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

Let’s Make a Deal

This may be what Mueller is saying to Manafort, but I include those names just to try to trick google and get clicks. I want to write about the very well known Monte Hall paradox. For the kids, there was this show “Let’s Make a Deal” featuring contestants and host Monte Hall who acted like […]

Why Do Elected Officials Fail to Heed the Constituents?

run75441: Student Loan Justice Organization has started a letter/email campaign to Senator Elizabeth Warren via one of her aides Joshua Delaney. I have read Senator Warren on numerous occasions and she has been forthright in her proposals and opposition to the Financial and Banking industry taking advantage of the Middle Class. For whatever reason, Senator […]

Germany Organizing Anti-Trump Coalition

Germany Organizing Anti-Trump Coalition Mark Thoma th other day links to a story in Der Spiegel about a visit to Japan by new German Foreign Minister, Heike Maas.  He met with PM Shinzo Abe, and apparently the two of them agreed on the need for creating a network of like-minded nations that wish to maintain […]

Rigging the student loan system…a reminder

Rigging the student loan system  Americans today hold $1.5 trillion in student debt, and recent research reveals that the effects of this outsized and growing debt are much more devastating than previously thought, particularly for communities of color. From bankruptcy protections and lower interest rates and fees to safeguards from fraudulent educational programs and even fullstudent debt cancellation, economic […]

The Soybean Boom

The Soybean Boom Via TalkingPointsMemo AP notes: Private forecasters cautioned that the April-June pace is unsustainable because, they say, it stems from temporary factors, including a rush by exporters of soybeans and other products to get their shipments out before retaliatory tariffs took effect. They predicted the rest of the year is likely to see solid, but […]

Revised real GDP growth

Along with the second quarter GDP report the BEA also published the results of its regular revision of the last five years of data.  The most significant revision was to the measure of price changes in the high tech arena. This showed that business investment had been somewhat stronger than previously reported, but it only […]