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

75 Years After The Longest Day

75 Years After The Longest Day Yes, I am watching “The Longest Day” on TMC.  Have not seen it for decades, but this 75th anniversary of D-Day seems to be the time to do it.  This will be a rambling post all over the place.  I note that according to the film, it was German […]

A Very Erroneous Chart in the Economic Report of the President

A Very Erroneous Chart in the Economic Report of the President Menzie Chinn has been reading the latest Economic Report of the President and finds a very erroneous and misleading chart, which is figure 1-6 from this this document (see page 45), which states: Equipment investment, in particular, exhibited a pronounced spike in the fourth quarter of 2017, […]

The slowdown cometh

by New Deal democrat The slowdown cometh I submitted a long post on the above to Seeking Alpha. They haven’t put it up yet. When they do, I’ll link to it here.   UPDATE: Here’s the link. Long story short: you all know that a year ago I forecast a slowdown by about mid-year this year. Everything except […]

“While Considering Medicare For All: Policies For Making Health Care In The United States Better”

Robert Kocher and Donald M. Berwick “While Considering Medicare For All: Policies For Making Health Care In The United States Better,” Health Affairs Dr. Donald Berwick is the former Director of Medicare and Medicaid who talked about waste in Medicare and Doctors knowing such waste exists. “It is unlikely that the United States will move […]

Tariffs and Monetary Policy: Moral Hazard and Rent Seeking

Tariffs and Monetary Policy: Moral Hazard and Rent Seeking President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexico over immigration has pushed Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell to say that if the tariffs lead to economic growth slowing, the Fed will cut interest rates.  While the bump may be about to end, this announcement was followed […]

ISM manufacturing and residential construction spending trends continue

ISM manufacturing and residential construction spending trends continue May data has started out where April left off, with continuations of trends in both manufacturing and construction. First, manufacturing: it is still expanding, but at a much lower rate than last summer’s red hot numbers. The overall ISM manufacturing index declined a bit to 52.1, but […]

Pfizer, Embrel, and Alzheimer’s

I’m getting my medical news from the front page of The Washington Post where Christopher Rowland discusses the possiblity that embrel, an anti arthritis drug, reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia. The issue is clearly incredibly important. The article raises interesting ethical, economic, statistical, and biological questions. Better to click the link, but I will […]