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

Newscast Discussing Trump and Iran

Kerry told MS NOW’s Jen Psaki on “The Briefing” that the president’s Truth Social posts –– an expletive-laden post on Sunday and a Tuesday threat that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” –– left him “as shocked as I’ve been by anything that I have seen or read by this administration, in the first administration and now in the second.” […]

disenfranchising Black voters

“Last week in a Senate confirmation hearing, four Trump judicial nominees, one each from Florida and Ohio, and two from Texas, declined to agree with Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons that Trump, having already served two terms in office, was ineligible to be elected to a third term. That’s four people who believe they are qualified to […]

Special Day Today, One Which May Go Uncelebrated for Various Reasons

When I say uncelebrated, it could be result of various unpreventable causes. Mother’s Day is a congressionally established holiday to celebrate Mothers. The nation does honor mothers the second Sunday of each May. In AZ, we are the unrelated grandparents to a Mexican family living across the street from us. While their mom is in […]

April jobs report: reversals in 2025 (?) trends give rise to the second positive report in a row

 – by New Deal democrat My current Big Theme is that the AI Boom (or possibly bubble) is counterbalancing a stagnant or even shallowly recessionary rest of the economy. (I have to ask NDd whether he meant 2026). This was reflected in what has happened in the past few months. The initial jobs report for February was […]

Oil Shorts – Insider Trading

Sources are CNBC, Financial Times, BBC, Reuters Paul Krugmam (subscriber) gives a lengthy review of what took place at his substack Paul Krugman. I am not going to put his dialogue up. However, he says; “Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense.” I can not imagine how they are pulling this off. Isn’t […]

MAGA means ‘immiserate workers’

This is what the MAGA GOP supports: “Workers are earning record low wages and other compensation compared to their labor output, according to the BLS productivity and costs report published Thursday. Called the “labor share,” this indicator essentially measures how much of the nation’s economic earnings is used to pay wages and other worker benefits. […]

Jobless claims, the most positive data of all, continues to augur for lower unemployment

 – by New Deal democrat The most positive metric in all of economic metric-dom continues to be very positive. Initial jobless claims rose 10,000 to 200,000 last week, still among the lowest readings over the entire past 50+ years. The four week moving average declined -4,250 to 203,250, also among the lowest in the past […]

So, Where are those Cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and the ACA Subsidies Going?

The old cut taxes for the wealthy and we will have a better economy which will benefit those in the lower income brackets. The recently passed bill passed by Trump and Republicans creates a deficit in which case many in Congress will be looking for ways to alleviate such. Cuts in programs is one way […]

March JOLTS report: reverting to 2025 averages

– by New Deal democrat The JOLTS report is low on my list of useful tools, but it does break down the labor market further than the jobs report, and it does have several slightly leading components, so let’s at least take a brief look at this series, which *finally* was updated to its normal […]