War

Around the world, governments are pouring money into national security. This can take many forms. Governments, for instance, might spend their tax revenues on militaries, cyber security, or defense against terrorism.

America has been at war with Iran for roughly two months. This has dramatically impacted the global energy markets, mostly by pushing the costs higher.  Most households here at home have felt the pressure at the pump. Further down the horizon, we may all feel other knock-on effects as firms deal with higher transportation and production prices cutting into margins.

We’ve all learned that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. That tends to lead one to believe that the scenic path (e.g., longer route) will take more time to travel. But what if that is not the case? As it turns out, Newtonian physics shows this intuition is wrong.

This note was on the calendar because it is that time of year, but then Atlas had to rip up the script when the war in Iran started because seasonal issues alone were no longer driving the price of fuel higher.  Initially this note was going to help remind readers that changes to the blend of fuel would be taking place soon as the weather warms.

At times it can feel as if America’s current circumstances are unique.  However, patterns often emerge which appear similar to those of other periods.  At the foundation of history are people, individuals influenced in a large part by emotions, no differently than we all are today.