Blog

Coronavirus keeps impacting the global economy in unforeseeable ways.  Early on there were shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).  This caused some folks to jump into action and funnel the badly needed gear to hospitals and first responders.  Then there were stories about the glass-packaging industry being under pressure to produce enough vials for vaccines.  And

Finance and technology have been partners for decades.  Banks began automating bookkeeping as far back as 1959.  Then the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) materialized at about the same time young people donning hippie fashions overran the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco.  Then their partnership really started moving fast.  An automated stock exchange cr

Comprehensive and frequent are two of the best characteristics for an economic indicator.  The Chicago Branch of the Federal Reserve produces one that has both attributes: The National Activity Index.

Well, here we are, January 1st, 2021 is less than 24 hours away.  Each year, January ushers in feelings of optimism and new starts.  It all happens for a good reason: Janus.  Janus is the god of (among other things) time, transitions, and beginnings in ancient Roman religion. 

Did you see it?

America has many divides.  Our continental divide (pictured above) splits the country between two drainage basins: one empties into the Pacific while the other reaches the Gulf of Mexico.  Another divide separating the nation is political in nature; four years ago when then President-elect Donald J.