Lindsey Graham Asks Catholics to ‘Keep an Open Mind’ About Making Trump the Pope: ‘Has Many Upsides,’ Mediaite Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Catholics and the papal conclave to “keep an open mind” about the possibility of President Donald Trump becoming the next pope on Tuesday after Trump jokingly said he would “like to be pope” following Pope Francis’ death. After […]

 – by New Deal democrat I suspect we will look back on this morning’s report on jobless claims as the first concrete sign of impending recession. Initial claims rose 18,000 to 241,000, the highest since February 22. The four week moving average rose 5,500 to 226,000. With the usual one week lag, continuing claims rose 83,000 […]

“Amal Clooney Receives Stark Warning About Donald Trump,” Above the Law Donald Trump’s attack on the legal industry isn’t just about taking shots at Biglaw, or government attorneys, or nonprofits, or caselaw or judges, or . . . actually there’s long list of targets of Trump’s ire. And *also* on the list are international human rights attorneys. It started, like so […]

Some detail on Trump’s Car Tariffs. Still not a lot of detail. This is what was proposed. Even with a cut back in the tariff, prices will increase. The threat may and probably will make a great excuse for a price increase also. Oh, we brought this one in early so as to avoid the […]

 – by New Deal democrat Aside from the long leading indicators I discussed in that post, GDP is a look in the rear view mirror, because it includes January and February. Personal income and spending for March, although it is part of that GDP report, is therefore more current. Like the housing data we got earlier […]

Judge orders Trump administration to restore $12 million for pro-democracy Radio Free Europe, Associated Press The story A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore $12 million that Congress appropriated for Radio Free Europe, a pro-democracy media outlet at risk of going dark for the first time in 75 years. US District […]

 – by New Deal democrat The big headline takeaway in today’s advance report on Q1 GDP, besides the -0.3% number, was that imports deducted about -5.0% on an annualized basis, overcoming a fairly strong 3.0% contribution in real terms from consumer spending. Here’s the breakout graph from the BEA: The graph tells the story; both real […]