August jobs report: despite a good headline number, the decelerating trend resumes  I have written a number of times since February that the short leading indicators have signaled that we should expect weaker monthly employment reports, with both fewer new jobs and a higher unemployment rate. That was completely *not* the case in July, In […]

Save The Post Office, Steve Hutkins Steve Hutkins and Mark Jamison (retired NC postmaster) have been writing about the USPS for a long time now (years). This post is about Louis DeJoy’s efforts to centralize the Post Office into hubs with carriers leaving from the hubs and having local post offices becoming little more than […]

Ninety year-old electronics company executive Barre Seid donates his funds to a new right-wing organization. Marble Freedom Trust, is controlled by Leonard A. Leo, the co-chair of the Federalist Society, who has been instrumental in the right-wing takeover of the Supreme Court. Leo has also been prominent in challenges to abortion rights, voting rights, climate […]

Bill McBride at Calculated Risk (8/23/2022 02:21:00 PM) had this report on mileage driven for June 2022. I am sure as Bill suggests gasoline prices may have played a role in the decrease. I wonder too if Covid kept people from travelling too? One of the links to the DOT page also shows travel by […]

First warnings — as usual I am writing on a topic discussed by many experts and I am not an expert. It is very often debated whether social welfare programs should be means tested (available only to people with low income or to people with low income and low wealth). An alternative is universal programs […]

Coronavirus dashboard for August 24: the post BA.5 wave respite In general, things are headed in the right direction for now in the pandemic. BIobot’s latest wastewater update from one week ago shows a 1/3rd decline in COVID particles nationwide. Here’s the regional breakdown: The West, spearheaded by CA, is down 50%, and the South […]