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

County shows higher levels of PFAS in blood than the U.S. population

The DHHS report (Michigan) found age, gender and other factors contributed to differing PFAS blood levels Kyle Davidson @ Michigan Advance Angry Bear: Shortly before we left Michigan for other digs. the pollution of water ways due to PFAS was coming more to light where we lived in Livingston County as well as other parts […]

High school financial literacy?

I thought this might make a fun follow-up on my post on 8th grade algebra. Over at jabberwocking.com, Kevin Drum discusses a proposal to make a semester of financial literacy a high school graduation requirement. He feels that this would fill a much-needed gap: “There are no long-term tests of financial literacy that I can […]

February jobs report: Household Survey is downright recessionary and the Establishment Survey is decidedly mixed

February jobs report: the Household Survey is downright recessionary, while the Establishment Survey is decidedly mixed  – by New Deal democrat In the past few months, my focus has been on whether jobs gains are most consistent with a “soft landing,” i.e., no further deterioration, or whether deceleration is ongoing; and more specifically:  Here’s my in […]

Big Mac Index Measuring Purchasing Power Parity Globally

Wikipedia: The Big Mac Index is a price index published since 1986 by The Economist. It is an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and providing a test of the extent to which market exchange rates result in goods costing the same in different countries. It “seeks to make exchange-rate theory a bit more digestible. The index compares the relative price worldwide to […]

Buy an Electric Vehicle or a Hybrid Electric Vehicle?

Another site has a long article on Toyota of it not going whole hog into electric vehicles in the beginning. Meanwhile domestic US automotive companies are proving out the technology with their models. Beyond mentioning the article, I will not delve into its content. That is other than saying it exists and may be a […]

Is More Work Better? Think Again?

Is More Work Better? Think Again? The freedom of free time, branded as unproductive “leisure,” gets no respect. Originally published at Wealth Economics This post is prompted by a recent tweet from the excellent Joey Politano, but it’s not singling out Joey in particular. “We could be working so much more.” It’s hard to come away with […]

Clueless in Gaza II

“U.S. officials say they believe Hamas has been constrained by the Israeli operations, but that Israel will not be able to achieve, in the foreseeable future, its goal of eliminating the group’s military capability.” also “An Israeli military intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under military protocol, said that Israel was engaged in […]