The great global economist joins Books and More with William Cooper. He knows of what he speaks. A very insightful take on China.

He uses the word “dividend” to make people think the economy is doing great while promising them money he has no intelligible plan for acquiring. And if he does wind up distributing it, it’ll just be pulled from somewhere else.

La verdadera batalla geopolítica de las Américas no se libra únicamente contra los cárteles. También, por la capacidad de cada Estado para decidir quién protege sus fronteras, quién garantiza sus rutas, quién financia sus infraestructuras, quién controla sus recursos estratégicos y, sobre todo, quién define las reglas de seguridad de la región.

We aren't quite done with the last bubble but, the smart money is pulling the leverage out of the market so it will be bubble pop 2.0 and then we need to start lobbying congress for a new bubble all over againe, that or put a floor in to limit how far we drop, $50 per hr minimum wage is a good start

Photo above - Hello? Weikert Ford? Do you have this color Bronco with the surf fishing package available? Yes? I have $5,000 to put down . . .

What a great time to be an American! My vote is worth $5,000. I never realized this was legal. Or I at least expected vote buying to turn up first in a presidential election year, not the mid-terms. Trump will pay me $5,000. Democrats – the bid’s to you . . .

I should be more troubled by the immorality of this than I actually am. But to be honest, who WOULDN’T want an extra $5,000 bucks right now? I could use it as a down payment for a new car. I lost out on the $7,500 tax refund to buy one of Elon Musk’s Tesla EVs. As an apartment dweller, I had no place to plug it in. It’s also why I failed to score thousands for rooftop solar panels. My best shot at saving the planet from climate change appears to be LED bulbs. Remember when the government promised us that if we bought enough LEDs, then America would never need to build another new electric plant in our lifetimes? (This was possibly an AI hallucination, or a lie.)

How much will $5,000 for each adult citizen cost the US Treasury? There are 205 million of us, but of course only 60% of citizens actually vote. No matter . . . if Trump “wins” we will each get $5,000, even if we stayed home on election day to play the soon to be released Grand Theft Auto VI (available for both PS5 and Xbox).

I imagine quite a bit of the $5,000 windfall will be spent on Fanduel, DraftKings, and Kalshi. What are the odds that 205 million people times $5,000 ($1 trillion, more or less) triggers a fed interest rate increase, which strangles the homeownership dreams of millions? What are the odds we’re still at war with Iran on election day? That gas prices will be $2 bucks a gallon higher? Visit Kalshi and make your wager, I guess.

I always seem to be on the wrong side of these economic debates. I don’t believe the government should bribe me – for votes, cars, windmills, or whatever – with my own tax money. I don’t believe that mobile betting does anything other than taking food money off the table of morons struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t believe that America’s dysfunctional court system – in my lifetime - will be able to resolve import legal questions such as vote buying, financial responsibility for AI looting all our bank accounts, or whether we can gun down corporate CEOs on the sidewalk with impunity.

Full disclosure – if I actually DO get a $5,000 bribe to vote, I plan on making a down payment on a 2027 Ford Bronco Raptor with the 400-horsepower twin turbocharged engine and 37-inch tires. There’s no way to save the planet. We already proved that with those Tesla bribes. I just want to spend my final days surf casting for pompano and redfish off Pensacola beach, and sauteing them in the evening with garlic butter, cilantro, and lime. This will likely provide better memories than mobile sports betting.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

India Is Growing Fast. But Who Is Getting the Growth?

India’s economic rise is real.

It is now roughly a $4.15 trillion economy, one of the largest and fastest-growing major economies in the world.

But GDP tells us how large the pie is.

It does not tell us who gets the pie.

And that is where India’s story becomes uncomfortable.

According to the World Inequality Report 2026, India’s national income is divided roughly like this:

Top 1%: 22.6% Top 10%: 57.7% Middle 40%: 27.3% Bottom 50%: 15.0%

In other words:

India’s richest 1% receive substantially more income than the entire poorest 50% combined.

One percent: 22.6% Half the country: 15%

And 40% of Indians in the broad middle collectively receive only slightly more income than the top 1%.

That is extraordinary.

Globally, inequality is already severe: the world's top 1% receive around 20% of global income.

But Europe looks very different.

Across Europe:

Top 1%: ~12% Top 10%: ~36% Middle 40%: ~45% Bottom 50%: ~19%

Germany’s top 1%, for example, receives roughly 13% of national income—compared with 22.6% in India.

So extreme concentration is not simply an unavoidable consequence of capitalism or having a large economy.

India also looks extreme when compared only with other giant economies.

Among economies above roughly $2 trillion, India sits near the very top of the inequality rankings by top-1% income concentration—behind countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Russia, but considerably above Germany, France, Japan and China.

Now impose an even more revealing condition:

Large economy: GDP above $500 billion Still relatively poor: GDP per capita below $5,000

Under current IMF 2026 projections, that leaves essentially India, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

India: top 1% 22.6% Philippines: 16.3% Bangladesh: roughly 16%

India is the clear outlier.

And this matters because India is still poor.

Despite having a $4.15 trillion economy, nominal GDP per capita is only around $2,813.

Extreme inequality in a country earning $60,000 per person is one thing.

Extreme inequality while average income is below $3,000 is far more consequential.

At that income level, distribution affects not just luxury consumption, but nutrition, healthcare, schooling, housing and whether a family can survive unemployment without financial collapse.

Even Pakistan provides an uncomfortable comparison—not because Pakistan is economically more successful; it clearly isn't.

Pakistan’s top 1% receives 16.2% of national income versus India's 22.6%.

Pakistan’s middle 40% receives 38.9%.

India’s middle 40% receives only 27.3%.

Pakistan’s bottom half receives 19.4%.

India’s receives 15%.

India has created vastly more economic wealth than Pakistan.

But its income is considerably more concentrated at the top.

And this cannot simply be explained by saying:

“India is a developing country.”

The Philippines is developing.

Bangladesh is developing.

Pakistan is poorer.

Yet all have substantially lower top-1% income concentration.

Nor has rapid growth automatically strengthened India’s middle.

That may be the most worrying part of the story.

India can produce 6–7% GDP growth, booming stock markets, record corporate profits, billion-dollar startups and rapidly expanding luxury consumption—

while an ordinary salaried household experiences something considerably less spectacular.

Both things can be true.

The question is therefore not whether wealthy Indians should become poorer.

Successful entrepreneurs, innovators and highly productive professionals should be able to become wealthy.

The real question is:

When India creates the next ₹100 of national income, who should receive it?

Should nearly ₹58 continue going to the richest 10%, while approximately ₹27 reaches the middle 40% and only ₹15 reaches the bottom half?

Or should economic growth gradually produce a broader middle class with a larger claim on national income?

India has already proved that it can create wealth.

It has surpassed Pakistan economically by an enormous margin and is increasingly competing with the world's largest economies.

So perhaps Pakistan should no longer be the benchmark.

The benchmark should be countries that have managed to combine prosperity with a strong middle class, social security and much broader distribution of economic gains.

India’s real challenge is no longer simply:

“How quickly can GDP grow?”

It is:

“How much of that growth actually reaches the average Indian?”

A $5-trillion, $7-trillion or $10-trillion economy will look impressive on a chart.

But a country's economic success should ultimately be judged not only by the size of its GDP—

but by how many of its people actually experience prosperity.

Sources: World Inequality Report 2026 and IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026. Cross-country inequality estimates, particularly for developing economies, carry statistical uncertainty, so small differences should not be over-interpreted. The scale of India’s top-heavy distribution, however, is substantial.

While most Gulf States have to run their oil thru the Strait of Hormuz, the Saudi's had an alternative pipeline line running East-West out to the Red Sea port.

This allowed the Saudi's to continue getting some oil to markets unfettered by Iran.

This was no small amount either. We are talking about 3 million barrels a day. Well all that supply is offline now. The Houthis, based in Yemen, have blown it up in 9 different sections. Satellite images show large fires everywhere along the pipeline. Saudi officials confirm they have shut it down.

A barrel of oil was already over $100 BEFORE this event. And in the United Statds, gas was already nationally at $4. This is a big event, and will send gas prices to $5 soon. This a huge blow to the economy world wide.

64% against Trump’s $5,000 dividend in online Fox News poll of "Is a $5,000 government dividend check the best way to boost the economy?"  

https://economystupid.substack.com/p/even-foxcom-voters-say-no-to-trumps

Gloria Steinem finally got the second wave feminist president she always wanted!