I watched most of the convention, and thought it was well done. My main concern is that most of the arguments made against Trump – and the election will primarily be about Trump, not Biden – were more persuasive to people who are already solid Biden voters. If you are still thinking about voting for […]
How will the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests over the police murder of George Floyd and other black people affect the political mood in the United States? The libertarian-leaning economist Tyler Cowen suggested in March that the COVID-19 pandemic would mark the “death of the progressive left.” It would erode support for key progressive goals, […]
The 2020 Presidential and Senate nowcasts: Positions are getting entrenched, and spreading down-ticket Here is my weekly update on the 2020 elections, based on State rather than national polling in the past 30 days, since that directly reflects what is likely to happen in the Electoral College. Remember that polls are really only nowcasts, not forecasts. […]
“The 58-year-old captain of the ill-fated Newcastlemax-type bulk carrier WAKASHIO could face negligence charges” after it was discovered the crew was celebrating a crewmember’s birthday as the ship edged closer to the Mauritius coastline seeking wifi signals just prior to the bulk carrier’s grounding on a reef off the island’s south coast. It appears seeking close proximity to the populated […]
Save the Post Office is edited and administered by Steve Hutkins, a literature professor who teaches “place studies” at the Gallatin School of New York University. Prof. Hutkins (Steve) is the author of this commentary. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has been on the job just two months, but he can already boast of many accomplishments, […]
Industrial production and retail sales both improve strongly in July, suggest further gains in employment This Friday morning two important indicators for July, with implications for future employment, were released: retail sales and industrial production. Retail sales for July increased 0.8% on an unadjusted basis. After adjusting for inflation, they rose 0.7%. In the past […]
by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for August 10 – 14 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. There was continued improvement across the time spectrum this week. The underlying story remains the same: the economy “wants” to improve, but that is subject to the course of the pandemic and the […]
Initial and continuing claims: the most “less awful” so far This Thursday morning’s initial and continued jobless claims continue the trend of “less awful” numbers that resumed last week. New jobless claims, which fell to under 1,000,000 for the first time on an unadjusted basis last week, declined about 150,000 further to 831,856 (red in […]
The End Of Special Fiscal Stimulus A week ago a two week long negotiation between Dem Congress people, Nancy Pelosi from the House and Chuck Schumer from the Senate and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who cut deals with Pelosi and Schumer three times earlier this year, but now Trump’s Chief of Staff, former Freedom Caucus […]