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

Drones and Trenches

For less than $1 thousand a pop, Ukrainians are taking out Russian tanks costing $3 million. For less than $300 thousand a pop, they are taking out Russian warships costing $ billions. Ukraine is doing these things with homemade cardboard drones, store-bought drones, and their roll-your-own mostly-submerged drones. Ukraine’s TLK-150 and TLK-400 submersible drones with […]

Initial jobless claims remain higher on a YoY basis

Initial jobless claims remain higher on a YoY basis, but do not suggest near term recession  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose 2,000 last week to 211,000. The 4 week moving average declined -6,250 to 211,000. With a one week lag, continuing claims rose 42,000 to 1.670 million: Although this appears very […]

A government in which racial minorities have a say is illegitimate”

No, this is not the title of this essay by Prof. Heather Cox Richardson who also writes “Letters from an American,” a substack drawing hundreds of commenters daily. Some Republicans are attempting to make this argument a reality. The insistence that of their opponents being socialists goes hand in hand with their effort to suppress […]

Why the public still views inflation as a major problem, despite the official numbers

Why the public still views inflation as a major problem, despite the official numbers  – by New Deal democrat This is the topic I indicated last week I wanted to write about more at length.  Paul Krugman wrote last week about the disconnect between most economists, who see inflation declining, and voters, who still see […]

Buprenorphine Naloxone & Naltrexone

I think the main practical point is that pharmacological treatment of opioid addiction is effective and yet not as easily available as it should be. Not all opioid use disorder (OUD) specialized treatment programs offer medication assisted treatment (I have a somewhat out of date report that in 2017 “only … 35.5% offered any single […]

Court Again Rejects Alabama Scraping of Black-Majority Districts

As taken from the Wall Street Journal September 26, 2023. If you have not been paying attention to what is happening in Alabama, this will bring you up to date. SCOTUS again rejected Alabama’s attempt to pack most of Alabama’s Black American citizenry into one congressional district. Alabama’s desires to maintain white majorities in six […]

Income-based pricing for Electricity is a bad idea

Income-based pricing is a bad idea, The one-handed economist, David Zetland I learned, via GS, that some Berkeley researchers have proposed [pdf] customers should pay for electricity based on their income. Thus, I would pay half of what you would pay if I made half the income you did. This is a terrible idea, IMO, but I can […]

New 20+ year record high mortgage rates begin to impact home sales

New 20+ year record high mortgage rates begin to impact home sales; bifurcation in new vs. existing home prices continues  – by New Deal democrat In addition to updated reports on new home sales and prices, and existing home prices this morning, there’s some very important news on mortgage rates. Namely, at 7.51%, mortgage rates […]

Bad Journalism

Hmm. Maybe Trump *does* have a point about the lying press after all. Here’s the Reuters headline:“Biden, Trump to woo union workers in Michigan as auto strikes grow” So where are Trump and Biden going to woo union workers? “Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit a Macomb County automotive supplier of engine and […]