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

Retaliation is Not a Strategy,

Trump Threatening Europe . . . Kareem Takes on the News, Substack Retaliation is Not a Strategy A Summary:  The Pentagon announced on May 1, 2026, it would withdraw approximately 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany within the next six to twelve months> this beginning a move that followed a public dispute between President Donald Trump […]

Affordability continues to be the main financial challenge for U.S. households

I get weary of listening to the constant blame game of Biden did this or that and we were paying for it in this presidency, A convenient way for Trump to hide and Republicans to blame the past presidency. It is B.S. “The post-pandemic recovery is an economic policy success story: Policymakers took the best […]

Population Decline

This decrease has been a long time coming. In 2006. population growth was at breakeven. I documented this in “population is growing at the rate of almost 1 percent per year, Angry Bear. Joel Garreau wrote the article in Smithsonian “300 Million and Counting” and It was in 2006 when the United States was at […]

Long leading indicators in Q1 GDP point in absolutely opposite directions

– by New Deal democrat The advance report for Q1 GDP was a study in contrasts, both in terms of the leading indicators and also the sources of strength. Let me start with the general information: on a nominal basis, GDP in Q1 increased a mediocre 1.4% at an annual rate (blue). After adjusting for inflation, […]

Money beyond borders: a book review

I’ve read over 200 history books and biographies. The two great drivers of history are war and money. For a dose of military history, I recently read “The Dark Path” by Williamson Murray. A big take-home of that book was how often victory depended on superior finances. For economic history, I’ve read “Money: The true […]

Healthcare Part 1 in The United States

Healthcare commentary, April 19 by Paul Krugman. It has been a while since I tackled the topic and pulling from multiple resources. The issue still remains. Healthcare in the United States is expensive. Even with the healthcare aid provided by the Biden Administration via congressional approval was not enough. And then voters stayed home, voted […]

Purdue Pharma and OxyContin

In “A 1980 Letter on the Risk of Opioid Addiction letter” article, identified were 608 citations of the index publication and noted a sizable increase after the introduction of OxyContin (a long-acting formulation of oxycodone) in 1995 (Figure 1). Of the articles that included a reference to the 1980 letter, the authors of 439 (72.2%) […]

What About AmTrak Performance in 2025?

Tracking 2025 Domestic Performance by Amtrak; It is an alternative to expensive gasoline, dangerous highways, crowded airport and increasing costs. It is profitable . . . The issues? Not enough trains and cars, Old equipment. Increasing demand. And not enough support to put another method of travel in place besides cars and planes. About time […]

Gasoline Prices per Gallon are Up

As if you did not know this? Fortunately, our vehicle is efficient, our stores are close, and we do not have to be anywhere U.S. gasoline prices jump to highest since 2022 U.S. gasoline (UNG) prices extended their climb Thursday, with AAA’s national average for regular fuel reaching $4.30 a gallon as drivers absorbed the […]

April ISM manufacturing: how long can the AI manufacturing Boom keep exploding prices from creating a consumer implosion?

– by New Deal democrat April data started out as usual with the ISM manufacturing index. There was some good news, but mainly bad news. The good news was that the headline ISM number (blue in the graph below) remained positive, and was unchanged at 52.7 (recall that any number above 50.0 indicates expansion). The more […]