New CPI – Now With More Nonsense

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Overview: Today the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released the April Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 8.3%.  This is above expectations of 8.1% and below last month’s 8.5%.  Let’s discuss what this means. First, as we pointed out in this post, the CPI doesn’t reflect objective reality.  It’s a number made up by the government … Read more

Is the US Dollar Going Up in Value or Down?

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Introduction: We’ve been writing about inflation and the destruction of value in the US Dollar since November last year.  However, when we talk to other market professionals, they comment on the strength of the Dollar.  How is this possible?  Can we have a strong Dollar and a weak Dollar at the same time?  Who’s right … Read more

Fed Raises by 50bp – Largest Increase in over 20 Years

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Today, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50bp (half a percentage point), the largest increase since 2000.  They also laid out plans to start slowly unwinding the enormous $9 trillion balance sheet the institution is carrying.  We first highlighted the danger that understated and rising inflation posed back in November while the Fed was … Read more

Depth Check – Coursera (COUR) – Chegg’s Problems Still Aren’t an Issue for Coursera

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Two quarters ago, terrible results from education company, Chegg (ticker: CHGG) caused a huge drop in Coursera (ticker: COUR) stock.  We wrote about the fact that these companies are in two different businesses, and that Chegg is regarded as a “cheating site”.  At the time, Chegg complained that fewer people were entering college and those … Read more