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

Game Of Thrones Guesses

Dan here…Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts: Game Of Thrones Guesses 1. I guess from the TV series it is official that John Snow is the son of Lyanna Start and Rhaegar Targaryan 2. I’m a fairly sure that Lyanna Stark is also the knight of the laughing tree (and that’s part of the reason Rhaegar […]

Another Personal Observation On Privatized Highways

Another Personal Observation On Privatized Highways Last month I posted a personal observation on Trump’s plan to privatize infrastructure, noting especially how in the long run privately owned turnpikes in Virginia ended up in government ownership.  In the comments on that post there was discussion of the Indiana Toll Road, privatized a few years ago.  […]

Trump’s presidency is 1/8 done. The economy is still on Obama’s autopilot. Where’s the DOOOM?!?

Trump’s presidency is 1/8 done. The economy is still on Obama’s autopilot. Where’s the DOOOM?!? Today marks half a year since Donald Trump took the Oath of Office as President.  I just wanted to note that, so far, absolutely nothing of significance has been enacted to affect the economy.  It’s still basically Barack Obama’s expansion. […]

Police Shootings by State v. Percent of the Population that is Black

After my recent post on police shootings I was curious and did some googling on the topic. By coincidence, right about that time Peter Moskos (i.e., Cop in the Hood) wrote this: I looked at the Washington Post data of those shot and killed by police in 2015 and 2016 and broke it down by […]

How Keynesian Policy Led Economic Growth In the New Deal Era: Three Simple Graphs

(Dan here…lifted and reposted) by Mike Kimel How Keynesian Policy Led Economic Growth In the New Deal Era: Three Simple Graphs November 22, 2011 In this post, I will show that during the New Deal era, changes in the real economic growth rate can be explained almost entirely by the earlier changes in federal government’s […]

What is the secret to joining the rich country club

Steve Roth writes What is the secret to joining the rich country club at Evonomics: By Steve Roth There’s a curious fact about the wealth and growth of nations that you rarely see mentioned: No country has ever joined the modern, high-productivity, rich-country club without massive doses of redistribution, and universal government programs for social support and […]