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

Mankiw’s Ideal Democrat (Bloomberg Alert)

Mankiw’s Ideal Democrat (Bloomberg Alert) Greg Mankiw has always been a Never Trumper: I just came back from city hall, where I switched my voter registration from Republican to unenrolled (aka independent). Two reasons: First, the Republican Party has largely become the Party of Trump. Too many Republicans in Congress are willing, in the interest of […]

A note about turnout in yesterday’s elections

A note about turnout in yesterday’s elections I haven’t seen any information yet on how turnout in last night’s elections, particularly in Virginia, which was an “off-off year” election, i.e., no statewide races at all, only state legislative and local races. The state of Virginia keeps turnout statistics online back to 1976. The bottom line is, clearly […]

Some Election Results

I am not quite sure how to begin other than say I am angry at why it has to come to this , and still not enough, before people react. Loudoun County, Virginia: One election event ended positively for a woman who had given Trump’s motorcade (and supposedly Trump) a message of defiance, a one […]

Innovative bureaucrats?

by David Zetland    (Via One handed economist) Innovative bureaucrats? The Dutch are fond of subsidies for arts, sustainability and… innovation. These subsidies arise when bureaucrats with “topical portfolios” award cash to winners of various “promise to stimulate [topic]” contests. On the one hand, I am pleased to see the government providing public goods, i.e., […]

Buried Lede … all time record

They got the goods, but some editor made them semi bury them. By Mark Mazzetti, Eric Lipton* and Andrew E. Kramer note that the first shipment of Javelin missiles to Ukraine was mysteriously held up by the OMB until April 2018 when then prosecutor general Yurii Lutsenko froze the investigation of Paul Manafort. This isn’t […]

DC Circuit grants Postal Watchdog’s challenge to PRC’s approval of rate hike on Forever stamps

An introduction to Save the Post Office and Steve Hutkins. I am not quite sure how I got to Steve; but, I do remember chatting with Mark Jamison who also wrote at Save the Post Office and posting his words up at Angry Bear (Asking the Wrong Questions: Reflections on Amazon, the Post Office, and […]

The Death Of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi And Related Matters

The Death Of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi And Related Matters The self-proclaimed “Caliph” of Da’esh/ISIL/ISIS, Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarri, who took the name Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has blown himself up after US special forces successfully attacked his compound in Idlib province of Syria near the Turkish border after a US military dog attacked him. (His nom […]

Georgetown University Report Finds Number of Uninsured Children Now at Highest Levels –

Since Major Provisions of Affordable Care Act Took Effect Key Findings: The number of uninsured children in the United States increased by more than 400,000 between 2016 and 2018 bringing the total to over 4 million uninsured children in the nation. These coverage losses are widespread with 15 states showing statistically significant increases in the […]