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

citizens are not replacing themselves

Preliminary Information . . . During the Vietnan conflict or war, I served with other nationalities who were “not” citizens. Never gave it a thought as we all worked together in the Corps. The question was why would they serve in the military of a country where they were not citizens? Upon enlistment, they were […]

“Difficult issues await Ukraine peace talks team”

It may be such that the United States may abandon Ukraine to the Russians just to get out of the situation of providing it weaponry. Ukraine is in a tough position with having to work with a US president who more likely than not favors Russia over them. Once again, the United States may just […]

Capturing Venezuela . . . An Editorial

Or maybe it is Venezuela capturing the United States? “Plot twist: Kidnapping a president” The one-handed economist So, Trump and his fellow-geniuses appear to think they’ve “hacked” the dilemma of diplomacy: If you’re annoyed with the actions of a sovereign country, then just kidnap their leader and claim that you can now run the country. […]

Real wages and consumer spending have been crucial positives; here is the most updated look

 – New Deal democrat We are still suffering the aftereffects of the government shutdown, with no data today, but a helping of mainly stale government data tomorrow and Friday. Tomorrow we get up to date private data from the ISM for services, and from ADP for private employment, along with manufacturers’ orders for October. On Friday […]

About that Venezuelan oil

There’s been a lot of crowing by Trump about how he’s seizing Venezuelan oil to hand it to American oil companies and skim profits for the United States. What oil, and how much? “According to figures widely cited throughout the media and the oil industry itself, Venezuela is sitting on around 300 billion barrels’ worth […]

December ISM manufacturing report: continued contraction, continued stagflation, poor employment

 – by New Deal democrat We are still suffering the data aftereffects of the government shutdown. Normally we begin each month with reports on both construction spending as well as manufacturing. But the construction report even now has only been updated through August, and won’t be updated for September and October until January 21. And […]

The Republicans

While one could name some Republicans (both dead and alive) more responsible than others, it is the party as a whole that is responsible for Donald J Trump, the gutting of democracy, … the tearing down of America. This all goes back to its southern strategy — when it sold its soul — and, includes […]