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

The Biden Administration had better come up with a ‘Plan B’

Coronavirus dashboard for December 7: since further mass vaccination could only happen at gunpoint, the Biden Administration had better come up with a ‘Plan B, New Deal democrat No significant economic news today, so let’s catch up a little bit with Covid. There are still distortions in the 7 day average data, as States did […]

A Racist Screed in the New York Times

Peter Dorman, Econospeak, A Racist Screed in the New York Times Really bad, misguided, even malicious writing serves a purpose, showing in extreme form the faults that, more subtly expressed, can pass under the radar.  That’s my reaction to this execrable column from today’s New York Times on the violation the author felt when her front lawn […]

A Day of Days

Wednesday, 1 December 2021, the state of Mississippi argued before the US Supreme Court that the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision [410 U.S. 113 (1973)] giving women a constitutional right to have an abortion was in error; that it should be overturned. During Wednesday’s oral arguments, Justice Sotomayor asked Mississippi’s Solicitor Stewart whether Mississippi’s challenge […]

The libertarian dilemma and the politics of outrage

If you want to understand libertarian politics and messaging, the starting point is to recognize that libertarian ideology is very unpopular.  They want to end child poverty – but only through deregulation.  They support good education – but only through vouchers or privatization.  They want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Well, o.k., not really.  They […]

The Crimes of Punishment

Surely someone, not something, must be to blame, must be responsible for whatever catastrophe that may have just occurred. Even CNN knows this. Blaming an event on someone obviates the need to fully explain, to seek a cause; relieves us of the responsibility to understand, to acknowledge the true cause. Seems it is somehow better […]

Income, Spending, and PCE PI Index Up . . . Savings Rate Lowest Since December 2019

Commenter and Blogger RJS, MarketWatch 666, Personal Income Rose 0.5% in October, Personal Spending Rose 1.3%, PCE Price Index Rose 0.6%, Savings Rate Lowest Since December 2019 The October report on Personal Income and Outlays from the Bureau of Economic Analysis includes the month’s data for our personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which accounts for more than 70% […]

Intellectual Property II

As always, I am bloviating on a matter where I am not expert. I do sometimes wonder what the hell we should do with the strange human invention called intellectual property. It can be argued that it was a brilliant invention. For example the US Constitutional Convention wrote “To promote the Progress of Science and […]

We’ve turned a corner on intersectionality and come to a crossroads…

And now what Sandwichman calls a frivilous post. The right-wing War on Wokeness has won over Seattle progressive Democrats . . . “because we can’t afford to give the GOP any ammunition for the 2022 election.” Democrats, who are famous for “keeping our powder dry,” are now concerned that their opponents may use the specter […]

3rd Quarter GDP Grew at a 2.1% Rate, Revised from 2.0%

Blogger and Commenter RJS, 3rd Quarter GDP Grew at a 2.1% Rate, Revised from 2.0%; All on Inventories, No Real Final Sales The Second Estimate of our 3rd Quarter GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis indicated that our real output of goods and services grew at a 2.1% annual rate over the quarter, revised from the 2.0% […]

Freeing Former Students of Loan Debt, a Conversation

An Intro and some history: Alan Collinge at Student Loan Justice Organization. Alan has collected 1,065,931 signatures on his petition asking President Joe Biden to cancel student loan debt. His new goal is to reach 1.5 million signatures. If you believe in the cause you should sign his petition. Petition · President Biden: Cancel Federal […]