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

Ballance in the Washington Post part CCCLXXIV

David Weigel balances Ballance with non Ballance in this remarkable passage in which he says that public ignorance about candidate’s policy proposals is and isn’t partly Donald Trump’s fault Whose fault is that, and whose fault is it swing voters are unsure where Donald Trump stands? Not the media’s — piles and piles of money […]

The Outlaws of Political Economy

‘I don’t have to show you any stinking badges.’ Perusing Palgrave’s Dictionary of Political Economy from 1894 alerted me to the odd interaction of a pair of distinctions. The first distinction was between the study of “what is” and “what ought to be.” The second distinction was between “economic science” (or “economics”) and “political economy.” Economic science presumably […]

Washington Post Vs Washington Post

In the Washington Post Abby Phillips wrotes “Clinton isn’t doing better than previous Democrats with Latinos — even against Trump” While Greg Sargent wrote “If this new poll is right, Trump is absolutely shredding the GOP brand with Latinos” Both are horse race journalism, but Sargent is looking at the horses and Phillips is talking […]

My Comments-Thread Comment to Robert Waldmann’s “From Small Town to Prison” Post

Robert Waldmann did something this morning that I’d planned to do: He posted an in-depth post about the NYT’s awesome article in yesterday’s paper titled “From Small Town to Prison,” by Josh Keller and Adam Pearce. Robert makes a critical point about the fiscal cause of the phenomenon that the Times article reports on, and […]

Please consider signing this change.org petition to shut down this place in Westport, MA

Internet petitions of this sort are helping and saving many, many abused animals.  What I don’t understand about this situation is why it’s been allowed to exist for well more than a decade after it was publicly known about. The petition is by IAnimal South Coast Pet Rescue and Education, Inc.

From Small Town to Prison

With hard work, using publicly available data, not relying on off the record access to sources, Josh Keller and Adam Pearce have written an excellent important article which notes that from 2006 to 2013 the rate of new admissions to prison from high and medium population counties has sharply declined, but the rate of admission […]

More on Trump’s Tax Returns

by Linda Beale More on Trump’s Tax Returns The  New York Times Op-Ed by Mitchel Zuckoff (a journalism prof at Boston University), titled “Why We Ask to See Tax Returns” (Aug. 6, 2016), at A19, goes beyond my list of reasons taxpaying voters may learn items of interest from reviewing presidential candidates’ tax returns.  Looking […]