A full regular season’s worth of surprises, inevitabilities, overreactions and underreactions has led us to where we are -- the start of a 14-team NFL postseason.

-The hay is in the barn on the league's playoff teams. At this point, we know who and what all of these teams are. Or do we?

-Inflation is expected to have declined in December, but it may not be enough to stop the Fed! The pace of consumer inflation is expected to have fallen slightly in December from the prior month because of a sharp drop in gasoline and energy prices, but the annual rate is still likely to remain uncomfortably high. According to Dow Jones, economists now expect a decline of 0.1% in the consumer price index on a monthly basis, but inflation is still expected to climb at a 6.5% rate from the prior year. Oh boy!

- The drafters of our Constitution were well aware of the threat of foreign influence over U.S. office holders when they wrote the Emoluments Clause, which prohibits anyone holding a position of trust with the United States government from receiving any emoluments — i.e. profits and benefits — from any foreign state..  Hmmm....  Trump’s tax returns show he was a bigger risk than we realized.  If Congress had known about Trump's foreign bank accounts earlier, they could very well have looked into them. Before the beginning of the Trump presidency, he was likely in violation of the Emoluments Clause on the day he took office.

-   Lots to talk about, but it is the Friday show.  Let's try and keep it light and have some fun on the Andy and Amanda Show!  515-605-9888