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

The Little or No Change, Changed Little, Unchanged, Held, or Declined Employment Situation Report May 2026

In a Nut Shell? Civilian Labor force for May increased by 83,000 over April while Not in Labor Force went up by 17,000. Unemployed dropped by 66,000. Unemployment Rate remained at 4.3%. Participation Rate remained the same at 61.8 which is down from the same month in 2025. Civilian Labor Force is growing but a […]

$11,200 per Year for the Military or $220 per household for ACA?

Which one would you want to pay? Dean Baker does the comparison of Military expenditures and as compared to ACA subsides. Details in the Dean commentary. Is paying $11,200 a year to soothe the president’s paranoia in his demented state reasonable? Donald Trump says you should. The Republicans in Congress are likely to agree. So, […]

Fast Trains in Japan

My (Samuel Walker) observation is that railroads capable of high speed, that is over 110 mph are passenger services. Where they have been built, they have been built with different goals and purposes. Often there is not enough in fare to cover all costs. The Japanese built the first high speed railroad because of its […]

Economically weighted ISM services + manufacturing indexes show expanding economy, stagnant employment, and rampant inflationary pressures

 – by New Deal democrat The economically weighted ISM manufacturing + services indexes have become one of my favorite datapoints. That’s in part because the former has a nearly 80 year history of being a solid leading indicator, although somewhat attenuated since the start of the Millennium. But the latter now also has a long […]

Trump’s deal with the Depart­ment of Justice raises a level of cor­rup­tion . . .

Simple Recital by two known experts on Law and potential corruption. Both are dismissing the excuses put forth by others of having no way to hinder Trump. He actually calls out what is occurring, ~~~~~~~ Trump’s deal with the DOJ marks new level of unprecedented corruption The Fresno Bee (Sunday) – by Burt Urt Neuborne […]

Down the Tesla memory hole

To follow up on a previous post about Tesla autonomous driving vehicles: “Tesla has retroactively modified “Full Self-Driving” purchase agreements to add “supervised” language that did not exist when owners originally bought the product. In some cases, the original documents have been made entirely inaccessible. “Electrek has confirmed the issue with multiple owners. The contracts […]

April JOLTS report confirms a low-hire, low-fire, and low-quits economy

– by New Deal democrat The JOLTS report is low on my list of useful tools, but it does break down the labor market further than the jobs report, and it does have several slightly leading components, so let’s take a look at the latest report, which is for April. Below are job openings (blue), […]