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

Holy crap! What me worry?

Politico points to major tax cut headaches to come: Other issues arise from the fact that lawmakers are mostly skipping the custom of having a transitional period between current tax rules and the new ones, in order to give the public time to adjust to the changes. The House bill also includes a whole new […]

Stop talking affordable water and start talking poverty

David Zetland writes at Aguanomics Stop talking affordable water and start talking poverty Circle of Blue published this long, aggravating article of the efforts of activists, water managers and (far too many consultants) to “find a compromise” on the price of water that will cover system costs without “burdening the poor.” Let me solve this […]

Pakistan Today, Here Tomorrow

I cannot speak for the credibility of the Asian Human Rights Commission, nor about this story they published entitled Pakistan: The last nail in the coffin of democracy. However, it does ring true to me based on other material I have read in Western media. To quote liberally, if not to lift wholesale: The year […]

An astute progressive critique of the Trump Administration from … CNBC?!?

An astute progressive critique of the Trump Administration from … CNBC?!? John Harwood of that well known lefty outlet, …. ummm, CNBC …. writes this morning that “Trump has Forgotten his ‘Forgotten People’:” He forgot them on health care. Jettisoning his campaign pledge to “take care of everybody” regardless of income, he proposed cutting federal health […]

ISM Reports Show Broad Economic Strength: Latest Nowcasts are Strong

by Hale Stewart (originally published at Bonddad blog) ISM Reports Show Broad Economic Strength: Latest Nowcasts are Strong The latest ISM reports are out and both show broad strenght.  The new orders and production component of the manufacturing report were very strong (up +.6 to 64 and +2.9 to 63.9, respectively).  The anecdotal comments were very bullish: The service […]

The single item most responsible for the decline in manufacturing has been the Republican tax cuts

Lifted from comments, Spencer England says: What Reagan managed to accomplish was to turn the US from the worlds largest creditor nation into the worlds largest debtor nation. Why don’t people see that the expanded deficit will reduce savings and expand the savings-investment gap which is equal to the current account deficit? So crowding-out works […]

A First Step for Organizing Counterpower from Below

A First Step for Organizing Counterpower from Below I’ve been posting a lot of critical stuff on gaps and faulty assumptions in the rhetoric and strategy (such as it is) of the US Left.  A reasonable person might say, OK, enough already.  We know what we’re doing isn’t working, but what would?  What’s the alternative? Good […]

Has Dean Baker Joined Team Republican?

Has Dean Baker Joined Team Republican? The dishonesty ab out the Trump tax cut for the rich from certain Republican leading conservatives are been extensively noted so let’s not go there. But why is Dean Baker writing this? There are two ways in which we can say that a deficit/debt is will hurt our children. The first […]