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

“Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence and Make Our Communities Safer”

President Addressing Weapon Safety: Link New Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence and Make Our Communities Safer To me this is “mostly” a reiteration of what is already out there for law with restrictions plus some enhancements. President Obama appears to be calling for enforcement of what is already there for law. There are adders […]

Universities and Donations – Western Carolina University

What does a public university do when a donation to it comes with strings? This is the situation Western Carolina University finds itself in today as a $2 million donation is being given to it by a Charles Koch Foundation to establish a Center for the Study of Free Enterprise under BB&T bank sponsored department […]

Some Great Reads on a Wintery Night

Been taking some time to recoup from back surgery (8 inch gash Lumbar area), catch my breath, and find some more interesting topics on which to write. There are some awesome reads out there if you just take some time to search for them. – Another Christmas gift from Dean Baker; The Effort to Divert […]

How prefunding retiree health benefits impacts the Postal Service’s bottom line – and how Brookings got it wrong . . .

The author Steve Hutkins is a literature professor who teaches “place studies” at the Gallatin School of New York University. He has no affiliation with the U.S. Postal Service—he doesn’t work for it, nor does anyone in his family. Save The Post Office (his website) provides information about the post office closings and consolidations that […]

How Probability Is Perceived . . .

I ran across this explanation of Probability as seen by different professions at Sam Wang’s Princeton Consortium and tracked it down to Ben Orin’s Math with Bad Drawings blog. A little about Ben and his blog as told by himself: “This blog is about the things I like. It’s also about the things I can’t […]

The REALLY ANNOYING Don’t-Wanna-Subsidize-Wealthy-Kids’-College-Tuition Canard [With fun update!]

Hillary Clinton’s performance wasn’t as clean or as crisp as her last one. Among other things, she invoked 9/11 in order to dodge a question about her campaign donors. But she effectively made the case that, though Sanders speaks about important questions, his solutions are ultimately simplistic and hers are better. Instead of railing about […]

Gas All Boomers" Or At Least Tax And Cut Their Benefits More Says WaPo

by Barkley Rosser    “Gas All Boomers” Or At Least Tax And Cut Their Benefits More Says WaPo No, nobody in today’s Washington Post Outlook section devoted to the boomers said that first line, although it has become a commonplace on such sites as Economics Job Market Rumors where anonymous and frustrated millennials very frequently and […]