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

CSX Slowly being Disassembled by Mantle Ridge Hedge Fund

CSX connects most major U.S. cities east of the Mississippi River. Since 2017, the railroad has laid off 6,000 employees, cut back on capital spending, and slashed the number of trains it runs and discontinued hundreds of the routes it serves. Together CSX and Union Pacific serve major U.S. cities west of the Mississippi River […]

When White America Becomes a Minority

“Announcement of a Looming White Minority Makes Demographers Nervous,” Sabrina Tavernise,  The New York Times.” NYT’s article makes this announcement of White America becoming a minority in the 2040’s like it is new news. It is not. In 2006, I exchanged emails with Joel Garreau about the same topic in his article “300 Million and Counting.” […]

U.S. Interest Rates and Global Banking in Emerging Market Economies

by Joseph Joyce U.S. Interest Rates and Global Banking in Emerging Market Economies The spillover effects of changes in U.S. interest rates are widely recognized (see here and  here). An increase in rates, for example, raises the cost of dollar-denominated financing outside the U.S., which has grown in recent years, while an appreciation of the dollar makes such […]

Climate Change Report

; Via Bill McBride at Calculated Risk: Climate Change Report This is a critical threat and should be a nonpartisan issue. Here is the Fourth National Climate Assessment. An excerpt on the economic impact: In the absence of significant global mitigation action and regional adaptation efforts, rising temperatures, sea level rise, and changes in extreme events […]

“On my wall, the colors on the maps are running”

“On my wall, the colors on the maps are running” Two years ago in a post entitled “Those who cannot see must feel”, I wrote: That’s the translation of an old German saying that I used to hear from my grandmother when I misbehaved.  It is pretty clear that, over the next four years, the American public […]

Squanto — A Sad Thanksgiving Tale

Squanto — A Sad Thanksgiving Tale I do not know how widely it is still taught or how, but when I was in elementary school in Ithaca, New York, I was taught about the “First Thanksgiving,” an event that happened in October, 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, following a good harvest after the pilgrim colony, founded […]

A Vicious Place

The world according to Trump — notice a trend here? Reporter: “Who should be held accountable?” [for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder] Trump: “Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a vicious place. The world is a very, very vicious place.” — November 22, 2018. “The world is a vicious and brutal place. […]