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

Fighting the Trump/DOGE cuts to biomedical research

The link is to a long but cogent piece in Talking Points Memo. Unlike the author, I long ago appreciated the threats posed by the massive cuts to NIH funding. But Josh does the extra work of thinking about how this anti-science juggernaut could be halted. Read the whole thing, but here are the nut […]

Energy Star Efficiency Program

You may think the Energy Star program is about helping industry by making it easier and less expensive to manufacture product. Not particularly so; but, the Energy Star on a product could promote greater sales. Much of the costs of manufacture are low as it is and due to offshoring manufacture of product. When manufacturing […]

The Trade War is Not Over

As you get further down in the latest Krugman piece, you will read: “Everything is at most an announcement about what tariff rates will be for the next 90 days.” A lot of talk and threats and no reality. We are constantly off balance due to Trump’s (as the Pres) threats. The Trade War Isn’t […]

Most Medicaid adults under age 65 are working already . . .

If this was about people taking advantage of Medicaid, Unemployment, or other government programs, there might be a reason to do what Congress is doing. Instead, elected Republican Senators and Representatives are moving in mass to cut programs so as to maintain Trump’s 2017 TCJA tax breaks which was passed under reconciliation. The tax break […]

Housing permits and starts still rangebound, but with units under construction down almost -20%, is the last shoe finally dropping?

 – by New Deal democrat In April total permits (dark blue in the graph below) declined -69,000 on an annualized basis to 1.412 million, while the less volatile single family permits (red, right scale) number declined -50,000 to 922,000. The slightly lagging and much more volatile starts number (gray, narrow) rose 22,000 to 1.361 million annualized: […]

RFK Jr lies about the mumps vaccine

“During an interview with Dr. Phil in late April, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the bold claim that “the mumps part” of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine “has never worked.”” Do I even have to tell you he’s full of it? Of course he is. If you gave the man an […]