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

Philly-Area Charters Collect $30 Million+ in PPP Funding

(Dan here…via Diane Ravitch’s blog…) Philly-Area Charters Collect $30 Million+ in PPP Funding by dianeravitch Charters in the Philadelphia area received more than $30 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds, while public schools in Philadelphia continue to be systematically underfunded. The big winner in the PPP sweepstakes is the for-profit Chester Community Charter School, owned by a major Republican […]

Economists and Inequality

by Joseph Joyce Economists and Inequality Binyamin Applebaum of the New York Times has written a book, The Economists’ Hour: False Prophets, Free Markets and the Fracture of Society, in which he claims that economists are responsible for the increase in income inequality in the U.S. I thought this charge was off the mark and wrote a reply. […]

Initial and continuing claims, JOLTS show labor market “less awful” improvement continues – for now

Initial and continuing claims, JOLTS show labor market “less awful” improvement continues – for now Weekly initial and continuing jobless claims have been giving the most up-to-date snapshot of the continuing economic impacts of the coronavirus on employment. This week continues the trend of slight improvement (or, more truly, slightly less awful). Below are initial […]

Favoring Hi-Tech Tax Cheats Over Consumers of French Wine

Favoring Hi-Tech Tax Cheats Over Consumers of French Wine Hoping to buy a nice bottle of French wine? Doug Palmer of Poltico has some bad news for you: The Trump administration announced Friday a 25 percent tariff on $1.3 billion worth of French handbags, cosmetics and soaps in retaliation for a digital services tax on U.S. internet […]

Being Targeted

Being Targeted Arguably this is paranoia, but the mayor and police chief of my city do not think so and have officially reacted with a formal response.  What a sign that I am an old whatever, praising local law enforcement, but, well…. So the issue is that late last evening a truck full of masked […]

Coronavirus dashboard for July 8: deaths in the South and West finally suggest increasing trend

Coronavirus dashboard for July 8: deaths in the South and West finally suggest increasing trend Coronavirus death statistics have been plagued recently by State data dumps, where months of deaths have been released on a single day. In the past 2 weeks, both NJ and NY’s such releases had skewed the numbers. As of today, […]

Weekly Indicators for July 6 – 10 at Seeking Alpha

  by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for July 6 – 10 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. While the forecasts remain inexplicably positive, the nowcast worsened slightly. As usual, clicking over and reading should bring you up to the moment on the economy, and will also reward me ever so […]