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

What’s in a name?

Godwin’s law states: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” In my experience, a similar law applies to the words “socialist,” “communist” and “Marxist.” All three words are used interchangeably and as epithets, not descriptions of governments or economic systems. Let’s start with Marxist: “The […]

What is inflation?

A couple years back, I attended a town hall hosted by my House representative, Gabe Amo. During the Q&A, a gal who I judged to be in her 20s referred to the current economic situation as “hyperinflation.” That was nonsense, of course. Hyperinflation is defined by prices rising ofer 50% monthly. Historic examples of hyperinflation […]

President Donald J. Trump Appears to melt down on social media?

The stress of being who he is and how he conducts himself to others and the social media may be catching up with him. Cartooning himself as a person being omnipotent and others as characters is not helping his image as the president of the most powerful(?) nation in the world. Rather an interesting commentary […]

The Big Picture overview of the economy: the oil shock may be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back

– by New Deal democrat Today I want to step back from the daily data and give you my Big Picture overview of the economy, particularly because Friday’s inflation report has materially changed an important component. To begin with, as I have been saying off and on for months, the economy has been essentially flat, and […]

Will Iran go nuclear?

Until now, the Islamic Republic of Iran has eschewed the manufacture of nuclear weapons, ostensibly based on a fatwa by Ayatollah Ali Khameni. Since Khameni’s assassination by Israel and his replacement by his son, it’s not clear that Iran will continue to observe that fatwa. “What gives Khamenei’s death a particular doctrinal significance is that […]

Losing in Iran?

It’s consistent with how other countries, organizations, and people have defeated him. We are supposed to negotiate before the war, not during it. Trump was not going to do it anyways. He had another 12 threats to make. Some remarks by Robert Reich. And the fool to both the world (and Israel too) is looking […]

Theme song of the Davy Crockett TV series from 1954–1955

Just a few thoughts and then Professor Heather will bring us to the reality of this administration. I did watch the D.C. TV series as a kid. Fake raccoon skin caps were a hot item. We did not have one and other kids did. If I remember correctly, Disney had some episodes about Mr. Crockett […]

Déjà vu

My dad would stop by the airport LaRouche booths and argue with the nutjobs. Not sure why he found it amusing. He knew they were nuts, but he did it anyway. “It’s easy enough to do now what the dominant news media of the time did: look back on LaRouche as a joke, a once-in-a-generation […]