I’m still trying to get my head around what happened with the debt ceiling. Is the proposed deal a win for Biden and the Democrats?   The conventional wisdom is that it was.  Catherine Rampell argues that the Republicans achieved little in the way of policy that they could not have gotten through the regular budget process.  They also failed to take away any of Biden’s signature policy victories.  There are some questions about whether the...

What looked like it could be catastrophic for the nation, its people, and its economy, the results coming from a so-called too old eighty-year old man negotiating the US budget appears to be far better than expected. And far better than what Repubs are offering up. Now it is up to the House to put the budget on the floor for a vote. McCarthy has done what little he could do. The radicals have to pass it or take the blame for global economic...

I agree with the author’s reasoning for domestic supply manufacturing. I have battled the issues with pharma, medical supply, and also food manufacturing. Batches are problematic as well as the USDA and FDA labeling requirements. You wait for approvals. As of August 2019, 28 percent of the manufacturing facilities producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs – drug substances formulated into tablets, capsules, and injections) to supply the...

As a result of BRI, the New Silk Road, CSTO, SCO, the explosive growth in the coming years is likely to come from the developing world, not only Africa and Latin America but also the countries of Central Asia lying between and linking Russia and on to Europe and China as a gateway to Asia.Central Asia is part and parcel of the Western foreign policy position regarding Russia and China. It is about who is going to control the Heartland and dominate the World Island (Halford Mackinder,...

For months, Speaker McCarthy has been telling the American people that republicans wouldn’t agree to raise the debt limit without a plan to get the nation’s “fiscal house back in order.” Never mind that he and most of his republican colleagues voted—without any preconditions—to lift the debt ceiling on three separate occasions when Donald Trump was president. To retain his gavel McCarthy needed to cut a deal that his members could get behind....In response, President Biden said, “Speaker...

House prices may have bottomed, while YoY price increases (leading inflation) have declined to lower than their 25-year average  – by New Deal democrat Seasonally adjusted house prices through March as measured by both the FHFA (light blue in the graphs below) and Case Shiller (dark blue) Indexes rose, the former by 0.7% and the latter by 0.2%. This is the second straight increase in a row, and suggests that house prices may have bottomed:...

RADHIKA DESAI: Hello and welcome to the 10th Geopolitical Economy Hour, the fortnightly show in which we discuss the political and geopolitical economy of our times. I’m Radhika Desai.MICHAEL HUDSON: And I’m Michael Hudson.RADHIKA DESAI: And as last time, we have once again with us today, Professor Mick Dunford, professor emeritus at Sussex University and visiting scholar at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.Mick is based in Beijing and his work focuses on world development, especially in...

I just refreshed my favourite U.S. breakeven inflation chart (above), and I was surprised by how placid pricing has been. This article gives a few observations regarding the implications of TIPS pricing....Bond Economics U.S. Breakeven Inflation CommentsBrian Romanchuk

 Imagine: Trump convicted of federal crimes by Jack Smith, sentenced to prison and imprisoned during 2024 election cycle, wins election and proceeds to pardon himself. The Supine Court upholds his self-pardon, Thomas writing for the majority.Are you sufficiently scared? To forestall this, he must be convicted of serious felonies at the state level:  a president's power to pardon only bears on federal crimes. Hence my title: Godspeed, Fani Willis!!

When one achieves at least partial enlightenment, one will realize that one's income does not necessarily reward productivity, effort, or any other virtue. "For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no...