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

Big Bird’s Obituary

About two weeks old but still a good read. Trump defunding public TV. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.” “Big Bird’s Obituary: Greatly Exaggerated” Civil Discourse Joyce Vance April 13 With apologies, tonight’s column runs a little longer than […]

Investing in Clean Energy and Sustainable Land and Resource Use

The last few weeks in Arizona, we have experienced higher than normal temperatures. Well, of course we are in Arizona, what would you expect? I am hearing from the longer term residents, about 10 degrees lower. It is not terribly hot. just unusual. I believe we face a greater danger from the building of more […]

US Consumers Are in Trouble

Trump’s Never-ending War and Trump’s Never-ending Tariffs are pushing up Never-ending price increases “Why Consumers are F*cked” Robert Reich Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s admission yesterday that it “could be next year” before gas prices return to below $3-a-gallon is causing trauma in Republican circles because “next year” is after the November 3 midterm elections. Initially Trump said he could […]

Answering the Question of What was the Main Driver of Inflation March 2025 to March 2026?

Commentary taken from; USA Facts. Data is from “Table 7. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. “What are the biggest drivers of inflation in the past year?” USAFacts Answering the question proposed by the title? Housing was the main driver of inflation from March 2025 to March 2026. There is some of my editing […]

“what Donald Trump does for his friends – the people willing to plot a violent insurrection”

Update on what Trump is doing for the remaining Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. 1500 and counting pardoned by Trump. Even though they were guilty of storming the Capitol. The remainders were offered clemency. “Justice According to Trump” Civil Discourse Joyce Vance The Justice Department has moved to drop the last remaining January 6 insurrection […]

Impact to Asia of the Middle East Oil Shortage

Just some snippets taken from an NYT article opened by the subscriber to other readers. What the NYT article is looking at is the impact to Asia of the Middle East oil stoppage. The shortage being the on-and-off closing of the Straits of Hormuz. Caused by either by Iran or the United States of both […]

Have Things in Manufacturing Improved Since Trump’s Trade Barriers

A year later, here’s where things stand on Trump’s manufacturing revival . . . What happened when Trump put a stack of tariffs into play? Not much good is happening for Labor, In the first place the amount of Labor in manufacturing has been declining for years due to manual machining going to multi-functional NC […]

USPS facing a cash crisis

“As USPS faces a cash crisis, rivals FedEx, UPS spend big on lobbying” – By Joedy McCreary, April 13, 2026 Open Secrets FedEx and UPS spent almost $20 million on lobbying last year. (Photo by 400tamx/Getty Images) FedEx and UPS – two private carriers positioned to capitalize on a weakened U.S. Postal Service – poured […]

$4 per Gallon Gasoline Is ‘Not Very High’

In the seventies when gasoline doubled in price from 30-35 cents per gallon to 60 and seventy cents per gallon, people were pretty angry with the Arabs. That was a big increase and vehicles were not terribly efficient. There were pickups. However, there was not so high a percentage of them on the road. Today […]