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

GOP Does Well As Dow Jones Average Crosses Major Milestone Of 36,000

(Dan here…originally published 12:11 a.m. Nov. 3. We now know Youngkin won the Virginia governer’s race) GOP Does Well As Dow Jones Average Crosses Major Milestone Of 36,000.  I am posting before the election results of Nov. 2, 2021, are fully in, but it looks that the GOP candidates will win in Virginia, where Biden […]

September Durable Goods: New Orders Down 0.4%, Shipments Up 0.4%, Inventories Up 0.9%

Commenter and Blogger RJS at Marketwatch 666; “September Durable Goods: New Orders Down 0.4%, Shipments Up 0.4%, Inventories Up 0.9%“ September Advanced Report Durable Goods Manufacturer Shipments, Inventories, and Orders, US Census The Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for September (pdf) from the Census Bureau reported that the value of the […]

John Stuart Mill versus Great Barrington Declaration libertarians on vaccine mandates

The Great Barrington Declaration is the founding text of one influential school of covid-libertarianism.  The GBD made two claims – First, that we should try to protect the vulnerable from contracting covid, and, Second, that we should let the virus spread freely through the non-vulnerable population to reduce the time needed to get to herd […]

Gasoline at 47 month low & Distillate at 18 month low

Commenter and Blogger RJS, Focus on Fracking, The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending October 22nd indicated that after a modest increase in our oil imports and a modest decrease in our oil exports, we had surplus oil to add to our stored commercial […]

Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life

Professor Joel Eissenberg, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Years ago, I was visiting Halle in the former East Germany and my host took me to the nearby town of Leipzig. While walking through town, he stopped at the shop window of a coin collecting store that displayed the defunct East German 50- and 100-Mark notes. My […]

And the Anti-Anything Whiners . . .

“30,000 people were trapped inside Shanghai Disneyland on Halloween after one person tested positive for COVID-19,” Business Insider, Sinéad Baker And United States Anti-Vaxers, maskers, and social distancers whine. Excerpt from the article: Disneyland Shanghai shut down after one positive COVID-19 case was found there. The nearly 34,000 visitors and staff had to get tested […]

Senate Defunding Wuhan Research Already Defunded in 2020

Be aware, this post is choppy. My first point is when was the the Wuhan project defunded. The second point asks why are four Senators then passing bills to defund a project already defunded? And finally I am giving some history such as this research not being gain-of-function. This is Republicans being bad actors and […]

Virginia 2021 Election Going To Look More Like 1980, 1994, 2010 Or None Of The Above?

Is Virginia 2021 Election Going To Look More Like 1980, 1994, 2010 Or None Of The Above?, Econospeak, Barkley Rosser, October 26, 2021 In Virginia there is an election for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and the whole House of Delegates, while the State Senate with a slight Dem majority is not up for election, […]

My Big Picture

My Big Picture It’s a Sunday (Dan here…I put this up late), and it’s been a while since I put up some generalized thoughts on where we are, so let’s update. I’ll go in order of my optimism on the economy, COVID, and the political situation. The economy I am pretty happy about the place […]