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

Timothy Snyder on why we should thank Ukrainians

Timothy Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University, a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and an expert on Russian and Eastern European history. Yesterday, he narrated an essay on his subscription-only Substack site “Thinking about . . . “ on the occasion of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s […]

Believing and Time

People tend to say things are bad and getting worse. They tend to get irritated when I note that the thing they mentioned is bad but has recently become less bad. There is some deep unwillingness to accept that levels, changes, and rates of change are different. Certainly people will argue that something is too […]

Long awaited downturn in multi-family construction may finally have happened

The long awaited downturn in multi-family construction may finally have happened  – by New Deal democrat With the relative fading of manufacturing in importance to the US economy, the leading construction sector has assumed even greater importance. And the most important data about construction are the leading, and long leading, data about residential housing construction. […]

Seeking the reasons for the death for HB 135

This is Part 1 of a three-part story of how politics and delays backed by commercial interests and business sponsor groups delayed and eventually killed a bill meant to aid Ohio citizens. Kind of a forerunner to what may happen if Congress ever promotes a bill for healthcare-for-all. I will post the other two parts […]

Do away with the biggest threat to democracy — with one easy federal labor law stroke.

Unionize America sea to shining sea — do away with the biggest threat to democracy — with one easy federal labor law stroke. On Today’s Page (ontodayspage.blogspot.com), Denis Drew. Denis Drew has a commentary unions and federal Labor Law. Conjuring up a potential labor market where all businesses are family owned and family operated. Where […]

Real median household income declined in 2022

The 2 big reasons (one obvious, one subtle) why real median household income declined in 2022  – by New Deal democrat Last week, with its usual very big lag, median household income was reported by the Census Bureau for 2022. If, given big wage gains and hiring in 2022, you were expecting a significant increase, […]

Tricky Transponders

General Disclaimer: I don’t know what I am writing about. I am an economist not an electical engineer. This should go without saying, but just in case, remember that I don’t know what I am typing about. Radar is used to determine where airplanes are. One use is air traffic control for civil aviation — […]

The 2024 election and the geopolitics of oil

The 2024 presidential election will be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Of that we can be certain. We can also be certain that the vote will be very close, and there are geopolitical players who will put their thumbs on the scale. “The Saudi Kingdom’s de facto rule Mohammad bin Salman’s coziness with the […]