US Says 'No Ships Made It Past Blockade' As Iran Mulls Hormuz Shipping Pause To Preserve Talks, Which Trump Says Could Happen In Two Days

Contrary to what the Modern Monetary Theory advocates and their Chartalist allies are claiming, the 1690 colonial Massachusetts issuance of fiat money did not create an enlightened moment in U.S. monetary history. Instead, it was a monetary bait-and-switch.

US Retail Sales Jumped Most In 8 Months In February Bank of America's omniscient analysts forecast a very strong month for Retail Sales in February data (released today)... The actual print was +0.6% MoM (better than the 0.5% consensus, but less than BofA's forecast) comes after a revised higher 0.1% MoM decline in January (and December's nothingburger)... Source: Bloomberg That is the highest MoM rise since June 2025, and sales rose 3.7% YoY... Core Retail Sales (Ex Autos) rose 0.5% MoM (much better than expected) and Ex Autos and Gas also rose more than...

Alarming West Texas Oil Theft Emerges As National Security Threat Criminals are exploiting weak points across the West Texas oil production region, which accounts for 15% of the world's energy resources. This emerging wave of oil theft is burning a multi-billion-dollar hole in the budgets of oil and gas operators across the Permian Basin and is becoming a national security threat. Bloomberg reports that oil and gas producers are losing at least $1 billion, if not more, per year due to oilfield theft in what the outlet describes as something...