To answer the question of why Dylan’s comment now? I was a child of that era, (I can quote this). For all of you out there who prescribe to your military service as a necessity to be citizen and complying to the draft or enlisting? I really do not believe you have to do so. […]
Don’t need much of an explanation to introduce this piece . . . Who gets to decide? “How US Policymaking Institutions Reinforce Inequality and Favor the Status Quo,” Roosevelt Institute The Powers: The policymaking institutions established by the US Constitution are extreme in their capacity to impede policy change. Four characteristics explain why: (1) a […]
George Washington famously required his army to be innoculated against smallpox. Not because he was woke, but because he understood how devastating this viral infection could be and how protective immunity was. Whisky Pete, knowing more than our founding father and first president, made the flu vaccine optional. How’d that work out? “Last week, news […]
I do not know how others are raised in their families. You can get an idea by watching how they act with others and yourseld for that matter. With an Italian mother and grandmother as well as a strict father, we were taught to respect others, their customs, and adults. It does carry over into […]
– by New Deal democrat To start with the usual: new home sales are very volatile and heavily revised, which is why I pay more attention to single family permits. But they are the most leading of all the housing data; and averaged over three months, much of the noise goes away. In May, new […]
This report is from May 19, 2026. Things have probably changed since then. Not for the better and more likely for the worst. Our country can grant tax breaks for the upper 10% of the income brackets allowing it to cause deficits. Somewhere there has to be a balance. To reconcile the difference in taxes […]
Just some thoughts . . . “The Shaky Assumptions Behind Trump’s Over $500 Billion in Projected Drug Savings,” FactCheck.org The administration’s most favored nation policy seeks to bring down drug prices to levels paid in other countries. The bulk of the savings, estimated in a May 5 report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, comes […]
Republicans are once again blaming social programs for the ballooning deficits and national debt. Setting aside the fact that the US debt/GDP ratio was higher at the end of WWII and that Japan has a far higher debt/GDP ratio, what would a serious discussion about federal spending look like? Obviously, it would decry the squandering […]
– by New Deal democrat Well, I was working on one nerdy long-term historical post this morning, when I decided to check the weekly update on consumer spending from Redbook. And, as you’ll see below, that was the end of that! (I may yet follow up this afternoon. We’ll see.) Last week, Redbook consumer spending was […]