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

What Will It Take for Republicans to Be Able to Revise the ACA

The first section of issues McConnell and Republicans must overcome requires 60 votes due to the Parliamentarian ruling the provisions of the BCHA violate the Byrd Rule; consequently, the Reconciliation procedure requiring only 51 votes can not be used to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or waive the Byrd rule. The second set of […]

Of the two meanings of “Neoliberalism”

Of the two meanings of “Neoliberalism” The use of the term “neoliberal” has recently been criticized as a meaningless epithet, a tabula rasa used to disparage anyone deemed unsatisfactorily conservative. To the contrary, I think the term “neoliberal” is fairly precise, but much like the term “liberal” itself, it has two quite different meanings depending […]

Could The US Default Due To A Complexity Catastrophe?

Could The US Default Due To A Complexity Catastrophe? Definitely. Front  page story in today’s Washington Post by Damien Paletta reports that “Treasury chief hurtles toward fiasco,” the fiasco being a failure to raise the US debt ceiling in time to avoid a default.  Trump has declared that Sec Mnuchin is responsible for this matter, […]

Game Of Thrones Guesses

Dan here…Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts: Game Of Thrones Guesses 1. I guess from the TV series it is official that John Snow is the son of Lyanna Start and Rhaegar Targaryan 2. I’m a fairly sure that Lyanna Stark is also the knight of the laughing tree (and that’s part of the reason Rhaegar […]

Another Personal Observation On Privatized Highways

Another Personal Observation On Privatized Highways Last month I posted a personal observation on Trump’s plan to privatize infrastructure, noting especially how in the long run privately owned turnpikes in Virginia ended up in government ownership.  In the comments on that post there was discussion of the Indiana Toll Road, privatized a few years ago.  […]