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

Jobless claims: more of “steady as she goes”

– by New Deal democrat Now that we are well past the Holidays, seasonality has settled down and so have the comparisons for jobless claims. Initial claims declined -7,000 to 213,000 last week, and the four-week average declined -1,000 to 216,000. With the usual one week delay, continued claims declined -36,000 to 1.850 million: On […]

Republicans* approve quack to direct HHS

“Kennedy, an “unfathomable” nominee in the eyes of public health experts, has questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, tied gay and transgender identities to chemical exposure, pushed to remove fluoride from drinking water, suggested COVID-19 was genetically engineered to target certain races, claimed Black people may have different immune systems and suggested anti-depressants are […]

Is there a self-enforcing budget deal with Trump?

Is there a self-enforcing budget deal with Trump? In yesterday’s column, Yglesias makes a critical observation:  “there is genuinely no point in negotiating a bipartisan appropriation bill if the president is going to ignore its terms. . . . the entire premise of a bipartisan spending deal is precisely that money will be spent on […]

Eliminating the Department of Education

Trump administration drafting executive order to initiate Department of Education’s elimination | CNN Politics The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order that would kick off the process of eliminating the Department of Education, the latest move by President Donald Trump to swiftly carry out his campaign promises, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN. The […]

Tariffs Driving Drug Prices Higher

Tariffs will drive prices higher on Rx drugs, our #1 import, GoozNews I was stunned this morning when I looked at the data. Drugs — the legal kind — are the U.S.’s single largest import category. The U.S. in the first 11 months of 2024 imported over $222 billion in pharmaceutical products, which includes both […]

Just Learn to Code

Sometimes, even a seasonally-adjusted picture from FRED is worth a thousand words. In three years–three good economic years–the number of Software Developer jobs listed on Indeed has fallen just over 70%. If there were ten jobs listed three years ago, there are almost three listed now. Note that most of the drop was before all […]

They’re lying

““Contrary to the hysteria, redirecting billions of allocated NIH spending away from administrative bloat means there will be more money and resources available for legitimate scientific research, not less,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.” Here’s how you know they’re lying. If they were telling the truth, there would be no net reduction to the […]

Some links on the current constitutional predicament

Democrats need to win elections, full stop.  As I wrote here, this may mean “heightening the contradictions”.  Michael Dorf: If there is a path back to sanity, then, it probably must travel through a change of heart by the people who support Trump’s assault on democracy. They will not likely be won over by appeals […]

Worker Shortage in Washington D.C.

People complain about the size of the Federal Government, its costs and taxes, and how the size of it infringes upon the nation’s economy. Complaining of the size of government, Grover Norquist once said, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into […]

January’s CPI increase of 0.5% in consumer prices was not welcome and . . .

January CPI: a new paradigm, with the reappearance of some old suspects  – by New Deal democrat Needless to say, January’s increase of 0.5% in consumer prices was not welcome. And there was a changing of the guard somewhat, as several of the old suspects (food and energy) made new appearances. Some of the spike […]