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

Why does Krugman hold Clinton and her campaign harmless for . . .

the public’s cluelessness about Trump’s policy agenda vs. her own? PHILADELPHIA — On Wednesday night, the Harvard Institute of Politics pulled together a focus group of eight millennial voters from the Philadelphia area, and a small group of journalists watched. One of the millennials supported the Green Party presidential candidacy of Jill Stein. The rest professed […]

ANTITRUSSSSST! (Dear Hillary: In a well-received economics-themed speech in Toledo on Monday, you mentioned ANTITRUST LAW and ARBITRATION CLAUSES. Please, please do so also at Sunday’s debate.)

Clinton also said she would push for new steps to crack down on “forced arbitration” fine print that prevents workers and consumers from suing companies, proposals aimed at reducing market concentration and increasing competition, and curbing tax rules that gave corporations and the super-wealthy, like Trump, tax breaks not available to ordinary taxpayers. — After […]

Kellyanne Conway Admits That Trump’s Domestic Policy Agenda Is Circa 1980s and Early-to-Mid-2000s.

That Is, the Very Opposite of a “Change Agenda.” Clinton Should Quote Her On That. “His last tweet last night was how excited he was, how proud of him he was. They talked last night. I talked to Mr. Trump during the debate several times,” [Kellyanne] Conway said of Trump’s response to Pence’s debate performance. “I think […]

Hillary Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham, had had the same health condition her daughter has (or at least used blood thinners for some condition) since she was about 49. She lived to age 92. So get off the hysteria wagon about Clinton’s health, folks.

Around the time of the Dem convention I read a lengthy profile of Clinton in which her famous Wellesley graduation speech was discussed.  The article mentioned that her mother, Dorothy Rodham, could not be present because she was on blood-thinning medication and could not fly. Obviously, Mrs. Rodham eventually was able to fly, even though […]

My Comments-Thread Comment to Robert Waldmann’s “From Small Town to Prison” Post

Robert Waldmann did something this morning that I’d planned to do: He posted an in-depth post about the NYT’s awesome article in yesterday’s paper titled “From Small Town to Prison,” by Josh Keller and Adam Pearce. Robert makes a critical point about the fiscal cause of the phenomenon that the Times article reports on, and […]

Brownshirts

The Clinton campaign has been strangely remiss in not publicizing the Trump campaign’s aggressive screening of journalists at Trump’s events—especially its denial of press credentials to several news media organizations, including the Washington Post and Politico. But this report by Paul Farhi, the Washington Post’s media reporter, this morning, titled “Post reporter barred, patted down […]

Apparently it wasn’t time for some traffic problems on I-95 during Kaine’s term as governor

Kaine’s emails show he was engaged on everything from traffic flows on southbound I-95 to explanations on why he picked one state lawmaker over another to sponsor income tax legislation. “Because I know him much better,” the governor wrote. — Kaine email trove shows media-savvy micromanager, Darren Samuelsohn, Politico, today I thought it was time […]

Ugh. Okay, still …

In a letter co-signed by 15 other Senate Democrats — and every Senate Republican — Kaine asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to exempt community banks and credit unions from many of its regulatory requirements. In justifying these exemptions, the letter suggests that these regulations would make it more difficult for these small banks to continue “spurring economic growth” […]

I think Kaine will be fine. [UPDATE: I’m no longer so sure.]

When I posted this earlier today it was because I had just read an article about these letters Kaine had joined other members of Congress in signing last week.  The article wasn’t the one I just linked to; I can’t find the one I read.  But I misunderstood it in two respects: I thought the […]