Thursday, April 2, 2026

Healthcare Sector Drives US Job Creation

The Force Behind the March Labor Report: Healthcare Jobs
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/the-force-behind-the-march-labor-report-healthcare-jobs-6a487643
Work in healthcare, including nursing, boomed again in March. The sector has provided some of the most consistent job growth since the 1980s.

Nursing Is the Surefire New Path to American Prosperity
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/nursing-jobs-pay-prosperity-b2769391
Plentiful jobs and potential six-figure incomes draw young people as other industries falter; U.S. healthcare is “a modern middle-class jobs engine.”

Why Healthcare Is Doing the Heavy Lifting in This Job Market
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/why-healthcare-is-doing-the-heavy-lifting-in-this-job-market-8944ae43
An aging population can continue to fuel hiring in healthcare even if the rest of the economy wobbles. 

Home health and personal care aides are in high demand but the pay is low. 

China's Economy - Past, Present, and the Future

Can China Grow from Within?
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-15th-five-year-plan-measures-to-increase-domestic-consumption-by-keyu-jin-2026-04
At a time of intensifying geopolitical volatility, China’s embrace of a consumption-led model is not only about rebalancing growth, but also about anchoring it more firmly at home. Domestic demand offers insulation from external shocks, and along with developed capital markets, it can go a long way toward strengthening autonomy.
 
Telling the Truth About China’s Success
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-did-not-cheat-its-way-to-prosperity-by-yanis-varoufakis-2026-04
With the Persian Gulf in flames, de-escalation of the cold war between the United States and China must become the world’s top priority. To that end, it is essential to explode a powerful myth: the idea that China has cheated its way to prosperity. 

AI and Entrepreneurship

How A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8 Billion Company
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/technology/ai-billion-dollar-company-medvi.html
Who needs more than two employees when artificial intelligence can do so many corporate tasks? It’s super-efficient — and a little bit lonely. 

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Does TACO Trading Strategy Still Work?

Markets are waiting for Trump to back down, but it might be too late
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/03/31/markets-banking-on-another-taco-what-if-there-isnt-one/
Jeremy Warner:
Financial markets have become conditioned to believe that when push comes to shove, Trump always backs down. Many sense a similar dynamic at play in the movement of US troops into the Gulf region, together with the threat to invade Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal. As for suggestions of a military operation to seize Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, this is not brinkmanship but just fantasy. Everyone can see it as such.
The problem Trump has is that the more he threatens only to back down, the less seriously everyone takes him. To maintain credibility, he must at some stage go through with his threats. As things stand, it is like a game of chicken, only with two 10-tonne trucks packed with explosives speeding towards each other on a single-lane bridge. Trump may have already run out of road for any reverse handbrake turn. 

Uncertainty and Corporate Investment

America Now Has an EV Rust Belt. High Gas Prices Won’t Rescue It.
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ev-factories-layoffs-autoworkers-f93de8d3
GM supplier Magna is stuck with a plant built to churn out parts for battery-powered pickups. “The magnitude of uncertainty is unparalleled,” said its CEO. 

Will US Economy Remain Resilient?

Bad, Very Bad and Much Worse: Pick a Forecast for the War and Economy
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/business/iran-war-economy-stocks-bonds.html
A merely bad outlook might be good enough for the markets.
 
America Should Beware of Economic Hubris
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/despite-its-strengths-the-us-economy-is-not-immune-to-iran-war-impacts-by-mohamed-a-el-erian-2026-03
Even if the US economy continues outperforming its peers, it will not necessarily remain insulated from the Iran war’s adverse spillovers. Already, higher energy and borrowing costs are exacerbating the affordability pressures many Americans face, creating downside risks for jobs, consumption, and growth.

The Economy Is on the Edge. What Could Tip It Over, or Help It Pull Through.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/economic-tail-risks-in-2026-65187567
The economy has several vulnerabilities that could erupt as high oil prices bite.
 
The Iran War Doesn’t Have to Be a Rerun of ‘That ’70s Show’
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-iran-war-doesnt-have-to-be-a-rerun-of-that-70s-show-d4c94148
Rising energy prices turn into recessions only if bad government policies compound their effects.