Business

Five O’clock Friday

It's Five O'clock Somewhere Five o'clock on Fridays once marked a joyful leap from work to weekend, filled with happy hours and anticipation. Today’s 24x7 work culture has dimmed this ritual. Constant connectivity, blurred work-life boundaries, and burnout have replaced celebration with exhaustion. Remote work erases social cues, while weekend tasks encroach on freedom, making Fridays feel ordinary. Generational shifts add complexity-younger workers, used to fluid schedules, may not feel the loss as keenly. This analysis explores how lost rituals, always-on expectations, and redefined fun have reshaped Fridays, using data to highlight a cultural shift that calls for renewed work-life balance.…

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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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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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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 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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About those tariffs on Canadian lumber…

Several U.S. presidents have imposed tariffs on Canadian lumber as part of a decades-long trade dispute between the United States and Canada, primarily over softwood lumber. This conflict, often referred to as the "softwood lumber dispute," stems from U.S. claims that Canadian lumber is unfairly subsidized by government-set stumpage fees, giving Canadian producers an advantage over American ones. Below is a list of presidents who have overseen the imposition of tariffs on Canadian lumber, based on historical actions and trade policies: Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) The modern softwood lumber dispute began in the 1980s under Reagan. In 1986, during "Lumber II," the…

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The 48 Laws of Power

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene is a book that explores the dynamics of power and influence, drawing from historical examples and philosophical insights. Published in 1998, it distills 48 "laws" or principles that Greene argues are timeless strategies for achieving and maintaining power. The book is often described as a guide to navigating complex social and professional environments, though it has sparked debate for its amoral tone and pragmatic, sometimes ruthless, advice. Each law is presented with anecdotes from figures like Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and various historical leaders, illustrating how these principles have been applied (or ignored) to…

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