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

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.

A closer look at inflation (Part 2 of 2): how the Fed’s rate hikes actually *exacerbate* inflation in shelter

 – by New Deal democrat Yesterday I discussed how virtually the entire issue of inflation remaining above the Fed’s target was the housing sector. Let me start today’s post where I left off yesterday: namely, that the net level of divergence between total headline inflation and shelter inflation of 1.15% is one of the highest such […]

How Famine and Starvation Could Affect Gaza for Generations to Come

How Famine and Starvation Could Affect Gazans for Generations to Come by Neroli Price, Salman Ahad Khan and Gabrielle Berbey Reveal News Research on World War II’s Dutch “Hunger Winter” has terrifying implications for Gaza’s malnourished children – and then for their children. Famine is already happening in parts of Gaza, a top U.S. humanitarian […]

The “Wealth Effect” on Spending from Stock-Market Price Changes

by Steve Roth Wealth Economics This post is prompted by Matthew Klein’s (very wonky) post about recent changes in QE/QT, and the Fed’s balance sheet. It prompted me to do a quick calculation that I’ve been meaning to get to: when household wealth increases (due to stock-market price runups or really anything else), what effect does that have […]