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

SPR- 20 year low, Distillate Exports higher, Domestic Supply Low

RJS, Focus on Fracking; Summary; Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a 20-year low; US distillates exports at a 45 month high leaves domestic supplies at an 8 year low The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending April 8th indicated that after a near record […]

Is the “second great age of globalization” about to end?

This comes by way of New Deal Democrat who was doing some research and ran across a not so recent Krugman article via the late Economist’s View blog. Krugman’s prescient words of things to come? Hat tip to New Deal democrat and a thank you for sending this to me. “The Great Illusion” Paul Krugman, […]

Bad Mouthing the Holders of Student Loans

Tough Guy, senator Mitch McConnell making political hay over President Joe Biden extending a student loan moratorium for a few more months. The mistake Joe is making or has made is not deciding what to do. It is getting late in the game of politics. If your mind is tired of all these politics, you […]

Slower Mail Has Become A Fact of Life

People keep asking about when will Biden fire trump appointee Louis DeJoy? President Biden can not fire Dejoy. Federal law prevents the president from terminating the postmaster general under any circumstances. The nine-member board of governors nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate has the power to do so. Only five members of […]

“Why is the press rooting against Biden?,”

Is there an honest newspaper, magazine, etc. that people will read? People do not read any more. They will listen to some pundit on TV telling them how bad they have it. No gasoline lines to wait in, so you can’t complaint about that. Your drive-in maybe took 20 minutes to get that burger, you […]

Meanwhile in Texas: Privatize the Profits, Socialize the Losses

Under the guise of “protecting” citizens, the Texas legislature, instead of having the gas companies eat their losses from Winter Storm Uri last year, have floated a $3.4 billion bond package to have the taxpayers fund it. The sales pitch is that the gas companies, three large and a smattering of smaller operators get made […]

Ukraine Vs Russia: Lessons Learned

The current situation is that Russia has abandoned the effort to capture Kiev. Russian forces have been withdrawn from North Central Ukraine and are now operating on an arc from Kharkiv (North East) to Kherson (South Central). So far, Ukraine has won amazing victories and Russia has suffered astonishing defeats. The extreme surprise suggests that […]

The Obsolescence of Nostalgia

The Obsolescence of Nostalgia As the crow flies, it is around 200 kilometers from Michilimakinac, where Kandiaronk’s Wyandot people settled in 1671, when he was around twenty years old, to Tehkummah on Manitoulin Island where Isabel Paterson was born 215 years later.  It gets even cozier because the Wyandot had been displaced from the south shore […]

TIPS Breakeven vs Michigan Inflation Expectations

I am interested in inflation expectations (acting like a macroeconomist for a change). In particular I am thinking about something Brad DeLong just tweeted. He says his subjective probability of sustained inflation due to expected inflation causing current inflation is still just 40% Why “.only a 40% chance …? Because bond markets expect the Fed […]