People who quarrel with those with whom they mostly agree and focus on the “to be sure” paragraph of a column with which they mostly agree are a nuisance. I am such a nuisance. Jon Chait wrote an article noting that the GOP accepts antisemitism and the Democrats don’t. He makes his case. However, he has to deal with the case of Ilhan Omar and (among others) Jonathan Chait. I am going to quote at some length “A couple of years ago, Democratic...
Read More »What News Was in My In-Box
The usual mix of articles on the internet. The important ones are healthcare and legal issues. The usual legal issues going on with trump who is flinging as much mud against the wall to confuse the issue of his attack on the US. Eventually, this will come to an end. Hopefully, there is an end where trump is prosecuted to the fullest extent he can be . . , jail. Jail, even if it is for one year. The other big issue I am seeing is commercial...
Read More »Strong September Industrial Production
September industrial production comes in very strong – by New Deal democrat September’s industrial production report puts the final nail in the coffin in the notion that the US is already in recession. I call industrial production the King of Coincident Indicators because, more than any other single metric, it coincides with the peaks and troughs of US economic activity as determined by the NBER. In September total production increased...
Read More »Ezra Klein on Biden leading from behind
I’m ambivalent about this Ezra Klein piece: Trump’s efforts to stay in the news, however, are matched by Biden’s efforts to stay out of it. Biden gives startlingly few interviews and news conferences. He doesn’t go for attention-grabbing stunts or high-engagement tweets. I am not always certain if this is strategy or necessity: It’s not obvious to me that the Biden team trusts him to turn one-on-one conversations and news conferences to his...
Read More »Cattle Market Reform Cannot Wait
Brett Crosby currently serves as Region IV Director for the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, representing Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. He taps into the current trends in the beef market from a producer side, and I couldn’t have said it any better than he has in his opinion piece in Northern Ag Network. Here’s Brett: A blog post published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on July 12, 2022, claimed that Congress is “rushing” to consider “aggressive...
Read More »Applying for Student Loan Debt Relief
If you have not seen this application, you will now. I would urge you to quickly apply for loan relief. Apply for it at the link provided before politician asses find some way to block this. The sooner it gets approved, the quicker the relief. It is not much. Once they approve your application, I doubt they will block the relief to you. Use this Link Debt Relief | Application | Federal Student Aid to get to an Application for Debt Relief. What...
Read More »Hospital Monopolies Driving Up the Costs of Healthcare
A good article on hospital increasing healthcare costs, due to consolidations, supplies, and the associated hospital operational management. The article also engages in a book review of Big Med by David Dranove and Lawton Robert Burns (“Megaproviders and the High Cost of Health Care in America“). I will have to check the book out and advise later. Towards the end of the article, Shannon has included elements of Single Payer in her review-critique...
Read More »The “Consumer nowcast” recession warning is triggered
The “Consumer nowcast” recession warning is triggered, as real wages decline, real aggregate payrolls near stall, plus record mortgage payments – by New Deal democrat No economic news today. So, now that we have the September inflation read, let’s take a look at a couple of important consumer indicators: real average wages, and real aggregate payrolls for non-supervisory workers. Real average hourly wages for non-supervisory employees have...
Read More »Open thread October 18, 2022
New USPS Sorting Center Unduly Taxes One Town’s Mail Carriers
This is part of a continuing commentary on new centralized mail sorting centers. Postmaster General Louis Dejoy is implementing to increase distribution efficiency. Local post office carriers would drive here to pick up mail and then to their routes to deliver mail. It sounds efficient for the post office, but not so efficient for mail carriers. Louis DeJoy has the backing of the majority of commissioners on the Board at this point in time. Two...
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