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

Why Democracy

Look what they’ve done to my song Ma ♪♫♪ Thanks, Melanie Polls show that most Americans believe in democracy; that most Americans believe that America is a democracy. That even those who aren’t sure what democracy is think that they would recognize it if they saw it. That’s close enough; as close as one’s going […]

Links to ponder

Some Interesting stuff from the One handed Economist David Zetland. The Truth Is Paywalled But The Lies Are Free A continuing conversation on the lack of diversity in economics An AI explains human intelligence Tech firms are worth so much because they have monopoly power? A good interview with Kate Raworth on Doughnut economics. She talks […]

Is Trump a blip?

Kevin Drum argues that he is: One of the key questions raised by Donald Trump’s 2016 victory has been whether he represents a new turn in American politics or merely a blip who will be quickly forgotten if he loses in 2020. Over the past four years I’ve spent a lot of time reviewing the evidence […]

More on the bifurcation between the booming stock market and the bust of an economy

More on the bifurcation between the booming stock market and the bust of an economy  I wrote that new stock market highs in the face of the worst US economic downturn since the Great Depression were primarily a function of a few stocks that are particularly tied to the global economy rather than tethered to […]

Some of the Gilead Remdesivir Results from Recent Studies

Effect of Remdesivir vs Standard Care on Clinical Status at 11 Days in Patients With Moderate COVID-19A Randomized Clinical Trial, JAMA, Christoph D. Spinner, MD; Robert L. Gottlieb, MD, PhD; Gerard J. Criner, MD, August 21, 2020 This is a freebie so you should be able to get into this article and pickup on additional detail. Those who were treated early on had a […]

FDI in a Risky World

by Joseph Joyce FDI in a Risky World The pandemic has shown that global supply chains are vulnerable to shocks. Output contracted as factories were closed in China and the impact was transmitted to firms further along the chains and the distributors of the final goods. Foreign direct investment had already slowed in the aftermath […]

The 2020 Presidential and Senate polling nowcast: partisan positions continue to harden

The 2020 Presidential and Senate polling nowcast: partisan positions continue to harden   Here is my weekly update on the 2020 elections, based on State rather than national polling in the past 30 days, since that directly reflects what is likely to happen in the Electoral College. Remember that polls are really only nowcasts, not […]