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

Oil industry is Writing Executive Orders for Trump to Sign

In preparation for a renewed reign of the insurrectionist, energy sources and their associations are writing up executive orders to reverse much of what Pres. Joe Biden has done over 4 years. If you recall, the same was done after Barack Obama left the presidency. Many or most of Obama’s initiatives were reversed by an […]

2024 SOCIAL SECURITY REPORT IS OUT THE MEDIA MISS THE POINT

The 2024 Social Security Trustees Report came out on Monday, May 6. You can find dozens of press reports and other commentary online, most of which are written by people who actually know nothing about Social Security except what they read in the papers. Some are written by people who do know what they are […]

The Household Survey isn’t the only data series sending up caution flares

 – by New Deal democrat I’ve written two posts earlier this week delving into the big divergence between the Establishment Survey portion of the Employment Report, which shows moderate growth, and the Household Survey, which is most consistent with a recession already having started. At any given time, some data will be positive and some […]

Republican U.S. States Sue EPA over Strict Power Plant Emission Rules

US Republican attorneys general sue to stop EPA’s carbon rule, Reuters, Clark Mindock Republican attorneys general from 27 U.S. states and industry trade groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA on Thursday. They seek to block an EPA landmark rule requiring sweeping reductions in carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants and new natural […]

Clawback of money looted by Cerberus, de la Torre, and MPT from Steward Health Care

The third and best source of funds would be a clawback of money looted by Cerberus, de la Torre, and MPT, based on a prosecution for fraudulent conveyance, misrepresentation to shareholders, and other possible criminal charges. As a settlement, restitution would have to be paid to the hospitals, under new ownership. That may yet come, […]

Initial claims jolted awake from snooze-fest by highest number in almost nine months

 – by New Deal democrat After several months of snoozing at almost identical weekly levels, initial jobless claims awoke with a bit of a jolt this week, increasing by 22,000 to 231,000, the highest weekly number since last August. The four week average unsurprisingly also rose, by 4,750, to 215,000. With the usual one week […]

An Erroneous Supply Chain Argument

“Silly” Arizona House Representative Republican Justin Wilmeth is making an argument for lower gasoline, etc. prices to Arizona. Justin traveled to California to ask for no cap on fuel prices at a California refinery (Arizona has no refinery). As if he does not have enough to do in AZ? Not sure what makes him think, […]

Continuous trump Trials, May 7th Notes, “Stormy”

“The Trial, Ho Hum” – Digby’s Hullabaloo, digbysblog.net If you haven’t been following the trial and Stormy Daniels testimony, you can catch it at Digsby’s Hullabaloo. It is kind of strange what trump says. It is too detailed for Ms. Daniels to make this up. I was reading on this yesterday elsewhere. I imagine this […]

Microsoft is investing $3.3 billion dollars to build a new data center in Racine Wisconsin

by Prof. Heather Cox-Richardson Letters from an American Pres. Joe Biden, Dem Governor Tony Evers, and Microsoft are bailing out Wisconsin from trump’s “eighth wonder of the world” lie in Racine WI with Taiwan’s Foxconn. When this was occurring, Repub. Gov. Scott Walker with Repub legislators committed to a $3.3 billion subsidy and tax incentive […]