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Xerox has had twelve straight quarters of sales declines.And its share price is 90% lower than where it was in 1986.Inflation in the U.S. is moving back up.And no, smartphone prices are not falling like the government would like you to believe.Bill Gates believes that the government should tax productivity investments.You can’t make this stuff up.Financial Ructions:Wholesale inflation in the U.S. is soaring.Soaring energy prices are largely responsible.Book Review:Henry Hazlitt’s Man vs. the Welfare StateHigh corporate taxes lead to lower investment, a weaker economy and fewer jobs.It’s not rocket science.And the government stepping in to invest where the private sector won’t is really bad for the economy.The motive of the private sector is to satisfy the sovereign consumer.It does so by putting its own capital at risk.Motives of the public sector are driven by ideology.And done so by putting taxpayer capital at risk.

Billionaires are becoming landlords.The great Henry Hazlitt and my notes from his book Thinking as a Science.I have sent these notes to numerous people over the years but today I add my own PM notes.No Financial Ructions or Book Review this week. Back to regularly scheduled programming next week.

McDonald’s focused for a number of years on strategic menu price increases.It’s now starting to bite.The prime property market in London, England peaked in 2014!The world’s largest producer of spirits, Diageo, is now seeing double-digit declines in U.S. sales.Nike’s sales decline accelerates.And is expected to get worse the rest of the year.Financial RuctionsThe A.I. spending frenzy is greater than:The 19th century U.S. railway boomThe 1990s .COM bubble.A group of property investors in Ontario are getting hosed.Book Review: Man vs. the Welfare State by Henry HazlittWe look at the negative income tax and how Milton Friedman believed it wouldn’t discourage those who were receiving taxpayer benefits from seeking employment opportunities.And the outrageously high marginal tax rates of the 1960s.

Procter & Gamble continues to hold its prices in check.But volume is not responding.Used car prices in the U.S. are rising again.But not according to the government.Home Depot sales improved but are still very slow.Their customers are suffering.Uber’s gross bookings continue to soar.And we revisit their propensity to pay model.And I sum up some of my Uber vs. Lyft comparisons.Higher gas prices take their toll on auto parts sales.The return of the establishment hacks.Who once again point out that the problem is the ignorance of the people.In Financial RuctionsU.S. 30-year fixed rate mortgages are now over 7%.And comparing a mortgage payment from pre-COVID to today.57% of the companies in the S&P 500 Index are now in bear market territory.Book ReviewWe see that competition can protect consumers (within reason)And how a guaranteed income for some is a guaranteed obligation for others.And how this can lead to the impoverishment of society

People grow older in Japan. Especially the women.Netflix experiences its slowest sales growth in almost three years. And its share price goes south. This is what happens when the focus switches from focusing on improving the customer value proposition to trying to monetize them.Financial Ructions: As government grows the economy slows. And incompetence is rewarded.A look at a post on X which discusses good deflation. Government prevents us all from fully benefiting from savings, investment and freedom of competition.Book Review: Man vs. The Welfare State by Henry Hazlitt. We see how economies slow as governments grow. And government hypocrisy concerning monopolies.

Pepsi maintains price increases that are less than inflation. And they see their first volume increase in four years. Who would have thought (note sarcasm).Meanwhile, Kimberly-Clark’s sales dip into negative territory.A third of American workers have seen their wages grow slower than inflation.Rents in Canada continue to fall and should continue to do so as more purpose-built rentals enter the market.Macy’s continues their turnaround plan. Turning around to higher income consumers.Financial Ructions: Longer-term interest rates continue to rise. This puts upward pressure on mortgage rates. But they’re still only back to where they were in 1998.Yet houses in the U.S. are far more expensive than 28 years ago.Book Review Henry Hazlitt’s Man vs. The Welfare State We see how governments distorting prices have grave consequences for the economy.

The sales of Lululemon plummeted despite management saying that 2026 was off to a good start.Its share price has lost three quarters of its value over the last five years.Growth at Hilton Hotels went negative in 2025 but has since rebounded.Benefiting from the World Cup and infrastructure spending.And occupancy is down for their higher end hotels.The Dick’s Sporting Goods share price had been soaring until they bought Foot Locker.They are slowly turning Foot Locker around.Financial Ructions:We look at an opinion piece that complains about a tax break for Canadians.You can’t make this stuff up.Book ReviewWe look at the next two chapters of Henry Hazlitt’s Man vs. the Welfare State.He looks at how the Bretton Woods system set the stage for global inflation originating in the U.S.And how President Lyndon Johnson wanted to impose a vacation tax if Americans went abroad.And how a well-intentioned but misguided minimum wage law does more harm than good.Only 0.5% of American workers are paid the minimum wage.

Canadian retailer Canadian Tire sees sales growth slow.And a look at two different ways in which the government extracts value from your investments.Burger King is rocking it.Not so much Popeyes.United Airlines and Delta Airlines are also rocking it.And now it’s not just business class passengers.That’s what fewer available economy class seats and soaring airfares can do.Gap clothing experiences a rebound.But is more than offset by sinking Old Navy.Financial Ructions:More on the U.S. government’s attempt to override the market.And it’s not really governments that lose when they attempt to override fundamentals.Policymakers and mainstream press are increasingly realising that attempts to fix the financial system create larger problems in the future.The issue is that they are not fixes but bailouts.The consequences of which were all too predictable.Book ReviewWe continue our review of Man vs. The Welfare StateHenry Hazlitt looks at the denial economics that simply won’t go away.And how sleight of hand, rather than intellectual honesty, is used to justify government reckless spending and debt accumulation.

Walmart’s U.S. same store sales slow.But there were some mitigating factors.Social Security and Medicare in the U.S. will both be insolvent before long.And no one wants to do anything about it because it’s political suicide.And that’s because the people have learned to vote for the party that takes the most from other people and gives it to them.Financial Ructions:A look at the increasing political divide in America.And no, it’s not the cause of the country’s slowing economic prosperity: it’s a symptom.And note that America is still better than most others.Book ReviewWe start a new book review: Man vs. The Welfare State by the great Henry Hazlitt.Even back in the 1960s the trend of focusing government power in Washington was well under way.And the more government interference slows the economy, the more that government is called to interfere.The downward spiral.The benefits of Keynesian stimulus focus on the short-term paper money benefits.And ignore the longer-term debasement of real income.

Wendy’s sales have fallen six quarters in a row.Traffic at U.S. stores was down more than 12%.The Wendy’s share price revisits 1987.And we take a look back.McDonald’s sales growth slows.And traffic at U.S. stores falls.The return of the establishment hacks.Burritos set off a firestorm.Yes, tariffs hurt Canada, but not nearly as much as our own unforced errors.Canadian consumers are finding life increasingly difficult.This is what happens when policymakers encourage a debt-fueled housing bubble with ridiculously low interest rates.The U.S. central bank has missed its 2% confiscation inflation target for 65 straight months.And airline fares are through the roof.Financial RuctionsWe revisit the impact that tariffs can have on an economy.And there is debate as to whether Alexander Hamilton was a great Secretary of the Treasury.Book Review:We finish our review of Dr. Doug Cardell’s Why Socialism Struggles.Crony (corrupted) capitalismProgressive taxation is not based on morals.But on an ability to pay.Only bubbles blown with the help of governments lead to economic calamities.Socialism is a lie.But is a natural response to corrupted capitalism.

We look at four different ways of spending money.Government is the worst and continues to grow.Uber vs. Lyft update.Lyft still a far better deal.A.I. data center, and government infrastructure spending are still booming.And Caterpillar is benefiting from both.Conversely, Deere Corporation’s sales growth slows.Farmers are suffering from high input costs and are cutting back on large equipment purchases.Financial Ructions:The Fed’s ample reserve system.No, banks do not need ample reserves to grow their loans business.We take another look at imputed rents.And their fictional contribution to Canada’s GDP.The U.S. is increasing its usage of emergency measures to keep bond yields from exploding higher.The pressure will not relent.Book ReviewWe cover the next two chapters of Why Socialism Struggles.Money is not evil and a paragraph from my book.A closer look at the difference between Socialism and Capitalism.

French luxury goods maker LVMH sees its strongest growth in over two years.Watches, jewellery and Japan lead the way.Hermes also sees its sales accelerate but its share price tanked on the announcement.And its shares are still very expensive.Tesla sales accelerate but profit sank 57%.Shareholders weren’t impressed.Nike has now gone eleven straight quarters with no sales growth.Over the last five years its share price is down an astonishing 75%.Luxury furniture company RH sales go negative for the first time in two years.And its share prices are challenging Nike for the worst performance over five years.Financial Ructions30-Year US Treasury yields are the highest since 2004.And 1-Year yields are back to where they were in 2007.Along with 30-year fixed rate mortgages.Our favourite mainstream journalist is back and no, a strong economy does not require higher interest rates.I dust off one of my old marketing slides to demonstrate how simply looking at annual rates of return for a mutual fund can be misleading.Book ReviewWe’re on Chapter 4 of Why Socialism Struggles.We explore the danger of trying to fix prices in an economy.Prices of goods or labor.And we look at why technology and progress must be embraced.Stopping progress might result in zero unemployment but we’d all be impoverished.

Summary A disturbing number of Americans are using Buy Now, Pay Later options for groceries.American booze company Constellation Brands has turned things around.But not its share price.Brown Forman (Jack Daniels) also sees sales ticking up.And broke off merger talks with French booze company Pernod Ricard.In Financial RuctionsA look at wage growth in the U.S. vs. Canada.And economic stats can be cherry picked.Corporate bankruptcies in the U.S. are increasingAnd 2026 could set the highest number since 2010.Signs of financial repression.A look at Japan.Book Review: Why Socialism StrugglesWe look at the concept of value.Why not everyone can be paid a living wage and what, as a society, we do about it.

A look at pawn shops.And how they may be a good hedge in your stock portfolio.Sales of General Mills finally stop falling.But volume continues its downward path.A look at the most visited websites in the U.S.Gmail leads the way.In Financial Ructions:Chicago’s public pension plans are a disaster.Investment in Canada is falling further and further behind the U.S.Book ReviewWe’re on chapter two of Why Socialism Struggles.Economics is about making decisions.And no, not by policymakers but by individuals.However, we are all suffering from the Fatal Conceit of our elected and non-elected officials.

Dogs in the U.K. go postal.A sad tale of beer in the U.K.Xbox console sales have been plummeting.And here come the layoffs.Demand from Krispy Kreme customers is softer than their donuts.And their share price has tanked over the last five years.And another look back.A great campaign slogan.Financial Ructions:New Zealand and Singapore top the list of countries in terms of ease of doing business.France, Japan and Italy way down the list.Book ReviewWe start a new book review: Why Socialism Struggles by Dr. Doug Cardell.There are a lot of misconceptions about what socialism is and what free market capitalism is.I hope that after reviewing this book you will have a better understanding of how an economy really works.And be able to identify when certain economic doctrine is driven more by ideology than reality.