The Angry Bear

Thom Hartmann Commentary Some interesting reads . . . Finally: The New York Times Editorial Board Calls for Republicans To Reject Trump.  Calling him “Dangerous in Word, Deed, and Action,” the Times editorial board laid out, in detail, how deranged Trump is and how deadly his second presidency would be to American democracy and to the American people ourselves. Biden’s gaffes notwithstanding, he’s been one of the most effective and...

by Jasper Craven Task & Purpose In mid-April, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, and Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough demanding to know why the agency was wounding itself.  Specifically, they worried about a series of seemingly contradictory eligibility and staffing policies. In March, the VA handed down a directive that expanded healthcare eligibility to...

by Lloyd Alter Carbon Upfront! The size an style of these vehicles will not make you embrace them as an alternative form of transportation. The concept is solid though. The savings to be achieved is realistic. The impact on our environment would be enormous. It is about time America abandons the too big, too fast, and too often phase we have in our heads. Doug Ford, the Premier of the Province of Ontario where I live, is trying to...

One has to wonder whether the misspelling is purposely done to attract attention or is a true misspelling of dementia. If you can not spell it correctly, how can you accuse a successful president who sidestepped a pandemic, kept a nation going during the pandemic, and has many other accomplishments over the past years. Pennsylvania Billboard Claims Joe Biden Has Dementia, Spells It Wildly Wrong, – Newsweek This is getting pretty wild as the...

by Dean Baker Center for Economic and Policy Research That’s what readers must conclude after reading this Washington Post’s piece on President Biden’s plans to increase corporate taxes and taxes on the rich. At one point, the piece reports the response to these plans from Rep. Steven Scalise (R-La), the second-ranking Republican in the House: “He tries to act like it’s not going to affect certain people, but when you raise taxes, it hits...

There is another version to this which I may get into in the comments section. CDS were not known at the time to be dangerous investments by Wall Street Banks. Besides Long Term Capital, AIG was offering CDS insuring other CDS. The problem arose when AIG’s credit default swaps did not call for collateral to be paid in full due to market changes. “In most cases, the agreement said that the collateral was owed only if market changes exceeded a certain...

 – by New Deal democrat AB: July 3rd, NDd mentioned he would review the comparison between the Household and the Establishment Survey Reports today. He had initially look at the comparison July 3. In the past few months, my focus has been on whether jobs gains are most consistent with a “soft landing,” i.e., no further deterioration, or whether deceleration is ongoing. In particular:  Last month I wrote that “There is a common thread in the...

Biden has been slightly behind Trump in the polls for months.  Still, until now it was easy enough to discern a plausible path to victory.  Democratic voters disappointed with Biden would gradually return to the fold as the choice between Biden and Trump became clear.  Memories of inflation would fade.  Trump would say outrageous things.  A few decent breaks and Biden could pull it out. The debate has changed the math.  Biden has been badly hurt...

What got me going to write this was reading a short blurb on The Lever about the economy. The transcript was provided and I read part of it. The content is all about supply chain which I was a part of for 40-something years. I find The Lever script (link below) interesting as it parallels my experience. It may be boring to you. Some background Nineteen seventy-four was a pretty good year for my wife and I. Finished college after three years...

by Tom Walker Econospeak Book proposal: Marx’s Fetters and the Realm of Freedom: a remedial reading — part 2.7 The revolutionary class “The working class is either revolutionary or it is nothing,” Marx wrote to German politician J.B. von Schweitzer and copied “word for word” in a letter to Engels. In The Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx and Engels wrote “the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class.” Marx cited that...