The Angry Bear

by Dale Coberly Condorcet and Malthusian essay relevant to Social Security and the problem of too much kindness [note, important sentences in the following are quoted from another author because it’s easier for me to write that way.  Credit will be given at the end of the article.] Goetzman: “In 1794 as the Reign of Terror raged the Marquis de Condorcet penned one of the most optimistic tracts of the eighteenth century.  He wrote...

This is thorough coverage of the background leading up to Roe v. Wade and today’s events with a SCOTUS majority of five shrugging its shoulders ignoring the impact of the Texas law on one state and its meaning to a nation. September 2, 2021, Letters From An American, History Prof. Heather Cox Richardson examines “the contrast between image and reality in American politics.” In the light of day today, the political fallout from Texas’s...

“Kavanaugh Helps Gut Roe, Critics Recount All the Times Susan Collins Said He Wouldn’t,” Common Dreams, Jake Johnson I am stealing this from Common Dreams. Senator (sigh) Susan Collins has done this on numerous times in the past and pulls the football away, again when Dems get ready to kick it. She knows she is wrong each time and does not want to take party guff for making a decision worth something besides just going along. “The Republican...

Producer sector remains on fire, while two most important indicators of consumer sector falter As has been the pattern for the last several months, August data started out with a strong reading on manufacturing, while July ended with weak data on housing construction. As a side note, the latest read on motor vehicle sales also slid south.  Both the overall and new orders components of the ISM manufacturing index remained very strong, with...

Jobless claims show continuing improvement, now well within normal expansion range Way back at the beginning of spring, I set a goal of initial claims being 400,000 or less by Labor Day as a marker for a good COVID recovery – which I was reminded of because the aforesaid holiday is this weekend. Well, we blew through that a while ago, and at this point, all of the jobless claims markers are well within the range of a normal expansion. This...

In a recent post I argued for political pragmatism, which I described as follows: I believe that politicians have some discretion to set policy, and that they should use that discretion to enact the substantively best policies they can, taking account of political and policy constraints.  Political constraints include the need to satisfy voters and win elections, the status-quo bias in public opinion, low levels of political trust, and the limited...

Roe v. Wade hasn’t been overturned. The rule of law might have been; The Washington Post, Erwin Chemerinsky Dean at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Prof. Erwin Chemerinsky; “The majority was mute on the right to privacy, abandoned its constitutional role and held, indirectly but unmistakably, that the Constitution is a mere inconvenience that states are at liberty to violate if they can come up with cunning statutory...

Really modest and meant seriously (apologies to Swift). All Senators and Representatives get a full pension for their natural lives (equal to salary)They may never ever receive any money from any entity other than the Federal Government. No salary and all investments must be in Treasury securities (oh and nooo royalties – ever). No revolving door, no financial interests other than avoiding US Treasury default on salary, pension, interest and...

On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a program to study the health effects of climate change, especially on disadvantaged communities (NYT): The Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, which the administration announced on Monday, will be the first federal program aimed specifically at understanding how planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels also affect human health.  It will fall under...