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

Does the pendulum swing back? Can it? Will it?

“From his very first term, Bush shocked many by reaching who had either been convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes during the Reagan and Bush administrations’ and others who many felt should have been indicted.“ “You have a very long list of people and what emerged through the two terms was that people who seemed […]

Student Loan Debt, AI, and the Extinction of the American Middle Class

As American Jews, at what point do we stop to assess the collateral damage that the coalescence of crippling student loan debt and the advancement of AI in all facets of the economy will have on America’s working and middle class? Student Loan Debt, AI and the Extinction of the American Middle Class, jewishjournal.com, Lisa […]

Labor has gained and Corporations have been sucking up the lion’s share of all gains

Labor has gained since the pandemic, but corporations have been sucking up the lion’s share of those gains . . .  – by New Deal democrat I neglected to add a link to my Weekly Indicators piece at Seeking Alpha on Saturday, so here it is. Also, I’ve been trying to understand why, with all of the […]

Why are so many long-shot Republicans running against Trump?

As of today, Trump seems well-positioned to win the Republican nomination.  The basic dynamic is familiar from 2016 – Trump has a strong base of committed supporters, the opposition will likely be divided, and many Republican primaries are winner-take-all or winner-take-most.  Couple this with the bump in support Trump got after his indictment in NY, […]

Scenes from the April employment report: the Fed just can’t kill the employment “beast”

Scenes from the April employment report: the Fed just can’t kill the employment “beast”  – by New Deal democrat There’s no economic news this morning, so let’s take a closer look at some important trends from last Friday’s April jobs report . As I and many others wrote, an important theme was that the deceleration […]

How to end the debt ceiling stand-off democratically:  set fiscal policy through elections, not hostage taking

The Biden administration and congressional Democrats have so far refused to negotiate with House Republicans over spending cuts to resolve the looming debt ceiling crisis.  This tactic has successfully pressured Republicans into passing a bill with unpopular spending cuts that Democrats will quite rightly use to their advantage in the upcoming election.  But now that […]

The Costs of the Defragmentation of the Global Economy

by Joseph Joyce The Costs of the Defragmentation of the Global Economy The integration of markets across borders has slowed down, and in some cases, reversed. These changes come in the wake of the global financial crisis, Donald Trump’s embrace of trade restrictions, Great Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, the disruptions in global supply […]