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

Coronavirus update for June 8: declining trend in new infections has stopped

Coronavirus update for June 8: declining trend in new infections has stopped – by New Deal democrat I haven’t updated the Coronavirus Dashboard in awhile. Last time I indicated I would do so if there was a significant change in trend. Well, there has been. New infections are not declining anymore. In the last week, the […]

Random Acts of Counties, and Some Malice

Chattahoochee County, Georgia, had a significant increase in cases from a relatively high (ca. 50) base. Fort Benning’s new cases appear to be the source, even as those are not fully reported in the NYT data yet. Scurry County, Texas, is more typical; a 1200% (not a typo) increase—but from a base of two (2). […]

Pure Coincidence

Shot: Protecting Your Business From Legal Liability During Reopening May 15 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm In this brief 30-minute webinar, we will step business owners through the liability concerns when reopening following the COVID-19 shutdown. Bobbi Berkhof will inform entrepreneurs why following local, state, and federal recommendations may help protect the business from […]

Trump’s Marshmallow Dilemma

In 1972, Professor and Psychologist Walter Mischel at Stanford University set into play a study on delayed gratification using children. A child was offered a choice between one immediate reward or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. During this time after the announcement of a reward, the researcher left the […]

Healthcare Insurance Coverage Information

The Kaiser Family Foundation has put up  comparisons of one new way (if passed) to obtain healthcare coverage and two existing ways of obtaining healthcare coverage (subsidized coverage) for those who lost job-based health insurance since in the Covid-19 pandemic. I had talked about two of the ways previously. Options The two existing options (besides over priced […]

Coronavirus dashboard for June 2: the US has settled into a depressing status quo

Coronavirus dashboard for June 2: the US has settled into a depressing status quo – by New Deal democrat The US seems to have settled into a status quo where it accepts 20,000 new coronavirus infections and 1,500 deaths each day. This is what I forecast about a month ago, as lockdown regimens were abandoned in […]

Coronavirus dashboard for May 31: comparing US States and regions with European countries

Coronavirus dashboard for May 31: comparing US States and regions with European countries – by New Deal democrat Among all countries in the world, Sweden has the worst death rate from coronavirus: 5.9 per million per day over the past week. But, even with massive declines from their peaks, most of the States in the US’s […]

Coronavirus, the economy, and the election: the jury is still out on all three

Coronavirus, the economy, and the election: the jury is still out on all three There is some housing data out today; I’ll probably have a post up about it tomorrow at Seeking Alpha, and I’ll link to it here. Meanwhile, the jury is still out on the effects of the “reopening” of many States on […]