It is often said that there are two sides to every story and, somewhere in middle, lies the price of oil.  Okay, I paraphrased that just a bit.

But, isn’t it odd that the day after the Saudis threaten $400/barrel oil, Donald Trump suddenly embraces the ludicrous “rogue killers” theory for the death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi?

It appears that after days of vehement denials of any involvement, the Saudis suddenly remembered that Khashoggi was, in fact, assassinated and dismembered in their Turkish embassy (Saudi operative: “Oh, yeah…that guy that we chopped up with a bone saw?  I had forgotten all about that!)

After a 20-minute conversation, the president who fell in love with Kim Jong-un also came to terms with Saudi King Salman.  Was it love?  To quote the master of the deal, himself, who knows?

But since Trump is desperate to reverse the rise in gas prices, inflation, and interest rates between now and November 6 (and, to salvage billions in arms sales) don’t be surprised if we get that next leg down in oil prices very soon.  Nobody knew the economy could be so complicated!

And, while we’re on the topic of government prevarication, the much-delayed September Treasury Statement was finally released yesterday.  Anyone notice something odd about September outlays?  Did we really see a plunge in every expense category?  Or, maybe, someone decided to massage the numbers just a bit to prevent the report of a $1 trillion deficit.  Appearances, again.

Nah…then we’d surely see other efforts to obfuscate the country’s fiscal plight.  For instance, they’d never allow charts like this one from the August report.

The same chart in September…  (appearances, indeed!)continued for members… (more…)