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

The future of American farm labor?

Trump has flip-flopped on deporting workers in the agriculture and hospitality sectors. But his Ag Secretary has it figured out. “There’s been a lot of noise in the last few days and a lot of questions about where the president stands and his vision for farm labor,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters during a […]

Got worms? The news is good in Tennessee

During the COVID pandemic, the livestock dewormer ivermectin gained notoriety as a treatment for COVID. Of course, there isn’t an atom of evidence that ivermectin is effective against coronavirus infections. But the fact that it was ridiculed by the scientific and medical communities proved, by the logic of anti-vaxxers, that it works. “Currently four states […]

Why goods-producing employment is not flashing a danger signal for an economic downturn

 – by New Deal democrat During this week’s drought of new economic data, let’s continue taking a look at some important information from last Friday’s employment report. In every report, I break down my analysis first and foremost by looking at the leading indicators contained within the data. This is almost entirely confined to the goods-producing […]

Debasing Trump Country

TR__p show he has no regard for his supporters . . . Since 2015 and across 170 disasters, the median average assistance amount per approved application from FEMA’s IHP is $4,995. On average, approximately 39 percent of applicants are determined to be eligible for Individuals and Households Program (IHP). FEMA programs can be a lifeline. […]

Trump’s USAID closure a ‘travesty’ 

SUMMARY: Barack Obama and George W. Bush have criticized the closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as a study warned it could result in “a staggering number” of avoidable deaths—more than 14 million over five years. The former U.S. presidents made rare public criticisms of the Trump administration as they took part […]

Your tax dollars at work

ICE’s new funding level is larger than the combined budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, Bureau of Prisons, and U.S. Marshals Service. Who are these people? “ICE was generally known as a place made up of people who couldn’t get jobs at the more established and reputable federal policing agencies — so, FBI, U.S. Marshals, […]

Trump just made US energy more expensive and dirtier

For eight years, we had rooftop solar. We wouldn’t have done it except that because of state law, Ameren paid half the cost. We also got a 30% tax rebate on the difference. Since we moved, there are too many trees around our house for rooftop solar, but there are more solar panels in our […]