Tag Archives: politics

A brief introduction by an Econofact News Letter exploring the impact of income on voting turnout. I did not include the explanation link information in this commentary as it would be too lengthy. However, the links are there if you wish to read further into this explanation. This is short enough to provoke a discussion as to why percentages of poorer voters do not turnout for elections. They have much to win in economic progress if the vote for the...

 – by New Deal democrat The weekly news from jobless claims continues to be good. The hypotheses that the summer increase was unresolved post-pandemic seasonality, plus the several week spike post-Beryl was all about Texas, both have held up very well. And that has continued to be the case against more challenging YoY comparisons as the data heads into September. Initial claims declined -5,000 last week to 227,000. The four week moving average...

I just finished reading “America for Americans: A history of xenophobia in the United States” by Erika Lee. It is an unsparing analysis of the way xenophobia is woven into the fabric of American law and culture.When you read “America for Americans,” does it conjure an image of native Americans asserting their rights to the lands that were over-run by western Europeans? Of course not. The people who use that expression are overwhelmingly whites of...

– by Infidel753 Infidel753 Blog By traditional assessment, in a US election year, early September is when the broad American public starts turning its attention to the choice looming in early November.  To those readers blessed to live in normal countries, where campaigning is limited by law to just three or four weeks before an election, a two-month political season probably seems absurdly long — but I can assure you, the media and parties...

Since the beginning of the Covid epidemic, the US economy has performed better than European economies and the Eurozone average. This comparison is useful, and not just for boasting rights. Fiscal policy in the USA and in the Eurozone has been dramatically different – The US Federal Government implemented Six very large fiscal stimuli: The CARES act signed into law by Donald The bipartisan (Manchin) stimulus enacted In December 2024 signed...

Trump is promising mass deportations if he’s elected. He claims this will create jobs and economic growth. We’ve been here before.“In the 1930s, state and local governments deported 400,000 to 500,000 people of Mexican descent, promising to create jobs for Americans during the Great Depression. What actually happened? The employment of native-born Americans dropped — and their unemployment went up. American workers ended up with worse jobs and, if...

I have read many articles quoting (brave) Republicans complaining about Donald Trump’s focus on personal, petty and implausible attacks on Kamala Harris. They often assert that if the election were decided on the basis of policy or issues, then Trump would win. Here is the latest discussion I read about that (just the available link and an excellent blog post). My immediate reaction is to argue that the Republicans’ claim is false and that voters...

 I guess if it is said enough times it has to be true or does it have to be? The Biden rescue since he took office is far better than what we experienced in 2008 onward. Yet Another in the Economy Is Bad Under Biden by Dean Baker CEPR Like other major news outlets, the Washington Post is perfectly happy to ignore the data to tell you the economy is bad under Biden. Past entries in this series included the many pieces telling us young...

A fitting topic for Labor Day, 2024.Over at TPM, they have an extended discussion of the records of the Biden/Harris Administration vs the Trump/Pence administration regarding unions and workplace safety. Click the link to read the whole thing. I’ll keep the quotes here within fair use.“. . . three aspects of the candidates’ records are the most likely to sway union members one way or the other.“Federal workers“Trump signed three executive orders in...

Colin Allred Is Running a Novel Campaign. Looks Like It’s Working. Texas Monthly Colin may be winning . . . Colin Allred was running late, but it didn’t matter—nobody was waiting for him. Only staff and a single journalist occupied the cavernous International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Hall in Houston at 2:30 on a recent Tuesday afternoon, the time Allred’s campaign had provided for what it was touting as a “roundtable on Texas...