15 California cities are resisting the resistance.  California is refusing to comply with Federal immigration rules by permitting sanctuary cities, but 15 of its cities are refusing or protesting the state policy or suing them in court.  This must be new ground.

It seems we are obsessed with Trump.  The more that political coverage emulates show biz the more this is likely, and I do not know that we are any more obsessed with Trump than Obama, Bush or Clinton. The level of hyperbolic rage certainly makes it seem so. Richard Epstein in the WSJ today thinks we are and observed that without Trump the NYT would have to begin on page 2.  Like a ‘meatless Monday’ meant to conserve meat for the troops in WW II, he suggests a ‘Trumpless Thursday’, a day for zero reporting on Trump.

Betsy Devos proposed a DOE budget reduction of $9 billion and received a boost from Congress of $2.6 billion.  Maybe intended as an affront to an unpopular department head, it is also a symptom of our spending disease.

Millennials consume less. Apartments are shrinking in size and they are less materialistic.  Stimulating consumption will have less impact. Or is the consumption in non-material expenses such as music streaming, social networking and the App of the day. In either instance the results of economic policy will change.

The threat of monopoly was theoretically based on price control and stifling innovation, but the real threat was government control. The 17th Amendment changed the selection of Senators by popular vote rather than state appointment, because of the political influence affected by large corporations with far more money than the treasuries of the states that regulated them. They were thus able to exert considerable influence on the Senate.

The patronage and influence of the first Progressive Era has only morphed into lobbyists and regulatory capture. But the real threat is the control they exert on government or the democratic process.  The FANGs are too focused on their businesses to care much about influencing government UNTIL the government attempts to influence them.  When they control as big a market share as they do, regulations will likely serve to protect them from startup competition.

I just noticed on Fox Business that there is a Republican Policies Fund- market symbol – GOP.  Started just before the November election. Design to find companies that will benefit from Republican policies.  Wow.

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