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

De-dollarization heats up

Jonathan Last has a fairly detailed piece (with links to more details) concerning something called mBridge, which looks to be China’s ‘camel’s nose under the tent’ for dethroning the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Read the whole thing. Here are some highlights: Currently, most of the world uses the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial […]

Quote of the day

“The best way to see this is that none of the further negotiation parts of this deal are going to happen. Those provide each side, but especially the U.S. with a figleaf to sell their respective publics. This is really just an agreement to stop. The U.S. will have achieved none of its strategic objectives […]

New Medicaid Work Rules by Repubs

“Strict Medicaid work rules could harm people with serious illnesses, advocates say,” NPR Advocates for people with serious illnesses, like cancer and HIV, say the strict Medicaid work rules that the Trump administration released this week are likely to put ongoing treatments in jeopardy. States must put the work requirements into effect by January 1. […]

If the Iran deal is so great, why not release it?

Presumably the deal is embarrassing to either Iran or the Trump administration (or possibly to both parties).  My guess is the embarrassment is on Trump.  He gets nothing except the end of the global oil shortage he caused.  The Iranians will get a large financial benefit in one form or another – a benefit that […]

Goods production sector of the economy remained in expansion in May

– by New Deal democrat Late last year I noticed that the regional Fed manufacturing indicators were improving – despite the “Liberation Day” tariffs and the general chaos coming out of Washington. It appeared that manufacturers had found a modus vivendi and had adapted to the new environment. That subsequently showed up in a number of […]

Eliminating the USMCA with Mexico and Canada

I worked between Mexico and the US for an automotive company that made wire harness and other components for automotive companies. The assemblies would be done in one plant and then shuffled off to another plant in Mexico and then cross over into the United States for final production, packaging, and shipment to one of […]