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

Housing remains recessionary. Why hasn’t one happened yet?

 – by New Deal democrat The post pandemic period has been an exception to many past relationships. This morning’s data on housing construction raises the issue as to whether housing is going to be included in those exceptions as well. That’s because the data has been classically recessionary for a number of months, and yet the […]

The AAP childhood vaccine schedule

Since the secretary of HHS is a vaccine denialist who cannot be trusted, the American Academy of Pediatrics has this week published its own authoritative, comprehensive, science-based vaccine schedule for children and adolescents from birth to age 18. The link provides: – the schedule for routine immunizations from birth to 18 years of age; – […]

Robert Reich Talking Politics

This short YouTube will eat up less than five minutes of your time. I believe Robert is mostly correct in his regard for our current president and a failed Republican party which appears to be bought, sealed, and delivered to do his bidding. The same as in the sixties and seventies, the answer to this […]

Physician, heal thyself

32 economists associated with the University of Chicago at some point in their careers were awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which is often referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics. With all that expertise, you’d assume that the University of Chicago would be a paragon of […]

Careful what you wish for

It its quest to eliminate diversity in America, the Trump Administration is demanding admissions data from colleges and universities to hunt for evidence of discrimination against white kids and kids from red states. In fact, there’s a history of affirmative action for white kids in admissions that goes back a century: In the early 20th […]

Student Loan Access and Pay Backs

In support of Alan Collinge of Student Loan Justice, I have been writing in support of his efforts to seek loan forgiveness which commercial business enjoys as well as US citizens. Student loan debt is the second-highest consumer debt category after mortgages. Student loan debt in the United States totals $1606.7 trillion; annual growth resumed in 2024 following […]

The contradictory signs from initial and continuing jobless claims: what do they mean?

– by New Deal democrat As I wrote earlier this week, the positive trend in initial jobless claims is one of the most important data points indicating there is no imminent threat of recession. That continues, but what is increasingly disconcerting is the completely contrary signal from continuing claims. Let’s deal with the weekly numbers first. […]

Why Plastics Recycling May Not Work

One reason recycling may not work for plastics is much of plastic molding uses virgin resin. Reusing plastics may not flow or work as well. We really need to look closely at our recycling effort to determine whether plastics can be reused. It may make better sense to destroy the material after one use if […]

The end of the golden age for academia

Looking back, I realize that I came of age near the end of a golden age for universities. As an undergrad at UT-Knoxville, tuition* was ca. $160/quarter for a full load. As a grad student, I got 36 months of stipend from an NIH training grant, and my mentor’s grant paid my stipend for the […]