It was this year; a question arose on the distribution of Covid tests to the states and why shouldn’t some states receive more tests than others. The question referenced Florida as one of those states. The question was put to Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary. I admire Jen for the job she does as […]

Commenter and Blogger RJS, MarketWatch 666 There has been good coverage on the two jobs reports on AB already. I will post my takes on the trade deficit and construction spending below, both of which I estimate 4th quarter GDP impacts. I have high confidence in my GDP estimate for trade in goods, since the release includes […]

One Man’s Toilet Water is Another Man’s Organic Farm, Michael Smith, Agricultural Economist and Farmer In my search to find sustainable sources of organic material to turn into viable soil modification vectors, I had been struggling to source material to add to the Padina sands that are in abundance in our lands. See, in late […]

 by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for January 3 – 7 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. Surprisingly, Omicron has not had any wide impact on the coincident data – at least not yet. On the other hand, the long leading forecast has become weaker, as interest rates have moved […]

Prof. Joel Eissenberg, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Geneticist In 1998, I went to Moscow for the first time to speak at a summer course sponsored by the Russian Academy. The week before I went, we were on vacation and one morning, I heard the NPR reporter say: “Today, the Ruble lost 100% of its value.” […]

December jobs report: more signs of real tightness, while new jobs added are (seasonally?) disappointing There were three big questions I had going into this jobs report:  1. whether the big decrease in new jobless claims to a half century low would translate to another big top line number in the jobs report 2. is […]

Classicalism and Revolution, Econospeak, Barkley Rosser  For those of you of a branch of Orthodox Christianity still using the Julian calendar, such as the Russian branch, Merry Christmas! I am tempted to comment on the situation in Kazakhstan, but I think we do not know what is going on there yet, so not now. Instead […]

I have pointed out many times that libertarian critics of lockdowns and vaccine mandates often promote vaccine hesitancy by downplaying the effectiveness of vaccines and exaggerating their risks and the benefits of natural immunity. I had assumed that this anti-vax angle was a later addition to the libertarian playbook, a response to vaccine mandates and […]

Prof. Joel Eissenberg, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Geneticist The Nobel Laureate economist Paul Samuelson famously acknowledged in a Meet the Press interview: “Well when events change, I change my mind. What do you do?” This observation applies to the advice from medical authorities such as the CDC and WHO during the COVID pandemic. Some members […]

Commenter and Blogger RJS, Focus on Fracking US oil supplies near a 10 year low; biggest hit to gasoline output & demand since 2020 lockdownStrategic Petroleum Reserve at a new 19 year low; total crude supplies near a 10 year low; gasoline production and gasoline demand fall by most in 21 months; gasoline supplies rise by most in 21 […]