Friday Fun

This year, Halloween spending is set to break records, casting a festive but even slightly spooky shadow over consumer wallets.  According to the National Retail Federation's annual survey, Americans are projected to shell out a chilling $13.1 billion, a climb from last year's $11.6 billion and surpassing 2023's previous high.  Despite concerns about higher prices, especia

“Because that’s where the money is” is an apocryphal quote attributed to Willie Sutton after he was allegedly asked why he robs banks.  He went on to deny saying it but also believes that would have been his answer had the question actually been posed.  Since his time as a bank robber, banking has changed a lot.  Just recently I discovered that the branch I open

In the 1992 movie Wayne’s World, there’s that classic street hockey moment where Wayne and Garth yell “Game off!” every time a car comes down the street, everyone moves aside, the game stops and then “Game on!” as soon as the street clears.  It’s funny in a movie, but when tariffs in an economy are suddenly switched “on” and th

Stablecoins have been making a lot of headlines lately.  Atlas has been fielding calls about them and has a relatively naïve understanding of the new technology.

Political turbulence has become the new normal, yet economic markets are learning to live with the chaos.

The calendar has turned, and we find ourselves on the backside of Labor Day.  Halloween, however, is nearly two months away.  America finds itself in a sort of doldrums.  Summer is unofficially over, yet the holiday season has not arrived.  Many Americans resort to Pumpkin Spice Lattes (PSL) as a way of taking the edge off of this uneventful period.  If that’s you

Every August since 1982, the Kansas City Branch of the Federal Reserve System hosts an event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  It’s like an economic summer camp, although they probably forego the sticky fingers that come with s’mores.  The idea is to foster open discussions about the economy, exchanging ideas and probably a few barbs.  Typically, the event centers around a s

For many food is an art; for others, it’s an economic indicator.  When times are good, Americans spend on eating out instead of preparing less costly equivalents at home.  As the tide changes, diets tend to change.  Instead of frequenting venues with menus, consumers opt for more affordable, shelf-stable items like rice, pasta, beans, lentils, and oats, along with canned go

Steam engines and factories transformed the modern way of life during the Industrial Revolution.  It rendered many technologies and skills obsolete while opening up an entirely new set of opportunities for those willing to transition away from a cottage industry into the more scalable competition that mechanization created.  Today, the economy could be in the middle of a similar trans

Arthur “Pop” Momand created the comic “Keeping Up with the Joneses,” a strip depicting the McGinnis family who struggle to keep up with the lifestyle of their neighbors.  Since its creation in 1913, Americans have been doing just that.  Our economy is driven by consumption.  Spending on goods and services represents roughly 70% of the nation’s output