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

Forestall a Corporate Tax-rate Increase? The big losers will be the American people.

AB: Corporate America wanting more . . . Opponents of higher corporate taxes argue it’s not really corporations, ultimately their wealthy executives and shareholders pay the price. They claim we’re all hurt by increased corporate tax collections and are helped by lower ones through the impact on our jobs, communities, retirement savings, and the economy […]

Trump says trade wars are easy to win; history says no

Trump has said trade wars are “good and easy to win.” History begs to differ. The Smoot-Hawley Act and ensuing trade wars were not good for the country and not good for President Hoover. “The 1930 Tariff Act started with the narrow aim of helping distressed farmers but then mushroomed into a wholesale rewriting of […]

Balance of Payments Primer, Part I

– by Paul Krugman And why you shouldn’t panic over trade deficits AB: I offer no opinion of Krugman’s thoughts here. Although Paul does state; having a president obsessing with trade imbalances does create issues for the US and the population. To balance out Trump’s obsession, the administration has economists willing to provide arguments to […]

No reason for Greenland to choose to be a US colony

Trump and Vance insist that Denmark and Greenlanders must cede control of Greenland to the United States. Trump has made not-so-veiled threats to seize Greenland by force. A US invasion and military occupation of Greenland would ostensibly be justified on national security grounds, to protect the region from Russia. A similar justification has been voiced […]

February 2025 Economy Review

Real income, spending, saving, and sales continue to be expansionary  – by New Deal democrat Real income and spending are two of the most important indicators of the well-being of the consumer. With the general weakening of the economy, I have been looking to see if in particular real spending on goods would sputter. Signs […]

Economic Occurrences Could Lead the US to Another 2008

This particular piece (or partial) is taken from an article written in 2015. You can pick up the entire piece at “KelloggInsight.” It is an abbreviated version of the article detailing what took place in 2008. Our economy was on the verge of collapse. Goldman Sachs made a collateral call on AIG. The results of […]

Why We Shouldn’t Deport Undocumented Immigrants?

Brief commentary as taken from Tax Fairness. Good Stats and comparisons. And brief in making its point on immigrants as compared to corporations and income taxes. “How Undocumented Immigrants Contribute to Our Economy & Pay Higher Tax Rates Than Many Major Corporations,” Americans For Tax Fairness In 2022 America’s 10.9 million undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion […]

New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators March 24-28

Weekly Indicators for March 24 – 28 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. The most important news in high frequency data was that we now have 4 of 5 reports from regional Feds for March, and all four showed a decline from last month, and 3 […]

Corporate Profits Increased Consistently Since Q1 2023, They are Forecasting No Recession 2025

Long leading indicators update: corporate profits in Q4 2024  – by New Deal democrat Corporate profits are a long leading indicator, as they typically turn down at least one year before the onset of a recession. Unfortunately, they are typically reported with a lag, and Q4 corporate profits aren’t reported officially until the final update […]

Unintended consequences

I get that Trump is too stupid to understand that his tariffs (a) will be paid by American consumers, (b) will drive inflation and (c) will prevent future Fed rate cuts. But there are other negative consequences: “While Wall Street frets about potential volatility from President Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” plans, another part of […]