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

Book review: The Death of Trotsky

Several years ago, I read Isaac Deutcher’s monumental three-volume biography of Leon Trotsky. Naturally, it included an account of Trotsky’s assassination. I’ve also read a couple of Stalin biographies and Richard Pipes’ “The Russian Revolution.” I don’t recall how “The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin’s Greatest Enemy” by […]

corporate profits – positive. building permits – is negative. real spending per capita – is close to being flat

“Updating the long leading indicators: corporate profits, and housing.”  – by New Deal democrat This week I’m spending some time updating the non-financial long leading indicators. As I wrote on Monday, I haven’t updated these in a while in large part because the chaos coming out of Washington has blindsided much of the economic data. There’s […]

Impact to Asia of the Middle East Oil Shortage

Just some snippets taken from an NYT article opened by the subscriber to other readers. What the NYT article is looking at is the impact to Asia of the Middle East oil stoppage. The shortage being the on-and-off closing of the Straits of Hormuz. Caused by either by Iran or the United States of both […]

One Path Left to Impeachment

– J.P. McJefferson Thoughts In today’s hyper-partisan Washington, calls for impeachment have become almost routine—more a reflection of political frustration than a viable governing strategy. Pundits debate the merits, party leaders posture, and voters are left to wonder whether any of it can actually lead to action. Under current conditions in the House of Representatives, […]

What’s in a name?

Godwin’s law states: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” In my experience, a similar law applies to the words “socialist,” “communist” and “Marxist.” All three words are used interchangeably and as epithets, not descriptions of governments or economic systems. Let’s start with Marxist: “The […]

Fall asleep in public areas? Go to Jail in Louisiana

Louisiana Court proposed Homeless Program, “Streets to Success Act“ AB: I do not believe this is a “failure to communicate” law as much as a failure to provide a place for people to go, sleep, and make a living. What do you do at that point? The state and county put you to work in […]

March retail spending: including or excluding gasoline makes all the difference

 – by New Deal democrat Consumer spending is about 70% of the economy, and retail sales is our first wide measure of that spending. This morning’s update for March (still after all these months delayed about a week compared with the schedule before last autumn’s government shutdown) was unsurprisingly dominated by what happened at gas stations.  […]

Have Things in Manufacturing Improved Since Trump’s Trade Barriers

A year later, here’s where things stand on Trump’s manufacturing revival . . . What happened when Trump put a stack of tariffs into play? Not much good is happening for Labor, In the first place the amount of Labor in manufacturing has been declining for years due to manual machining going to multi-functional NC […]