Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Police Shootings by State v. Percent of the Population that is Black

After my recent post on police shootings I was curious and did some googling on the topic. By coincidence, right about that time Peter Moskos (i.e., Cop in the Hood) wrote this: I looked at the Washington Post data of those shot and killed by police in 2015 and 2016 and broke it down by […]

US life expectancy flat for third year

US life expectancy flat for third year Life expectancy in the United States has stalled for three straight years, the government announced Wednesday. A child born last year can expect to make it to 78 years and 9 1/2 months — the same prediction made for the previous two years. In most of the years […]

The Economics of History, Douthat-Style

I try not to pay attention—and not provide a direct link—to the NYT’s Stupidest Conservative. It’s one of the greatest advantages of having Susan of Texas around: you can go there and see anything I might write, done better, and (in this case) with cute graphics. But when Brad DeLong falls down on the job—dealing […]

The Texas Miracle, Yet Again

We keep hearing about the Texas Miracle.  It’s been mythic since “openly gay” Governor Rick Perry declared that Texas was in great shape, in no need of stimulus monies at all—after receiving enough to turn his state’s fourteen-figure budget deficit into a surplus. (UPDATE: Links added. And that final link was rather prophetic.) So when […]

Strange Data Point of the Day

Looking at Population Change data derived from version 6.2 of the Penn World Tables. It appears that the population of Kuwait declined by 55.46% in 1991, only to increase 48.64% in the following year. I’m inclined to think of this as measurement error, not a mass exodus following by a mass return after the invasion. […]