The labor hates the management and their grievances are justified in some situations

Whats going on with the petro dollar?
Whats going on with the carry trade?
What going on with the Yen?
Whats happening to Japans economy and what is the US doing to help?
Whats going on in the bond market?
How does rising interest rates effect our debt / interest payment?
How are our oil reserves doing?
What type of oil is from Venezuela and how does it help produce diesel fuel?
What is the forecast for diesel fuel?
Is the straight open?
What is the latest laws they changed for crypto, why are they changing, and should we be part of it?
What is a fiat currency and how often does it change and is the US likely to change again anytime soon?
Are central banks buying gold? How much and at what levels?
Is silver used to manufacture anything? How much do we have available?
Are we winning the war with Iran?
Whats going on with the war in Ukraine?
What is our level of inventory of patriot missiles and such?
What countries are implementing a draft? Why?
How much money does the US plan to print and what does that do to inflation?
What are the jobs market numbers?
What is the unemployment rate?
What are the manufacturing output of the factories in the country?
Whats China up to?
Whats Putin up to?
What are they getting away with b/c our ships were moved to the straight?
How long have ships been in the straight and what problems have the sailors encountered?
Are those ships being relieved by other ships? Where did they come from what were they doing orig?

Interesting times.

Yields on long-dated government bonds are rising across the world, and the reaction among the financial press and talking heads is a mini-panic: Oh no, the debt crisis has finally arrived. The better view is hurray for the bond market, as investors awake at long last from nearly two decades of financial repression. Spendthrift governments might finally have to pay more to borrow and tighten their belts as a result.

The 10-year Treasury note ticked up to 4.8% on Tuesday amid a global bond selloff that sent yields on Japan's 10-year to a three-decade high. The U.S. 30-year bond hit 5.28%, while the U.K.'s 30-year gilt rose to a 28-year high of 5.9%.

At least for the U.S., this is hardly a crisis. A 10-year bond in the 4%-5% range was normal before the financial panic and the pandemic. While rising yields may be painful for governments, and pose risks for overleveraged borrowers, they are healthy for markets because they restore price signals and provide a more accurate measure of credit risk.

After the 2008-09 financial panic, central banks kept interest rates at historically low levels and engaged in quantitative easing by buying long-dated assets, including government bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Outside the U.S. they also bought corporate debt. Inflation remained subdued, which lulled markets and borrowers into thinking that low rates represented the new normal.

Low rates enabled governments to borrow cheaply and pile on debt. Capital allocation in the real economy became distorted, and price signals were suppressed. That's because interest rates on mortgages, student loans, and corporate and municipal bonds are tied to long-dated Treasurys. Low rates amounted to a subsidy for profligate governments.

Consider Illinois, which in 2010 issued five-year bonds to finance its pensions at a 3.854% rate. This is a very successful deal for the State of Illinois and the 3.854% rate is proof the State?s economy is strong, then Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn declared. No, it was evidence that investors weren't properly pricing credit risk.

California in 2017 issued bonds for its bullet train carrying a 2.193% rate. The train still isn't close to being finished, and it may never be. Colleges took advantage of the uber-low rates to expand their real-estate empires and improve amenities to lure students. Low rates helped fuel an increase in housing prices that is now reducing the available supply of homes as owners feel locked-in by today's higher mortgage rates.

Pension funds and life insurers with long-dated liabilities poured into riskier assets with higher yields to fund future obligations. Bloomberg News reported last week that LeBron James borrowed nearly $300 million at a 4.8% rate from a pair of Midwestern life insurers in 2018 -- when 30-year Treasurys were yielding about 3% --with his bonds not maturing until late 2049.

Yields are now returning to historically normal levels as central banks have increased short-term rates to subdue inflation. New Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has said he wants the bond market's signals to inform Fed policy decisions, not vice versa. Rising yields reflect in part expectations that interest rates will stay higher for longer, and that governments will have to issue more debt to finance entitlements for aging populations. Governments are also having to compete in bond markets with AI hyper-scalers.

This transition isn't without financial risk, and some market crack-ups are sure to occur, though who knows where and when. Washington can help put off a doomsday with policies that help economic growth, which doesn't include tax increases or tariffs.

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But overall the return to normal debt markets is a good development. U.S. debt held by the public at 100% of GDP is a problem, and on present trend it will get worse. Interest on the debt is now $1 trillion a year, more than the defense budget, and growing. Neither party in Washington is willing to reform the runaway entitlements that are driving the debt.

The bond vigilantes aren't yet in full cry, but their early murmurs are welcome. They are sending a message to Washington and other Western nations to clean up their fiscal acts. Bond investors may be the only people who can force the politicians to pay attention. The real worry is if the politicians don't listen.