La plupart des gros titres cette semaine se sont concentrés sur la fusillade tragique dans une école à Uvalde, au Texas, où 19 enfants et 2 adultes ont été tués. Il s'agissait de la plus grande fusillade dans une école depuis Sandy Hook en 2012. Des personnalités éminentes des médias, du sport et du divertissement ont exhorté les hommes et les femmes du Congrès à proposer des lois plus raisonnables sur la sécurité des armes à feu. Je suis favorable aux droits constitutionnels des Américains, y compris le 2e amendement. Cependant, les lois sur les armes à feu sont devenues plus détendues que restrictives au Texas au cours des deux dernières années, les lois suivantes ayant été adoptées : un projet de loi sur le transport sans permis, le Second Amendement Sanctuary Act (les agences locales ne peuvent pas appliquer les nouvelles lois fédérales sur les armes à feu) et un loi qui permet aux personnes dès l'âge de 18 ans d'acheter une arme de poing.
Also, the numbers I’ve come across indicate over 80% of Americans are in favor of conducting background checks before purchasing a gun. This seems to me to be a reasonable proposition. I believe the best rebuttal to any guns-rights activism was made on stage by stand-up comedian, Jim Jefferies. You can find his bit in two parts on YouTube by typing ‘Jim Jefferies gun control.
’ In their meeting this week, the Federal Reserve indicated an aggressive, inflation-combating tone – which means interest rates will continue to be increased. The market seemed to approve of this course of action (at least in the short-term) as it posted weekly gains for the first time in 6 weeks. The market’s strong weekly performance can also be attributable to higher-than-expected numbers posted by other retailers this week, including Nordstrom, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy, Macy’s, Dollar Tree, and Dollar General. Solid earnings in the midst of turbulent economic storms are an encouraging sign.
In bond news, starting this week the U.S. Treasury Department will not allow Russia to pay its debt-holders through American banks. This will likely cause Russia to default on its debt obligations for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution, which is bad news for anyone owning Russian bonds. This development will have more downstream economic implications moving forward. If you’re unfamiliar with the Bolshevik Revolution, read Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm.’ For Stranger Things fans, all 7 episodes of the fourth and final season (which reportedly cost $30M per episode to make) were released today. This may help resuscitate Netflix’s stock, down 68% so far this year. Have a terrific weekend, PW
