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

Deportation for thee but not for me

Stephen Miller has pointed ICE to Home Depots as magnets for undocumented workers (usually gathered outside, hoping to snag a day’s work). But to paraphrase Willie Sutton, why not go where the immigrants are? “Undocumented immigrants are concentrated in cities for various reasons but by no means only in cities. Cities have communal and ethnic […]

The stench of tear gas and hypocrisy in LA

Since I don’t watch TV, I might have missed it. Anybody here see Elon and the DOGE bois protesting the government inefficiency of National Guard and Marines being sent to LA as a Trump photo op? Isn’t this sort of wasteful spending what DOGE was created to eliminate? Anybody here see any anti-ICE protestors waving […]

Trump’s voodoo economics

Trump claims his tariffs will bring in $3 trillion, enough to pay for the Big Beautiful Bill and also lower the national debt. This is magical thinking. Tariffs are simply a consumption tax that hits the middle class and working class hardest. It makes goods more expensive, driving inflation. It takes money out of the […]

Trump has destroyed US science

My chairman predicts that the proposed NIH cuts will be a “nothingburger.’ Even if the budget cuts don’t come to pass (and I’m pretty sure the indirect costs cuts will stick), the damage will already have been done. Creative, energetic American scientists who seek academic positions will move to other countries. Back in 1986, I […]

What waste, fraud and abuse?

These days, it’s fashionable for right-wing Republicans to accuse those who disagree with their extremism as being Marxists, socialists or communists. Of course, they are using these words as epithets, not based on their actual definition. Also, it’s fashionable for right-wing Republicans to claim they’re not cutting the federal budget, they’re only cutting waste, fraud […]

Projecting

Apparently, the GOP Congress wants to investigate Biden’s fitness for the presidency four months after he left office. Other than squandering more tax money and distracting the media, what purpose would that serve? “Journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson sketched a picture of a well-meaning but weakened president in a book they released last month. […]

About that manufactured “crisis” in California

I haven’t seen any significant “violence” or “riots” reported in LA, although that’s the Trump Administration claim. Predictably, Trump seized the moment to send in troops, with the hope of escalating things. I’ve seen claims that Newsom should have blocked the State National Guard, but that’s incorrect–Trump federalized the State National Guard, so they’re under […]

DOGE “savings” are disappearing

Wonder if these expenses will show up on the DOGE ledger: “Early this spring, the Food and Drug Administration fired nearly 50 workers in the Office of Regulatory Policy – only to turn around and order them back to the office with one day’s notice. “After dismissing thousands of probationary employees for fabricated “performance” issues, […]

Home inspections and the real estate market

When we visited the Providence Rhode Island area in April 2022 to look for a house, we bid on three houses. The first bid had an inspection contingency and was rejected out of hand. For the other two, we left out the inspection continency and were still outbid. It was a seller’s market. In the […]

The awkward truth

If we just don’t see it, it didn’t happen, amirite? “Trump administration officials delayed and redacted a government forecast because it predicts an increase in the nation’s trade deficit in farm goods later this year, according to two people familiar with the matter. “The numbers run counter to President Donald Trump’s messaging that his economic […]