Free Republic

What interest rates are telling us is a bad sign. With an impending railroad strike that can torpedo the US economy (but if that is possible, why is the Biden Clan vacationing in Nantucket for Thanksgiving weekend when Joe should be talking with railroads and the unions to not let this happen?), let’s see what interest rates are telling us. First, the US Treasury 10Y-2Y yield curve continues to descrend into the abyss (now at -80 basis points). Second, the latest Fed Dot Plot (from September, new one will be issued during December) show that The Fed thinks that their...

Start spreading the poop: New Yorkers may get stuck with 2.4 million pounds per day of their own excrement if a national rail strike occurs. Normally, the trains that transport human waste from New York City wind up in landfills across the South, but the tentative deal that the Biden administration brokered between the rail workers and railroad companies came asunder on Monday. “We are working closely with our contracted vendors and are prepared to do all that we can in a worst-case scenario, but let me be clear: a prolonged disruption of the rail network for trash removal represents...

It looks like the trains may stop running on time for Christmas. On Monday, the SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD), the largest railroad union in the country, narrowly voted down a contract offered by the White House. That means the possibility of a strike just in time for the holiday season. The SMART Transportation Division, or SMART-TD, which represents about 28,000 conductors, rejected the contract in a vote that garnered record turnout, the union said Monday. The contract was nixed by a slim margin, as just 50.8% of workers voted against it. The second-largest rail union, made up of engineers, voted...