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

1000% increase in Drug Addicted Babies in Florida – 2016

Janet Colbert of Stop The Organized Pill Pushers Blog: “The death rate from Opioids continues to escalate year over year due to Florida ignoring the opiate epidemic for so long. Since STOPPNow (Stop The Organized Pill Pushers) started posting, the death rate went from 7/day in Florida. to 14/day. To keep the pressure on the […]

China, not automation, is by far the biggest factor in the decline of prime age labor force participation

China, not automation, is by far the biggest factor in the decline of prime age labor force participation Perhaps the biggest mystery in economic analysis in the last few years has been trying to find an explanation for the big decline in labor force participation since 1999.  A recent NBER working paper by Abraham and Kearney has […]

Dinesh Denial

Many Conservatives concede that the Conservative movement has gone bad. But they still insist that those of us who have been arguing this for decades were wrong for decades roughly until Trump came along. They find the case of famous conservative Dinesh D’Souza distinctly inconvenient. Washington Post Op-ed columnist Max Boot wrote “@DineshDSouza is indicative […]

Memo to younger readers: in an era of rising interest rates, deficits DO matter very much

Memo to younger readers: in an era of rising interest rates, deficits DO matter very much If you are under about 45 years of age, the odds are that you agree with one statement made by Dick Cheney: that “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” As I mention from time to time, I am a […]

Trump’s I coulda

Terry talking to his Brother Charly: “You shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me, just a little bit, so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money…I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is […]

Initial jobless claims: the single most positive aspect of the entire economy

Initial jobless claims: the single most positive aspect of the entire economy I haven’t been bothering to comment on initial jobless claims reports lately, for the simple fact that every week it’s the same story:  they’re good! In fact, the initial jobless claims reports are probably the single most positive aspect of the entire economic […]