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

Can China poach US-trained scientists?

There were few if any Chinese students in my college classes and none in my graduate program. There was only one Chinese postdoc in the lab where I did postdoctoral training, and no Chinese grad students. But two of the four grad students who started in my department when I started as a faculty in […]

“No further progress is likely in the near term towards the Fed’s 2.0% Target”

February CPI: a likely last hurrah for relatively tame consumer price increases  – by New Deal democrat Much like last month, February benefited from shelter and gas prices – for a change – pulling in the same, disinflating, direction. Needless to say, I do not expect that to be the case for March! But in the […]

Presidential Orders in Passing

“Trump Makes ‘Most Blasé Admission of a War Crime by a US President in History.’ Common Dreams President Donald Trump said the US Navy chose to sink an Iranian frigate, killing more than 100 sailors last week, because it was “more fun” than capturing the vessel, even though the ship posed no threat. Though death tolls vary, Iran’s […]

The “gold standard” QCEW for last Q3 strongly suggests no job growth whatsoever in 2025

– by New Deal democrat The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) is “the gold standard of US employment measures. It is an actual census of 95%+ of all employers, who must report new employees for purposes like unemployment and disability benefits. Because of this, it is used for the final revisions, a/k/a bench-marks, for monthly […]

Flaw & Fixes

Our Republic is in great peril.  The democracy so proudly brought forth hangs in the balance. The ever-so critical upcoming midterms won’t be Democrats vs. Republicans; they will be we the people vs. them, democracy vs. autocracy and fascism.  Will be even more so if we make it to the 2028 elections (a huge if).  […]

Versatility of conviction in Iran

The justifications for the war on Iran were kind of a dog’s breakfast. Among those mentioned were regime change and unconditional surrender, which promised a long commitment and boots on the ground. Looks like the stock market and oil prices got through to Cadet Bone Spurs. “What this all comes down to is that the […]

Election Funding to Aid Marginal Republicans in Elections

“The Rural Slush Fund” for healthcare that will be used to aid marginal Republicans during elections. Merrill Goozner GoozNews How the $50 billion bailout for rural health care providers will be used to aid vulnerable Republicans in the mid-term elections. Has it only been four days since the end of that brief moment when affordability, […]

USA Wages and Inflation

USA Facts asks the question, “Are wages keeping up with inflation?” It answers the quest and then provides the data to support its contention. Saying “Yes. From January 2025 to January 2026, wages grew 1.9 percentage points faster than inflation.” When you are listening to the news or reading an article in one of the […]

“new research on foreigners bearing the tariff burden”

Commentary by Erica York at the Tax Foundation on the pass-through impact of tariffs on pricing in the United States. The other possibility is companies may they eat it for a short period of time and maybe pass it through later in the time-table. The idea being the United States may later drop the tariff […]