The Angry Bear

What the USPS 10-year plan may have to say about future rate increases, Steve Hutkins at “Save The Post Office“ The mailers were probably disappointed that the Postal Service’s new 10-year plan released yesterday, “Delivering for America,” did not reveal how big of a rate increase the Postal Service intends to make using the new authority it was granted by the Postal Regulatory Commission. While they wait in suspense, here’s a guess: 3.6 percent....

Coronavirus dashboard for April 12: more good news, more bad news The good news is, vaccinations work.Vaccine effect in the UK: By age group: Vaccine effect in France (in the face of an increasing case count): Vaccine effect even in Chile: While confirmed cases have gone up by 100% in Chile, deaths have “only” gone up by 50%. Even employing a 4-week lag, 4 weeks ago cases had gone up 50%, while deaths are up 33%...

Congress Steadily Degenerating  I doubt this will surprise anybody, aside from those who might have hoped that Dems retaking formal control of both houses of Congress, if by narrow margins (with that margin shrinking in the House due to the 2020 election).  But I have a more direct source for this conclusion. I received a visit today from my niece and her family at our house about two hours southwest of Washington.  She is Erica Werner, a...

 by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for April 5 – 9 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. The big news continues to be a bifurcation between the currently unfolding Boom, fueled by the fire hose of monetary and fiscal stimulus, and the fallout in the long leading forecast based on the increase in interest rates as a result. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual moment on the...

“…other enjoyments, of a purer, more lasting, and more exquisite nature.” A defense of Weber’s Protestant Ethic thesis from the 1940s by Ephraim Fischoff makes the plausible argument that critics — and many supporters — of Weber’s essay attached unwarranted causality to it, as if “Calvinism caused capitalism.” Instead, Fischoff explained: Weber’s thesis must be construed not according to the usual interpretation, as an effort to trace the...

“US Trade Deficit Rises 4.8% in February to Record High,” Commenter R.J.S. at Marketwatch 666 Our trade deficit rose 4.8% February, as both our exports and imports decreased, but the value of our exports fell by almost three times as much as the value of our imports did….the Commerce Department report on our international trade in goods and services for February indicated that our seasonally adjusted goods and services trade deficit rose by $3.3...

Every citizen of the United States has the right to be represented in both their state and federal governments by a representative chosen in a free and fair election. In a free and fair and election, each and every vote is equal. By definition a gerrymandered election is unfair because it favors one group of citizens over another. In a gerrymandered district, one’s vote may count for nothing, one party’s vote may count for nothing. In a gerrymandered...

A Healthcare Issue Derek Chauvin trial live: Paramedic who responded to George Floyd told partner. ‘I think he’s dead.’ When paramedics arrived, Bravinder saw multiple officers on the side of the road on top of “our patient lying on the ground next to a squad car. He said he “assumed there was potentially some struggle still since they were still on top of him.”  “Prosecutor Erin Eldridge played a clip of officer Thomas Lane’s body...

Dear Senator Joe McConnell, Joe McManchin, Joe Manchin: I write to you not as a constituent because I am not one of your constituents; but, I am confused. It is difficult to align with a politician who changes his persona various times.  I am confused by your series of stances on the filibuster and what you believe it to mean with regard to the Senate and its procedures. The filibuster was never meant to be the sole action available as taken by...