following their original plan to promote the book and then take a break, the authors witnessed rapid cultural…

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Markets Monday

The manufacturing post has been delayed due to technical difficulties, so let's change it to markets.  In the words of the great Levi Stubbs, "This one gon' be shoat!" I know what all the super smarty smarties said heading into Monday.  And then there's what the markets did, which was definitely not that.  At one point today due to a fake news report that President Trump was going to suspend the tariffs for 90 days, the markets spiked over 1,000.  Once that rumor was shot down, the boomlet quickly fell apart.  That tells me this is a largely media driven phenomenon…

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Sunday Solace

The Book of Hosea is one of the twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament of the Bible, and it’s a pretty powerful story about love, loyalty, and redemption. It’s traditionally dated to around 760-720 BC, during a turbulent time for the northern kingdom of Israel. Hosea, the prophet, was called by God to deliver a message to a people who’d drifted far from their faith, chasing after idols and foreign alliances instead of trusting in God. What makes Hosea stand out is the personal angle-God tells Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer, who’s described as promiscuous or unfaithful (scholars…

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Sports Saturday

It's a cold rainy day in Texas after several rounds of thunderstorms this week that largely spared us as they strengthened and hit the South and Midwest hard.  We got a lot of rain and loud thunder, but the main thing we got is the cold.  It's approaching the upper 30s in North Texas on Sunday morning.  Just in time for the Rangers bats to heat up.  In the old days we usually had to wait until the June regression and the warmth of summer to get the bats going.  Tonight possibly signaled a sustainable breakout in a series clinching game…

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Friday Forecasting

Capital Gains Tax Scenarios and Analyses Executive Summary This analysis explores a proposed capital gains tax structure-15% flat rate for foreign/non-qualifying gains and tiered rates for U.S. domestic stocks (7.5% for 1-3 years, 5% for 3-5 years, 2.5% for 5-10 years, 0% for 10+ years, with no NIIT)-evaluated under diverse economic scenarios tied to Trump’s tariff policies as of April 2025. Starting with a static revenue loss of $10.025 billion annually ($100 billion gains baseline), the study employs static and dynamic scoring to assess fiscal impacts, ranging from optimistic tariff-driven growth to severe recessionary shocks, culminating in a V-shaped recovery scenario.…

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Thursday’s Tariffs Tome: The Jayjum Version

Here’s a heavily condensed Cliff’s Notes-style summary of the article, targeting around 800 words.  I call this the Jayjum Version because Jayjum is my friend who is perpetually on my case for being overly verbose.   The author reflects on how his views have evolved over 30 years, admitting to a contrarian streak that matured into iconoclasm—an urge to challenge idols, even his own ideas. He’s also an institutionalist, blending skepticism with a belief in systems. This duality frames his take on economics, particularly trade and taxes. Conservatives aren’t uniform, he notes. Once a conceptual free trader, he still is, but…

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Thursday’s Terrifically Terrifying Tariffs Talk

The older I get, the more I realize how we make idols out of everything, including ideas.  Lately I've been thinking of my own views and how they have changed the past thirty years of relative adulthood.  I say relative because at the core of every man is a naughty twelve-year old boy sniggering in the back of a middle school classroom. See what I mean?  It's just the way guys are. Back to some seriousness if I must because I'm in a long term transitional period called life.  I'll let Jules explain. My friend Doc used to call me a…

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Wednesday Wraps

As part of an effort to deliver content and keep my writing wits sharp, I'm going to post a daily series of Quick Takes. Some may carry more weight and be more serious than others.  Wednesday Wraps is a perhaps not so Quick Take. Tariffs The elephant in the room today was the brThe older I get, the more I realize how we make idols out of everything, including ideas.  Lately I've been thinking of my own views and how they have changed the past thirty years of relative adulthood.  I say relative because at the core of every man is…

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