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

After a two-week excursion, initial claims fall back into range; the “quick and dirty” forecast model stays positive

 – by New Deal democrat Initial claims declined -8,000 last week to 215,000, well within its recent nine month range, after a two week elevated excursion. The four week moving average, reflecting that excursion, increased to a nine month high of 219,750. Continuing claims, with the usual one week delay, rose 8,000 to 1.794 million, […]

Brave new world of scientific publication?

My dissertation research was published in 1983 in a two-author paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. JBC is the house journal of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. After your referees and the editor approved, the manuscript was published with the payment of “page charges,” to cover the journal costs since it […]

The U.S. government is draining 42 million gallons of gasoline from its reserves

by Melvin Blackman QUARTZ Last week? We were talking about market manipulation at the business level and also the state level. The industry intended to cut production so as to maintain prices if California capped prices. California was putting a new program in place to regulate pricing. An AZ state rep was going to California […]

Why fighting small apartment buildings is self-defeating and short-sighted

by Lloyd Alter Carbon Upfront! Llyod discusses the changing needs of the largest retirement population to be occurring in the next decade or baby boomers. Baby Boomers are on the verge of requiring smaller living spaces in close proximity to transportation, shopping, and healthcare. Easier and greater accessibility is paramount going forward.as they will not […]

April existing home sales remain deeply depressed, continuing the chronic shortfall in housing supply

 – by New Deal democrat Let me tie this morning’s report on April existing home sales into my two last posts (Part 1 and Part 2), which concerned the huge role that shelter prices, and the underlying shortfall in housing capacity, have in the continued elevation in overall consumer prices. So let’s start by looking […]

Another Wildly Stupid Idea, Skip the Measles Vaccination

It is hard to believe that people would risk their lives or their children’s lives by not getting the measles vaccine. It was bad when we were growing up in the fifties. I am sure Joel can add to this information. A worldwide crisis only because we let it become one through ignorance. Measles Is […]

22K children dropped from Florida KidCare in 2024

Florida Legislature agreed to pass the optional Medicaid expansion. A year later it says no. The federal government pays about 69 cents of every dollar spent on the program. Florida still wants kids to pay also. More than 22K children dropped from Florida KidCare in 2024 as state challenges federal eligibility protections by Christine Jordan […]

Three Different Posts on Healthcare

This morning starting at 7AM and 30 minutes apart. I ran across all two healthcare commentaries on MedPage and one on Florida Politics. No mistake on three healthcare posts posted in a row. Purposeful. Short commentaries. Good Reads. Discussion provoking.