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

“An Aging Salesman Trying to Close One Last Deal”

September 23, 2024 Prof. Heather Cox-Richardson Letters from an American That is how they are describing a desperate Trump . “There’s nothing sadder than an aging salesman trying to close one last deal,” MSNBC’s Ryan Teague Beckwith wrote on September 21. Beckwith went on to list seven of Trump’s most recent campaign promises, most delivered […]

California Sues Exxon Over Decades of Plastics Deception in First-of-Its-Kind Lawsuit

by Edward Carver Common Dreams In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday sued oil giant ExxonMobil for allegedly deceiving the public about the recyclability of plastics so as to continue increasing production. The 147-page lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, came following a yearslong  investigation that environmental groups were hoping would lead to […]

Exposure to Air Pollution May Increase Antibiotic Use for Respirator Symptoms

by Chris Dall University Minnesota.edu “ambient air pollution and heightened antibiotic use” A new study by Spanish researchers suggests that short-term exposure to air pollution may be tied to increased antibiotic use in people experiencing respiratory symptoms. The study, was published in JAMA Network Open, found that increases of daily ambient air pollution in 11 Spanish cities over […]

Disaggregating the Big Picture: the Fed still wants to make your recession forecast wrong

 – by New Deal democrat Today, New Deal democrat offers a Big Picture hypothesis. This is Housing Week, but there is no significant data today, and I’m going to wait for new home sales to be reported on Wednesday before commenting on how existing home sales fit in. In the meantime, let me unpack a […]

Drugs that cost money and save money

Big Pharma has become a familiar whipping boy in the debate over healthcare costs. CAR-T therapies to treat certain cancers, for example, can cost between half a million and a million dollars for a single treatment course. What’s the prospect of a cancer cure worth to you? GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and […]

As The Trump Legal World Turns. Not to be confused with a Familiar TV Soap Opera . . .

Trumps Court Cases an Update by Joyce Vance Civil Discourse Just so you know, I am not kidding. This reads as a soap opera. Poor Trump so many issue . . . Full time subscriber to Civil Discourse. Hope ou enjoy his reading of he issues, ~~~~~~~ This week, two very important Legal World developments […]

UH-OH: The slowest mail in the country is in key swing states, NBC investigation finds . . .

by Steve Hutkins Save the Post Office In 2020, when the United States Postal Service began an ambitious plan to modernize and consolidate services in the middle of the pandemic. Its slow service wound up disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters whose ballots never made it to their elections offices in time. Four years later – by […]

Did Costs Really Increase as Much as Prices Did?

Commenter Jane on the News Media Lying to the Public Commentary I know that things cost more now.  Much of that has nothing to do with what the federal government does or does not do.  The government did not force suppliers to raise their profit percentages when their costs went up, that was just greed […]

Housing Shortage, Housing Bubble, Soft Landing, FED Brilliance or Luck?

I think the title makes it clear that this will be a rambling confused post. I am typing on with the thought that something is better than nothing and no one has to read this. The first topic – house prices, is in fact one that interests me a lot. I have a regression which […]

The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act 

by Bill Gale EconoFact The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) was the most sweeping realignment of the U.S. tax code in over three decades. It lowered tax rates, simplified taxes, raised the government debt, and was regressive, benefitting people who are well off more than the middle-class and the poor. Many provisions of the TCJA expire […]