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

Oops!

Or was it? How many philosophical ‘baby Hitlers’ does it take? That’s a tough one, because how could you know? By 1937, it was a no brainer. By 2002, it was a no brainer. By 2008, less than zero. Now, there is no doubt it has been discussed at the highest levels, here, in Europe, […]

New Orders Down 2.2%, Shipments Flat, Inventory Up 0.4%

RJS, MarketWatch 666 “February” Durable Goods: New Orders Down 2.2%, Shipments Flat, Inventories Up 0.4% The “Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for February” (pdf) from the Census Bureau reported that the value of the widely watched new orders for manufactured durable goods decreased by $6.0 billion or 2.2 percent to […]

Wrong Side of the Escalator

“We’re Running Up the Wrong Side of the Escalator” | MedPage Today, Shikha Jain, MD, March 23, 2022 It is Women’s History Month in March and something I fatally did not know until this morning when I pulled this article up in my inbox. My daughter is a teaching nurse in Colorado and has run […]

Those Who Pander

Ever since maybe five hundred years before this current era, maybe even before then, demagogues, in their quest for power, have appealed to ignorance and the lowest common denominator while belittling reason and rational thinking. Of late, any listing of such should include Huey Long, George Wallace, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, most if not all […]

Bedfellows

To be very clear; there is no chance (as in zero, nada, ganz sicher nicht, rien, none) that NATO will invade Russia. Never was. There is no chance that the United States would ever invade Russia (everyone knows we only invade much smaller countries). No one knows the both better than Vladimir Putin. The fear […]

Friday Update: Warehouse What? Protein Inflation, Tanks and Wheat

We’re headed into a busy planting week as we get phase whatever into the ground and more stuff started. At some point we will build caterpillar tunnels to shield crop from extreme August heat, and winter frost, but we plan to plant year round as best we can. A few things happening in the ag […]

14.5 million in the ACA due to American Rescue Plan

January 2021 finds 14.5 million people having healthcare plans due to Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act. As commenter “Arne” pointed out, this represents an increase of ~2.98 million more people insured under the ACA. Even the other Joe voted for it. Manchin that is. Kind of catching up with old news here. Earlier this […]

February Retail Sales Up, January Sales Revised Higher

RJS, MarketWatch 666 Retail Sales Rose 0.3 % in February After January’s Sales were Revised 1.0% Higher Seasonally adjusted retail sales increased 0.3% in February after retail sales for January were revised 1.0% higher . . . the Advance Retail Sales Report for February (above) from the Census Bureau estimated our seasonally adjusted retail and food services […]