On February 20, 2026, SCOTUS decided on a case as to whether the president has the constitutional authority to impose tariffs during peacetime. Three of the noted conservative justices in the past sided with the more liberal judges in determining whether the president has such power to impose tariffs. What the author of this piece […]

I posted earlier about my interest in whether higher oil prices would favor freight trains over trucks. Now, not only is the Trump administration driving up fuel prices, it’s also cutting truck drivers. “About 200,000 immigrant truck drivers – virtually all of them in the U.S. legally – will begin losing their commercial driver’s licenses […]

I am not a legal expert. I have followed cases from the beginning and through SCOTUS. I tend to agree there is a bias within the Court that favors business or wealthy interests rather than the general public. I have not looked at the study. I will tomorrow and add in the comments section of […]

When I was working for one international company, we booked a train trip from Shanghai to Hangzhou. It was not the fastest train (G). It was a slightly slower train (D). Pleasant ride. No clicky-clack and roomy seats, You were not shoehorned into an area or seat. You could recline the seat. Distance was ~125 […]

– by New Deal democrat There’s no major economic news today, so let me take this opportunity in view of last week’s update to the CPI, to update one of my favorite labor market indicators: real aggregate nonsupervisory payrolls. As a brief refresher, over the past 60 years this has been a very good and reliable […]

For the past couple of decades, whenever oil prices spiked, I wondered if this would be good news for railroads. Trains in Europe are still very much a thing, and I’ve traveled by train in England, France, Germany and Spain. There are rail connections from Providence to Boston and to New York City. Of particular […]

Unless you like being beat up? When I was consulting with Ingersoll Engineers, I would handle the materials and supply side of the projects. Much of my time was spent looking at systems, warehousing, inventory, and purchasing. The cost sits in those areas. Depending on the throughput within the factory, you could streamline much of […]

I believe we were married about 8 years before we had enough funds to put down on a home. ~ $55,000 in an Oak and Hickory forest. Two bedrooms on a quarter acre of land. We were able to put 10% down and had an 8% mortgage rate. One year after we sold and bought […]

 – by New Deal democrat Probably my biggest theme right now is that most of the economy is either recessionary or at least on the cusp of recessionary. But this has been counterbalanced by AI data center- related spending, and the stock market boom and wealth effect it gave rise to.  Last month I highlighted how […]

A major bulwark protecting the US economy has been that the dollar is the world’s reserve currency. Now, Trump’s “excursion” (don’t say “war”) is looking to change that. “A senior Iranian official has told CNN that Tehran is considering allowing a limited number of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz — but only if […]