Entries by Neland Nobel

It Apparently Wasn’t the Economy, Stupid!

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. H. L. Mencken The recent results of the mid-term elections have a number of pundits puzzled, including ourselves. It was felt that the economy would be dominant. Inflation is at the worst levels in 40 years, […]

The Election Results So Far: Not a Great Outcome

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

As we write this, there are many races just too close to call. Especially in Arizona, most of the major state races are still up in the air. In part, this is because of the gross incompetence of Maricopa county officials, who have once again embarrassed the state on the national stage. And in part, […]

The Atlantic Magazine Floats Covid Amnesty

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Perhaps sensing a groundswell of a political backlash against politicians and officials, the Atlantic magazine, long a purveyor of progressive politics, has run a major article suggesting “amnesty” for people that abused their power, and abused other people, because of Covid. Interestingly, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers (the teacher’s union) is making […]

Making Crime Into Political Violence While Ignoring Crime That Is

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Not too long ago, The Prickly Pear ran a piece, “Don’t Take the Bait”.  It suggested that the press and the Democrats were deliberately baiting conservatives to take action that would result in violence, so it could be to discredit conservatism.  It went on to recommend that conservatives swear off any kind of violent response […]

The New Threat to Democracy: The Shadow Candidate

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

The recent debate performance of Senatorial candidate John Fetterman in Pennsylvania was revelatory. The man clearly has serious cognitive issues that would make him unable to serve. Yet President Biden said Fetterman’s wife would make a great Senator. This remark seemed to imply that party officials understand Fetterman is not able to effectively serve but […]

The Promise of Libertarianism

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

We have been hard on our libertarian friends this election cycle. We have made our case that we cannot blow the chance to change the balance of power in the Senate for the satisfaction of a protest vote. The Prickly Pear is not alone in this. That is likely why Senator Rand Paul, about as […]

A Board Game to Steal an Election? Can you Win?

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

Once in a while, something comes along that cheers our progress toward liberty. In this age of cultural discouragement, it is good to see a product that not only entertains but educates about how elections may be stolen, manipulated, or purchased… you pick the term that suits your sensibilities. Unlike watching a movie, or listening […]

Yes, Things ARE as Bad as You Think They Are. Here is What You Can Do.

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

One of the cardinal questions in politics for voters to answer is: are you better off today than you were before? Has the party in power made your life better or worse, easier or more difficult, safer or more dangerous?  Are you freer, or less free than before? We think an objective answer to this […]

SPOILER ALERT! Marc Victor, Libertarian Spoiler for the 2022 Arizona U.S. Senate Race

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

The first thing we would like to make clear is we have great sympathy, even affection, for many libertarian ideas. That is more than just a gratuitous statement. Readers know that over the past few years we have published many articles from libertarian-oriented think tanks and publications. Theoretical ideas and the governing mechanics of politics, are […]

The US Dollar Hits a 35 Year High

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

The US dollar has been on a tear rarely if ever seen before. This has been helped by soaring interest rates. For example, we began the year with the bellwether 10-year Treasury bond at 1.6% while last week’s auction saw rates above 4%. While the nominal change does not seem that large, the percentage change […]

Are The Bond Vigilantes Looking for a Hanging?

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Prior to 2000, it was common in the economic and investment literature to read about “bond vigilantes.”Credit for the term is generally given to investment guru Edward Yardeni. James Carville, the snake-headed political advisor to the Clinton campaign in 1994, remarked that if there were such a thing as reincarnation, he would like come back […]

Drag Queens Are the New Black Face

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

It is easy to find on YouTube numerous videos of parents dragging their own children to drag queen shows where the children are encouraged to touch the genital areas of the performers or stuff dollar bills into the same geography. Or they will haul their children to a place of learning, usually a library or […]

Mr. Biden’s Wild Ride

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Central planning should be…planned, at least in some cohesive way, based on a rational basis. We are not suggesting we are a fan of “coordinated” central planning either since it can’t ever be done correctly by bureaucratic agencies that override the price signals, which are the actual guide to what is real about supply and […]

The Blood Red Speech

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

President Biden, when he is not on vacation, is changing the political landscape…and not for the better. A candidate who billed himself as an “uniter” has used perhaps the most divisive, may we say, incendiary language of any President in recent memory, or perhaps in history. With strange blood-red lighting, he walked with his wife […]

Election Integrity Should be Bi-Partisan

Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Election integrity is something everyone should be concerned about. Both parties have an interest in ensuring the public has confidence in the process. If not, it is destructive to the very core of the democratic process. The reason: if elections are not “honest”, what is the point of elections and without elections how can you have “democracy”, […]

It Is Still a Dilemma for Investors

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Editors’ Note: The author’s warning and advice at the end of this article are so important. The economic problems plaguing much of the world are related to Democrat and Biden administration governance in many areas of public policy and economic management. The Inflation Reduction Act (misnamed – it is the Green New Deal Slush Fund Act), environmental […]

President Biden: Ignorant Demagogue

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

President Biden was recently in Pennsylvania where he campaigned against “assault weapons” again, committing multiple egregious factual errors. The press describes such events as “gaffes” and the President as “gaffe-prone.” But simple factual errors occur so frequently, and most often in the context of major policy positions, that one must conclude either the President is […]

The GOP Has a Big Ego Problem

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

It has always been a marvel how the Democrats pull together. They may fight among themselves, but they see themselves as change agents. They tend to subdue their differences and work for long-term goals of bringing socialism to America. It has been a 70-year project and they are winning. More than 50 years ago when […]

Energy Shortage and Mineral Dependence

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Editors’ Note: Although the November 8th election here in Arizona will be focused on economic issues and our southern border invasion, the Inflation Reduction Act should be a central issue for the Senate race between Blake Masters (R) and incumbent Mark Kelly (D). Similarly, incumbent Kyrsten Sinema (D) will attempt to remain in her Senate seat […]

Mike Pence: Political Dunderhead

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

Since the FBI raid on former President Trump’s personal residence, the bureau has come under justifiable political fire. Former Vice President Pence, who increasingly is making signals he wants to break from Trump’s orbit, has come out condemning those criticizing the FBI. Those remarks are being used by progressives, who want to exploit divisions within […]

Courage or Experience?

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

As the collective blood starts to boil among conservatives for the unprecedented raid on the home of former President Donald Trump, we need to think about who is responsible for the leadership of both the Department of Justice and the FBI. And we must demand that Republicans investigate and clean out these agencies. It is […]

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You Don’t

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

The headline is taken from an old television ad and accompanying jingle to help distinguish between two candy bars: Almond Joy and Mounds. We would interpret this to mean that sometimes one feels like a candy bar with a large nut, chocolate, and coconut,  and sometimes you just want the coconut and chocolate. Such matters of taste […]

In Condemnation of Kyrsten Sinema

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Last January we wrote a piece called “In Praise of Krysten Sinema.” It was written in a generous bi-partisan spirit. The senior Senator from Arizona had stood up to a massive, expensive, intrusive spending bill.  She had done so under relentless attack. These attacks even became personal as she was accosted in a bathroom at ASU […]

The Everything Bubble Is Imploding

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

A few years ago, some smart observers popularized the phrase “the everything bubble” to describe the behavior of the financial markets. Years of zero interest rates and bank reserve expansion through the Federal Reserve’s policy of Quantitative Easing set off a wave of asset price inflation.  Fiscal policy (Federal spending) was aggressive as well. Oddly, […]

A Hot GOP Primary Season in Arizona

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Both ambient temperatures and political temperatures are hot in Arizona.   Republicans in Arizona seem to be having a lively primary season, Democrats not so much. Many of the races are hotly contested with relatively narrow differences in viewpoint to be considered by voters. Given the philosophical roots of The Prickly Pear, our interests are […]

Another Government Blunder

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

We have experienced and witnessed a string of catastrophic government blunders in the past several years. A partial listing of these blunders by our elected leaders includes: The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, intervention in Ukraine with no strategy to win, the introduction of wokeness into the military creating a recruitment crisis, and failure to stand […]

Investments End Second Quarter on A Sour Note

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

The stock market ended the second quarter on a sour note.  It has had the worse start for a year in five decades. While this is not exclusively the fault of the current President, his attitude towards inflation, energy production, and social policy, has certainly contributed to the losses. Starting very early in the year, […]

Killing Is Not OK

Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

The recent Supreme Court decision to return abortion to the political realm, to be decided by the States and elected representatives, was a victory for the law and the Constitution. But this by no means supposes that those that hold human life to be valuable have won the argument. They will have to prevail in […]

Scottsdale Official Faces Board Expulsion After Arizona AG Files Suit

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

School Board member Jann-Michael Greenburg is facing potential removal from the Scottsdale Unified School District school board. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court, arguing that Greenburg should be required to step down from the board after multiple violations of public hearing requirements. Brnovich said Monday the lawsuit’s […]

And A Bear Came to Wall Street

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

The last time we provided you with market commentary was in late May. You might recall, that our position since last summer was that when the Fed took action to constrain inflation, all the markets that had been elevated by easy money policies and zero interest rates would face a challenge. The market had fallen […]

Why Expand Your Business If the Government Will Soon Close It Down?

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Progressives seem to be confused about inflation. Inflation is an increase in the supply of money and credit at a rate faster than the rise in the production of goods and services. It is monetary on the one hand and a supply issue on the other. Therefore, the solution lies in restricting money growth to […]

World Bank Sees Stagflation for Several Years

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

After both the Federal Reserve and the Biden Administration suggested that inflation, was “transitory”, inflation has gotten much worse and is now embedded in much of the price structure. The Biden Administration denies any role in causing inflation by spending hugely, gunning the money supply, and restricting energy output. Instead, it tends to blame Putin […]

What are ESG Scores?

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

And why are so many advocates of liberty deeply concerned about them?   Klaus Schwab and a growing list of powerful global economic and political elites, including BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and President Joe Biden, have recently committed to a global “reset” of the prevailing school of economic thought. They seek to supplant the entrenched […]

Arizona Universities Ignore Board of Regents

Estimated Reading Time: 1 minute

A study by the National Association of Scholars finds that Arizona Universities Ignore the Board of Regents. According to the report: “The Arizona study finds that, despite efforts by the Arizona Board of Regents, Arizona’s universities provide very little formal training in American history and civics. Instead, students in Arizona’s universities are likely to learn […]

2000 Mules Comes to Arizona

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

The technical team behind the hit documentary 2000 Mules appeared at a hearing at the Arizona Legislature on May 31, 2022. The hearing was chaired by Shawnna Bolick, Representative from District 20 and a candidate for Arizona Secretary of State. It was sadly a partisan affair as no Democrat legislators attended the hearing to hear […]

Reflections on the Failure in Uvalde

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Why did all those well-armed, trained men, stand down for almost an hour, leaving the killer with little kids in a safe gun-free zone? It was a mistake they tell us. It appears that a bureaucratic change from “active shooter” to “hostage situation” may have led to the mistake. But the shooter wasn’t holding the […]

Should President Biden Be Impeached?

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Something big is going on in Trumpland. Recently a poll taken by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst found that over two-thirds of Republicans believe President Joe Biden should be impeached if Republicans take control of both houses of Congress in the coming mid-term elections. You can read more details about the poll by clicking […]

Federal Judge Halts Biden Administration from Revoking Title 42 Immigration Enforcement

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

A federal judge in Louisiana on Friday stopped the Biden administration from revoking Title 42, a public health authority that allows illegal immigrants to be quickly deported during a health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays in the Western District of Louisiana issued the order in a case filed by the […]

Yuma County Announces Voter Fraud Investigation

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

The following excerpt is from a press release from the Yuma County Sheriff: “The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) and the Yuma County Recorder’s Office (YCRO) are working together to actively examine cases of voting fraud from the 2020 General Election and now a recent pattern of fraudulent voter registration forms leading up to the […]

The Democrat Playbook: How To Look Like You Are Fighting Inflation Without Really Trying

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”  Professor Milton Friedman   You want to bring down inflation? Let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share.  President Joe Biden Inflation […]

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Says Abortion Restriction is Bad For the Economy

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Usually, the abortion issue is so difficult, because at least one side of the argument contends a baby is being killed. One side sees a human that has value and standing, while the other side tries to argue it is not human life independent of the mother. A pregnancy becomes sort of like a mole […]

Sweden Finally Gets Some Recognition

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

During the recent government panic over Covid, almost all governments in one form or another used “lockdown”, or the quarantining of the healthy, in order to stop the spread of the disease. This was a first in history because usually, isolating the sick or the especially vulnerable was the strategy. The result was severe economic […]

2000 Mules

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

Public opinion about the election process, and the state of election integrity, varies greatly. Among Democrats, many believe the 2016 election was stolen, largely because of Russian interference. Hillary Clinton is on record saying the election was illegitimate and that the election was stolen from her. However, these same Democrats believe the election of 2020 […]

No Comfort in a Correct Prediction

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Trying to guess what the economy and the financial markets will do occupies an entire industry. And, within that industry of financial services, opinions vary greatly. That makes the job of prediction even more difficult because so many bright people have such diametrically different points of view. Which set of views is correct? Having come […]

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