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

Why I stopped reading the NYT

I’ve been a bit baffled recently by comments by friends expressing anxiety about NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Yeah, I ignore the right-wing wind machine over at Fox. But since I stopped reading the gray lady, I missed the propaganda and misdirection she’s been pumping out. “The Times has it out for Zohran Mamdani. The […]

Some thoughts on “socialism,” history and the triumph of propaganda

The words “socialism” and “Marxism” have long been synonymous with the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. Oddly, because neither country was socialist or Marxist. Lenin and the Bolsheviks (bolshevik means “majoritarian,” even though it was a minority party, a triumph of propaganda) crushed Marxist/socialist worker-led organizations after the 1917 Revolution (really a […]

Economically weighted ISM manufacturing + services indexes continue to warrant “recession watch”

– by New Deal democrat Last month the new orders components of the economically weighted ISM manufacturing and services indexes warranted the hoisting of a yellow flag “Recession Watch.”  This month that continued. To recap, because manufacturing is much less important to the economy than in the decades before the Millennium, the economically weighted average of the […]

The Courts

Talking about courts today. If you have ever gone to a Federal Court, it is a matter of just the facts people. Don’t look for sympathy because it is not there if you get this far in the first place. You can have the best of the best in attorneys. Judges will listen and maybe […]

When is a deal not a deal?

Do we say that a blackmailer is trying to reach a “deal?” Is a successful extortion a “deal?” “Harvard’s hundreds of unionized professors are pushing the university not to make any deal with President Trump in its deepening dispute with the White House, and they say they hope to flex their increasing organizing prowess to […]

Thoughts of a boomer

I was born squarely in the middle of the “baby boom” generation. We had daily bible readings in my first grade public school class. We said the pledge of allegiance through high school in my public school system. Boomers are sometimes identified with the protests, rebelliousness and non-conformity of the ‘60s, but many or most […]

Tax Cuts to the Rich . . . What Are They Good for? Absolutely Nothing . . .

Dipping deep here to an old tune sung by the Temptations and then Edwin Starr. Tax Breaks to the wealthy do not pay for themselves and neither do they trickle down to lower income people. The 2017 Tax Break The reality is the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) did not pay for itself […]

Promise Kept on Tipped Income?

With the signing of the Budget Bill, persons working at “an occupation which customarily and regularly receive tips” can deduct up to $25,000 of tip income provided their total income does not exceed $150,000. This deduction will be phased out beginning in 2028 unless extended by Congress. Trump made three promises to reduce taxes to […]