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

2022 Social Security Trustees Report

Dale Coberly has written on Social Security numerous times over the years. The Northwest Plan which he developed was recognized by the SS Administration as being a potential solution to a shortfall in SS benefits. Dale briefly describes below how the solution might work in resolving the SS shortfall. Just a heads up. I am […]

The Market Problem, Part 1: Direct to Consumer

In this series we explore marketing farm fresh goods in the litany of different ways as a direct consumer edibles farmer. Many types of farms exist within the framework of directly edible, from market gardens, to 100 acre California avocado fields, dairy barns, hen houses, and multiple large monocrop “people food” producers. Direct to Consumer […]

April Construction Spending Up 2%, March Spend Revised

RJS: MarketWatch 666 Summary: Construction Spending Up 0.2% on Higher Prices in April, after March Spending was Revised 0.6% Higher The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending for April (pdf) estimated the month’s seasonally adjusted construction spending was at a $1,744.8 billion annual rate during the month. Up 0.2 percent (±0.8 percent)* from the revised March annual […]

Protect the Public and Serve

“Are Any of Us Safe at Work?” | MedPage Today, Mengyi “Zed” Zha, MD Me: The title rings true. The only discussions I have read are about assigning guards to SCOTUS Justices and other supposedly important groups. This is only a small segment of the population. When it comes down to the rest of us, […]

Why In The US IS D-Day Memorialized While The Battle Of Midway Is Not?

Why In The US IS D-Day Memorialized While The Battle Of Midway Is Not?  Today is 6/6/22, 78 years after 6/6/44, D-Day, when American, British, and Canadian troops stormed beaches in Normandy to push the Germans out of France.  It was a dramatic landing, with many dying heroically, and depicted in several highly popular movies […]

Coronavirus variant update: and on to the BA.4/5 wave

Coronavirus variant update: and on to the BA.4/5 wave Last week the CDC update showed variant “Ba.1.1.526” increasing quickly to 6.6% of all cases. Although they did not note it, I wrote that this was almost certainly Ba.4/5; they simply had not made the change yet. Well, this week they did. This morning’s “nowcast” update […]

Rationale for a Post Office Suspension Dashboard: Comments for the PRC’s Public Inquiry

In the commentary, Steve Hutkins is addressing is Post Office Suspension of operations. In this case, there are 454 Post Offices in suspension with no resolution. Some Suspensions have been as long as 5 years. The issue is the Suspension and a potential the policy of a Suspension being used to close a Post Office […]

On student loans, why not challenge Repubicans?

The WSJ reports that President Biden is delaying his decision on student loan forgiveness: President Biden is likely to decide later this summer whether to partially forgive student-loan debt for millions of borrowers, according to administration officials and others familiar with the matter, after the president said more than a month ago that he would weigh in on […]