I did some rewriting on this particular commentary and added two charts from another commentary (at the bottom). The point being to give graphical depiction of the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and who it benefited the most. You can see (for whatever reason) why the Republican Party is pushing for this and taking it from Medicaid. You can also wonder why less wealthy Republicans making far less than the major beneficiaries are not up in...

Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. I’m now using Substack as a blogging platform, and for my monthly email newsletter. For the moment, I’ll post both at this blog and on Substack. You can also follow me on Mastodon here. Share this:Like Loading...

Nassau SeniorIn Chapter 9 of Capital, "The Rate of Surplus Value," Marx included a satirical section 3, ridiculing Nassau Senior's dimwitted, unmistakably partisan argument that reducing the hours of work from 12 hours a day to 10 would destroy a factory's net profit. Another half hour of reduction would eliminate even the gross profit. Marx simply pointed out that the basis of profit, surplus value, was extracted from the labour process throughout the day and not entirely in the final hour...

from C. P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh It is more than a year since China, reportedly in retaliation to US-driven restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductors and related manufacturing equipment, imposed export controls on two crucial materials—germanium and gallium—that enter into the production of semiconductors and military and communications equipment (advanced microprocessors, fibre-optic products and night-vision goggles). Imposed in the name of safeguarding “national...

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. In the wake of yesterday’s weak jobs report, bond yields and mortgage rates declined to 12 months+ lows, commodities declined across the board, stocks sold off sharply, and the 10 years to 2-year Treasury spread un-inverted. That’s bad news and good news. It’s bad news because it indicates a belief that the economy has weakened substantially, but good news because...

Naive Economics for Kindergarten Kids

Interesting and brief piece by Dean Baker of CEPR in relation to price gouging. There continues to be a debate about the extent to which “price-gouging” or “greedflation” has been responsible for the rise in prices since the pandemic. We can debate the extent to which companies were able to take advantage of monopoly power during the pandemic. Whatever the cause, it is clear the profit share of corporate income has risen from before the pandemic...

Climate change is often dismissed as a minor inconvenience. The belief that it will only cause a 1.4% drop in GDP is laughable. This figure is based on models that ignore tipping points. Tipping points are like the moment a dam breaks. A small crack can lead to catastrophic failure. When climate models fail to account for these tipping points, they underestimate the damage. Real-world impacts will be far more severe. Imagine a factory that relies on stable weather patterns....

If this is going to be a close election between trump and Kamala Harris, I will be surprised, Trump just keeps babbling away with his commentaries. Taken from the reports I have read, the audience coming out to hear him speak, have been leaving early. The more desperate trump gets, the more he babbles. It will be interesting to see who shows up for the debate. The babbler or a thinking (if such can be done) trump. Enoy the read. September...

The one element we lack at Angry Bear is regular woman commenters and/or a woman writer. I have searched and asked. Explained it does take time and you are exposed to silly or rude comments. It is a different perspective coming from women. A perspective I can not present. Angry Bear has Annie’s permission to present her words at Angry Bear. This is a good commentary by Annie as taken from her site “annieasksyou.” Looking Toward Tuesday’s...