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

Too Important to Pass-Up . . . the story of Labor Day

This is a great story which should be told each year. Labor and the importance of it in society and manufacturing. Labor adds the vale to manufacturing product. September 3, 2023, Letters from an American, Prof. Heather Cox Richardson. Almost one hundred and forty-one years ago, on September 5, 1882, workers in New York City […]

Why the Democrats’ love affair with ‘free trade deals’ is over

I believe the key words here are taking a break from free trade. Mostly too, I believe the free-trade-motif (so to speak) has been used enough times to line the pockets of the upper income percentile. Time for a change. While labor has disappeared to overseas facilities, the nation has not moved in a direction […]

Rule Changes Offer Little Relief as Student Loan Payments Resume

If I was new to this dilemma, I would believe this is better news than prior announcements. But it is not good news, it is news coming too late for the borrowers holding exaggerated debt due to penalties, consolidation fees, interest, interest on that interest, and rate changes. If this was said a decade ago, […]

Building a Mixed City Use Concept from Scratch

To pull off the project, the company will almost certainly have to use the state’s initiative system to get Solano County residents to vote on it. The hope is voters will be enticed by promises of thousands of local jobs, increased tax revenue and investments in infrastructure like parks, a performing arts center, shopping, dining […]

Payday Lenders Gave Millions to Republicans Backing Efforts to Destroy CFPB

These people are the lowest of the scum. They were always a shady type of business. There efforts were to target low-income neighborhoods. There actions are to keep their customers victims on a never-ending cycle of dependence through predatory practices. The high-interest rates and fees makes it difficult for borrowers to repay the loan. It […]

Open Thread August 31, 2023 Mixed News Topics

Not Everything We Call Cancer Should Be Called Cancer, rsn.org. The NYPD Denied Our Request for Body Camera Footage of a “Friendly Fire” Killing. Here’s How We Got It Anyway, ProPublica, Mike Hayes. Clarence Thomas officially discloses private jet trips on GOP donor Harlan Crow’s plane, CNN Politics, Ariane de Vogue and Devan Cole. Stay […]

China’s Economy in Need of Rescue?

In the last post “Trump, Biden Policies Shifted Trade from China, Study Shows,” voanews.com, (read again if needed) we were talking about China sneaking its parts into the US through Mexico and Vietnam. The VOA article is the same as shown on Bloomberg. As you read that post, I think you will see I had […]

July JOLTS report: is the game of reverse musical chairs in employment ending?

July JOLTS report: is the game of reverse musical chairs in employment ending?  – by New Deal democrat For the past 18 months, I’ve likened the job market to a game of reverse musical chairs, where there are more chairs put out by potential employers than there are job applicants willing to fill them. Also […]

War and Punishment

I just finished “War and Punishment: The story of Russian oppression and Ukranian resistance” by Mikhail Zygar. I’ve read several books on Russian and Ukranian history written by historians. Zygar isn’t a historian, and the style of this book is more of a reporter, albeit one describing history. The writing here is vivid, if somewhat […]

California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act sets in motion a single-payer healthcare coverage

More detail on California’s Single Payer Bill AB1690. 0223 CA Legal Fact Sheet AB1690 CalCare.pdf, nationalnursesunited.org. Summary Today’s U.S. health care system is a complex, fragmented multi-payer system that still leaves wide gaps of coverage and poses significant issues of affordability. Despite health care spending in the United States far exceeding other high-income, industrialized countries […]