The Angry Bear

A thought for Sunday: Trump voters and the “peasant mentality” I am currently reading a comprehensive tome on 19th century European history, “The Pursuit of Power,” by Richard J. Evans. One episode that made a big impression on me was the decision by Otto von Bismarck (no conservative he) upon the establishment of the German Confederation, to eschew property qualifications for the franchise for the Reichstag and embrace universal male suffrage (p. 257).  Why?...

Former Ohio official who accidentally released Social Security numbers is on Trump’s voter fraud panel LA TImes reports: The Republican gubernatorial primary was just weeks away, and then-Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell had his sights set on securing the nomination. Blackwell had served as mayor of Cincinnati and state treasurer before becoming Ohio’s top elections official, so a bid for governor in 2006 seemed a logical next step in his political...

by Steve Roth (Lifted from Asymptosis) How Perfect Markets Concentrate Wealth and Strangle Growth and Prosperity June 5th, 2016 Capitalism concentrates wealth. Ridicule Marx and his latter-day disciples all you like (I’ll help); he definitely got that right. But capitalism is a big word with lots of meanings, and enough ideological baggage to fill a Lear Jet. Let’s talk about something more precise: perfect markets, with ownership, in which individuals...

Via Brad DeLong comes two posts with observations that add to the discussion on our observations of the economic conditions driven by human nature: Figure 1 Paul Krugman points us to this notion: Should-Read: Paul Krugman (2015): WHEN VALUES DISAPPEAR: “Back in the 60s and 70s… there was much talk about the disintegration of… African-American values… https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/when-values-disappear/ …and how that was the root cause of...

Self Control is one of the defining music hits of the 1980s. It was first released in 1984 by Italian singer-songwriter Raf (his first single). It was also released almost contemporaneously by Laura Brannigan. The song includes these lyrics: You take my self you take my self control I I live among the creatures of the night I haven’t got the will to try and fight The first line of the quote I provided is wrong. Not in the sense that those words aren’t lyrics...

June jobs report: great headline, but once again where are the wages?!? HEADLINES: +222,000 jobs added U3 unemployment rate rose +0.1% from 4.3% to 4.4% U6 underemployment rate rose +0.2% from 8.4% to 8.6% Here are the headlines on wages and the chronic heightened underemployment: Wages and participation rates Not in Labor Force, but Want a Job Now: down -130,000 from 5.561 million to 5.431 million Part time for economic reasons: up +107,000 from 5.219...

Reality begins to sink in for GOPer economic confidence While we are waiting for tomorrow’s employment report, here’s a little something to chew on. In the immediate aftermath of the Presidential election — as in, by the end of that week — Gallup’s measure of economic confidence soared, from its 2016 average of roughly -10 to a positive number and to nearly +10 by the end of November: In fact, while the confidence of Democrats sank, the confidence of GOPers...

Republicans help pass Illinois budget over Rauner’s veto For the second time in as many months, legislative Republicans have turned on their Republican governor for his refusal to back tax increases to help balance the budget. Last month, supermajority Kansas Republicans revolted against Sam Brownback’s six-year tax-cutting experiment, which brought the state persistent budget problems and two credit downgrades. Tonight (July 6) enough Republicans joined with...

Matthew Yglesias commands, I obey. Now I just have to come up with three bad ideas. 1) $25 minimum wage. I am not sure about the $15 dollar proposal. I’m pretty sure that $25 would be too high. I guess it would be popular too. 2) Protection that’s what you’re here for . I am sure that total protectionism is a bad idea, and hinting at it worked pretty well for Trump. 3) Eliminate all taxes on the lower 99%. I tend to wonder if maybe this isn’t such a...