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

Celebration of Spring

Easter, and the Rites of Spring Whatever else you think of them, those early Christians were brilliant marketers. They took the ancient pagan festival of Saturnalia and turned it into Christmas, and then they gave us Easter, which is really a lightly disguised celebration of spring, something virtually every civilization has. Remember, they aren’t celebrating […]

Déjà vu

My dad would stop by the airport LaRouche booths and argue with the nutjobs. Not sure why he found it amusing. He knew they were nuts, but he did it anyway. “It’s easy enough to do now what the dominant news media of the time did: look back on LaRouche as a joke, a once-in-a-generation […]

Expensive Gasoline. Just Wait till the other Oil Products Increase in Price

Pres. Trump has found a way to impact the global economy. And he did it by attacking Iran. His attack will also have a huge impact on the United States and every other country using oil or its byproducts. Looking for a recessional economy in the near term even with secure oil resources. Paul Krugman […]

Student Loans

Pick One or Face the Consequences. Either Way, You Will Be Worse Off. Rough roads for Students having student loans. But what is unusual about this? The answer is “nothing.” For decades, student loans have become the cross to bear (if needed) to gain a college education. If you have been keeping track of Angry […]

Trump Administration Slams the Door on Veteran Mortgage Relief

Trump’s closure of the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) plan creates financial issues for veterans who have VA mortgages which did not exist previously. Even so, in the past Trump has displayed little respect for veterans, calling them suckers and losers. He has denied the name calling, but it would be typical of him to […]

March ISM manufacturing shows expansion, but at an inflationary price

 – by New Deal democrat While much of the official government data is still delayed, months after the end of the shutdown, privately sourced data remains fully up to date. And March data started out with the ISM manufacturing index, which was our second piece of (mainly) good news of the morning. The headline ISM number […]

Rid Ourselves of “Citizens United”

How We Get Rid of “Citizens United,” Robert Reich This week’s video is important. It shows a clear path to getting rid of the Supreme Court’s horrific 2010 decision Citizens United vs. Federal Election Committee. That decision opened the floodgates to campaign spending by giant corporations. The high court reasoned that corporations are people who have First Amendment […]

What Makes a Donor State?

“Ask an Analyst: What makes a donor state?” USAFacts States contribute to the federal budget primarily through residents’ federal taxes and through business taxes on local industries. In return, states expect federal support via programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (or CHIP), transportation and education funding, and contracts and grants to local businesses […]

February JOLTS report confirms low hire, low fire, low quit economy

 – by New Deal democrat I normally don’t pay too much attention to the JOLTS report, and I won’t this month, either. 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. Below are job openings (blue), […]