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

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 […]

Review of Beyond the wall: A history of East Germany by Katja Hoyer

I first met my friend Gunter at a scientific meeting on the Greek Island of Crete in 1986. He was from East Germany. I knew his published work at the time, and when I shared my unpublished data, he agreed to send me some Drosophila stocks that would advance my research. At the meeting, he […]

A Longgg Time Series of Safe Real Interest Rates

I learn from Brad DeLong (nickname delong run) that Paul Schmelzing has gone to a truly heroic effort and estimated safe real interest rates since 1310! The main point is the long slow decline (it is ironic that one of the stylized growth “facts” is that there is no clear trend in real interest rates. […]

Texas’s Crimes Against Humanity Causes the Deaths of Three at the Border

January 17, 2023, Letters from an American, Prof, Heather Cox Richardson Texas attorney general Ken Paxton responded this evening to the federal government’s demand that state troops give U.S. Border Patrol agents access to Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, the site where three migrants died last week as they tried to cross the Rio […]

Is America a racist country?

Decades ago, I read a column by Andrew Young, the former Atlanta Mayor and UN representative, in which he wrote that you should never trust anyone who says they aren’t racist. You should say I’m working on my racism. Recently, the former South Carolina governor and current GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley omitted to mention […]