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

Stephen Kotkin

Kotkin came to my attention through reading the first two volumes of his projected three-volume history of Stalin (the third volume has been long delayed). I just stumbled upon a two-part interview of Kotkin about his second volume. I was curious about what he looked like and how he spoke, so I watched them both. […]

National Guard Deployment and the “Stops”

I subscribe to “Letters from an American.” Every once and awhile I feature a “Letters” commentary on Angry Bear so as to inform what Prof. Cox is seeing in America today. There are some important notes discussed in this commentary such as deployment of the National Guard and the use of the “Kavanaugh Stops” The […]

Regional Fed manufacturing indexes suggest 2025 trends are slowly abating

 – by New Deal democrat Although the federal government shutdown has been over for a month and a half, most of the data that has been released has lagged badly, especially including data on sales, spending, and business orders. That means that the most current measures of these are the ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing reports, due […]

AI Rapidly Replacing Labor – Workers

Artificial intelligence is already taking jobs from human workers, but according to renowned computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, the real disruption may only be getting started. In a weekend interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Hinton predicted that AI systems will make significant leaps in 2026, gaining capabilities that could allow them to replace an even […]

Weekly Indicators for December 22 – 26, 2025

 – by New Deal democrat My ”Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. The year ended with a magnification of several trends that have been a theme all year: the US $ is down almost 10%, largely responsible for a nearly 15% rise in commodity prices, while consumer spending ended with a bang as well. “Commerce […]

Europe’s water reserves

I would have thought the Unted States would be the first to have issues. We are not careful with our usage or pollution runoff. United States Citizens take fresh water for granted and abuse the usage of it. I have found Europeans to be more careful in their usage of fresh water and the pollution […]

The downside of semaglutides

GLP-1-based therapies for obesity have been transformational. The benefits are undeniable, and the risks for most people are negligible. These drugs belong in the class with anti-hypertensives and statins. Who could complain? Here’s one doc who was an initial enthusiast, but who has cooled: “The truth is, most patients don’t stay on anti-obesity medications — […]

Brief Rundown on EVs, etc. v Gasoline Powered Vehicles

Nothing too technical, just some conversation and points. It has been found or reported, hybrid vehicles incur fewer issues and problems than gasoline vehicles. On the other side of the spectrum, fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) can have more issues. Let’s face it, the technology is still new and manufacturing and research in the US are […]