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

Messaging the 2024 election

This post is long and flirts with the 10% fair use limit, but I’ll try to keep under it. Dave Kellogg has a blog post up from a few days ago comparing the messaging of Team Trump vs Team Biden. Read the whole thing, but here are some core points. Kellogg distills the Democratic two-word […]

Attacks on Red Sea shipping, and its tie to US energy consumption

Attacks on Red Sea shipping, and its tie to US energy consumption  – by New Deal democrat The drought in economic data continues today. So let me continue on the issue of energy, tying into yesterday’s note on hybrid and electric vehicles. Here’s an eye-opening graph from JP Morgan via Carl Quintanilla’s social media feed, showing […]

Boeing 737 Max Plug Bolts not tightened to specification

Follow-up to “Why is Boeing such a shitty corporation?” Angry Bear, by Robert Reich Assebly Issue – Boeing 737 Max Plug Bolts not specifications. No defective parts, just defective assembly. As I said to Ron . . . “The same with cars. For example, Testing on vehicles such as smashing into a wall (commonly seen […]

EV sales stalling and hybrids are flying off dealer lots

A discussion: EV sales have been stalling, while hybrids are flying off dealer lots  – by New Deal democrat In addition to housing, the other big area where supply shock inflation has not completely resolved is vehicles. Basically almost the entirety of 2020 production was lost, leading to roughly a 10 million vehicle shortfall in […]

Personalized medicine

I went to an optometrist yesterday. Among the various gizmos I was assaulted with was a device that imaged the back of my eye. The doc showed me the images. In addition to my blood vessels, my optic nerves and my macula visible directly, the software also supplies tomography at various position across the field […]

Claudine Gay and alternative facts

There is so much to say about the Claudine Gay affair, anti-semitism at Harvard, and Harvard’s response to recent student protests that I have opted to say nothing.  But over at Café Hayek, libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux asks an interesting question: How does Claudine Gay’s “my truth” differ from Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts”? It seems to […]

Are working class wages really still a malady?

The Bonddad Blog: Are working class wages really still a malady? New Deal democrat Via Kevin Drum, NY Times columnist Nick Kristof says, “There isn’t a good term for the bundle of pathologies that have afflicted working-class Americans . . . .” “One gauge of how many Americans are struggling is that average weekly nonsupervisory wages, a […]