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

Jobless claims: all good news

 – by New Deal democrat The weekly news from jobless claims continues to be good. The hypotheses that the summer increase was unresolved post-pandemic seasonality, plus the several week spike post-Beryl was all about Texas, both have held up very well. And that has continued to be the case against more challenging YoY comparisons as the […]

A history of xenophobia in America

I just finished reading “America for Americans: A history of xenophobia in the United States” by Erika Lee. It is an unsparing analysis of the way xenophobia is woven into the fabric of American law and culture. When you read “America for Americans,” does it conjure an image of native Americans asserting their rights to […]

The political season, a (one-sided) return to sanity, and the need for a landslide

– by Infidel753 Infidel753 Blog By traditional assessment, in a US election year, early September is when the broad American public starts turning its attention to the choice looming in early November.  To those readers blessed to live in normal countries, where campaigning is limited by law to just three or four weeks before an […]

The US economy is the envy of the first world

Since the beginning of the Covid epidemic, the US economy has performed better than European economies and the Eurozone average. This comparison is useful, and not just for boasting rights. Fiscal policy in the USA and in the Eurozone has been dramatically different – The US Federal Government implemented Six very large fiscal stimuli: The […]

Immigration déjà vu

Trump is promising mass deportations if he’s elected. He claims this will create jobs and economic growth. We’ve been here before. “In the 1930s, state and local governments deported 400,000 to 500,000 people of Mexican descent, promising to create jobs for Americans during the Great Depression. What actually happened? The employment of native-born Americans dropped […]

Policy Proposals, Feelings About Issues, and that Nasty Newly African American Woman who laughs

I have read many articles quoting (brave) Republicans complaining about Donald Trump’s focus on personal, petty and implausible attacks on Kamala Harris. They often assert that if the election were decided on the basis of policy or issues, then Trump would win. Here is the latest discussion I read about that (just the available link […]

More of the “Economy Is Bad” Under Biden Series

 I guess if it is said enough times it has to be true or does it have to be? The Biden rescue since he took office is far better than what we experienced in 2008 onward. Yet Another in the Economy Is Bad Under Biden by Dean Baker CEPR Like other major news outlets, the […]

Who is better on unions, Harris or Trump?

A fitting topic for Labor Day, 2024. Over at TPM, they have an extended discussion of the records of the Biden/Harris Administration vs the Trump/Pence administration regarding unions and workplace safety. Click the link to read the whole thing. I’ll keep the quotes here within fair use. “. . . three aspects of the candidates’ […]

Colin Allred Running Against Ted Cruz in Texas

Colin Allred Is Running a Novel Campaign. Looks Like It’s Working. Texas Monthly Colin may be winning . . . Colin Allred was running late, but it didn’t matter—nobody was waiting for him. Only staff and a single journalist occupied the cavernous International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Hall in Houston at 2:30 on a […]

An Ideal Neighborhood to Live In . . .

Just to be clear in presentation, everything above “Kareem’s (My) Take” is taken from the New York Magazine (Ed Kilgore). This post is meant to feature Kareem Abdul-Jabars; opinion on what he sees and interprets from the picture (JPeg). I agree with Kareem’s views and subscribe to his site. It is hard to imagine there […]