I think anything can happen and nobody knows how this will play out, including the principal participants and other key interested parties. Things were fairly predictable up until last Thursday morning. Nothing is predictable now, as small things may have large unexpected consequences, and there's an awful lot of sabre rattling which plays well on TV but probably not as well on the movie inside the heads of some key lunatic participants.
Neighbor’s husband was in the Marine Corp at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, had a bomb shelter constructed. We had regular nuclear war drills “duck and cover” under the desk.
Given their numerical and technological inferiority, Ukrainian forces must manipulate terrain against the Russian military to achieve military successes on the battlefield.
Russia's convey outside of Kiev is just sitting there. Why are not Ukrainians destroying convey?
I'm sure the Russia Air Force is patrolling the road, hoping the Ukrainian planes show up.
And I'm sure the Russians have helicopters looking for any UKR soldiers approaching. Not so easy to attack when the other side knows you are coming and outnumbers you.
yeah it does look like some 1Q growth was pulled forward into the 4Q. Biz inventories grew enormously as supply chains healed, for example. But I'd expect the GDP Now estimate to start rising.
The Street has growth at almost 2% in the 1Q, so there is a wide gap between GDP Now and the Street.
WSJ today:
As Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a war against Ukraine, half a world away the U.S. economy appeared to be rebounding from a winter surge of Covid-19 infections. A range of U.S. data suggests U.S. economic activity picked up in recent weeks. Many Wall Street analysts expect the Labor Department on Friday to report large job gains in February and a further decline in unemployment. These developments suggest that the U.S. is in a position to withstand the economic shock that might emanate from battlegrounds in Ukraine. Those effects could push U.S. inflation higher from already elevated levels, but the economic expansion appears to be on solid ground. “It looks like the U.S. has gotten through the Omicron variant and weathered that storm and the economy is growing solidly,” said Mickey Levy, chief U.S. economist at Berenberg Capital Markets LLC, the securities arm of a German bank.
Certainly no problems in the job-production market. Note that ginormous revision up too.
U.S. private-sector employers brought back more jobs than expected in February as virus-related disruptions receded following the Omicron variants spread. Private payrolls rose by 475,000 in February compared to January, ADP said Wednesday. Economists were looking for payrolls to grow by 375,000, according to Bloomberg consensus data. February's report also came alongside a sharp upward revision to January's payrolls. In January, private sector employment rose by 509,000, ADP said in its revised monthly print. Previously, ADP reported January payrolls fell by 301,000, which would have been the first drop since December 2020.
A lot of the cars we drive are already pretty fuel efficient.
OK millennial. :-)
Trying to be playful with that this time, no offense intended...
I can tell you, from having travelled quite a lot and lived abroad, that the average vehicle in Canada and the US has far higher fuel consumption than in most other developed nations. In many cases, it's a question of geometry rather than the cost of gas (which is nearly universally higher elsewhere outside the US), as many places have an abundance of small roads and higher traffic congestion that are not massive pickup / SUV friendly. But I imagine the typically higher price of gas is also a factor.
I'm spit balling here, I have no statistics to back up my claims and beliefs, only personal observations.