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

Why Social Security is in the worst crisis since its founding in 1935

Why Social Security is in the worst crisis since its founding in 1935, and what you can do about it, Robert Reich Financial services executive Frank Bisignano, Trump’s pick to become permanent commissioner of Social Security, faced lawmakers this morning in a Senate confirmation hearing. He “guaranteed” senators that he would not seek to privatize […]

Speaking Out on Columbia University

Contributor: Capitulation to Trump spells inordinate danger, Los Angeles Times Guest Writer at LA Times Erwin Chemerinsky, an acquaintance of mine too. We all learned long ago, perhaps on the playground, that giving in to a bully only makes things worse. That is why it is shocking to see capitulation on the part of those […]

Employment is Historically very Weak

A “quick and dirty” update: the employment is historically very weak  – by New Deal democrat There’s no significant economic reports today, and even most of the high frequency indicators won’t start coming in for the week until tomorrow, so let me go a little more in depth in what the “quick and dirty” forecasting model […]

About university endowments, or why Matt Taibbi is a hack

If I were Matt Taibbi’s prof, I’d give him a C for his article. He did some research on endowments, but he gives no useful context. Whatever Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post paid him, it was too much. The Trump Administration wants to use taxes on endowments to subsidize tax cuts to the 1% who […]

Latest LEI Prediction Summary

Economy is cooling from its above-trend pace, but the labor market remains healthy, and a manufacturing recovery is underway A brief and general review of the investing market by Edward Jones. The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) — which provides an early indication of significant turning points in the business cycle as well as […]

Potential Tariff Reaction by European Union

Plastics Targeted by Retaliatory EU Tariffs Sixty US plastics resin and product exports to the EU could be hit as a countermeasure to US tariffs on steel and aluminum. Sixty plastic products exported by the US could be hit with retaliatory tariffs by the European Union (EU), analysis by the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) reveals. […]

The Well Endowed

America’s colleges are hoarding billions, Matt Taibbi New York Post Of Colleges and Universities A short trip on the JHU site later I found myself at the Johns Hopkins Public Interest Investment Committee annual report, published in January.  There, I learned that “as of June 2024, JHU’s endowment comprised more than 4,700 funds, each supporting […]

The latest Republican assault on higher education

Earlier, it was a dramatic cut in indirect costs on all federal grants and outright cancellation of some grants. Now, congressional Republicans are mulling a steep tax on university endowments. “Republicans are considering increases to the university endowment tax to help reduce the national deficit and as a potential lever to force universities to comply […]

Tariff is a beautiful word

Trump says “tariff” is a beautiful word. Maybe for him, but not for American companies and consumers. “Walmart thought it could use its immense power as America’s biggest retailer to make Chinese suppliers eat the cost of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But Walmart got a response it’s not accustomed to hearing: No. “Trump has slapped […]

23andMe files for bankruptcy

I got my genome sequenced several years ago by Veritas Genetics. They were running a special for whole genome sequencing at 30-50x coverage for $200, and for an extra $100, I got my variant call file. For a molecular geneticist, this was a dream come true! Now, anytime I see a variant reported as linked […]