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

July’s retail sales, industrial production and new home construction

MarketWatch 666: July’s retail sales, industrial production and new home construction; June’s business inventories, Commenter and Blogger RJS The July report on New Residential Construction (pdf) from the Census Bureau estimated that the widely watched manual count of new housing units started in July was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,534,000, which was 7.0 percent […]

Changing Dynamics in Florida, Current Covid Deaths Exceed Previous Deaths

COVID Taking Center Stage, Rubio is Winning — DeSantis is Losing; “Political Interests,” The Listener Group In a recent poll of 1000 likely Florida voters, there has been a swing from previous polls 8 weeks earlier. With the new surge of Covid, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio ( R) is maintaining his lead against democratic challenger […]

The Federal Courts Engaging in Foreign Affairs

Susie Madrak at Crooks and Liars calls it; “SCOTUS is throwing down the gauntlet that this president’s (Biden, in case you forgot) power derives not from the law, but from the conservative majority’s feelz about what a Democratic executive should or should not be allowed to do. Just a bit of history, this was not […]

July Oil Supply Falls 2,540,000 Barrels/Day Short of Demand

Oil in longest losing streak since 2019;  global oil shortage at 2,540,000 barrels per day; DUC well backlog at 7.1 months, Focus on Fracking, Commenter and Blogger, R,J.S. Thursday of last week saw the release of OPEC’s August Oil Market Report, which covers OPEC & global oil data for July, and hence it gives us a […]

Biggest military evacuation in US history is going pretty well. Something to talk about

As others have said in print and in the Fox broadcasts; “everything is going terrible.” Yeah kinda, there are issues. I do not believe anyone thought about the rapid collapse of Afghanistan happening. The die was cast when Trump and Pompeo bumbled their way through conversations with the Taliban. Someone was laughing afterwards. In spite […]

Covid Vaccine Booster Confusion in the Public, Politics, and Medicine

As Taken from Modern Healthcare: Scientists say Biden jumped the gun with booster plan | Modern Healthcare Scientists believe President Biden is jumping the gun by claiming people should be seeking a third shot, a booster shot of Covid vaccine. I am not sure which scientists the Modern Healthcare article is referring to; but, there […]

The ShotSpotter system and the value of diverse juror perspectives

Erik Loomis points to this AP story on ShotSpotter, a system that police and prosecutors use to identify gunshots, react to potential crimes, and prosecute suspects. The AP story raises serious questions about the accuracy and integrity of the system. You can click through for their story, which is gripping and definitely worth a read. […]

Vaccine Greed

Evonomic’s contributor Jag Bhalla offers his narrative of how the vaccine choices played out in the US and looks to continue along the same lines with the booster shots for Covid 19 in Vaccine Greed: Capitalism Without Competition Isn’t Capitalism, It’s Exploitation. DID GREED JUST save the day? That’s what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed […]

ACOs Did Not Cut Costs As Planned. It is Time to Stop the Experiment

Accountable Care Organizations don’t cut costs. It’s time to stop the managed care experiment, STAT, Kip Sullivan and James G. Kahn August 23, 2021 Kip Sullivan is a member of the advisory board of Health Care for All Minnesota. James G. Kahn is emeritus professor of health policy at the University of California San Francisco. For the last […]

“Do Your Research”

“Do Your Research” Is it my imagination, or do vax- and mask-hesitant people, reported in news stories about the Covid Divide, almost always say they “have done their research” or something like that?  The medical people and public health advocates that get interviewed rarely seem to use this phrase, at least not in the first […]