Brilliant Insights of a Modest Bastard

My friend Gunter grew up in the German Democratic Republic (“East Germany”). He eventually established himself as a professor at the Genetics Institute at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenburg, He first came to my attention through a series of papers he published in the early 1980s that I read as a postdoc. Then, in the summer of 1986, I got to attend a meeting on the Molecular and Developmental Biology of Drosophila, sponsored by the European...

The good news on jobless claims continues  – by New Deal democrat The recent streak of very positive news on jobless claims continued this week. Initial claims declined -1,000 to 201,000. The four week moving average declined -250 to 207,750. With the usual one week delay, continuing claims declined -34,000 to 1.834 million. The first two are close to their post-pandemic lows of one year ago, and continuing claims are the lowest since the...

Good commentary by Merrill Goozner. I subscribe to his site. He, I and other have gotten together and talked. I did ask the Lown Institute if I can publish their top ten examples of profiteering and dysfunction in health care. This group make my spidery senses tingle. Rather ask than get a reprimand. Got that one time and I knew who did it. It backfired on them and they were dropped by their host. Good writer and I was posting their commentaries...

The first is a distateful counting of the victims of capitalism in the twentieth century. The second concludes that no-longer-actually-existing socialism was about as efficient as western countries. The last argues that general prosperity first declined with the introduction of capitalism. Salvatore Engel-DiMauro. 2021. Anti-communism and the hundres of millions of victims of capitalism. Capitalism Nature Socialism 32(1): 1-17. Peter Murrell. 1991. Can neoclassical economics underpin the...

It is bad enough with high healthcare costs for doctors, hospitals, medicines, care, insurance, etc. But when all of them start to allow you credit so they can collect their moneys leaving you to fend for yourself, it becomes outrageous. A common interest rate for payment plans is 16% to 19% with private equity. It is a rip off of those who are ill and the families who are willing to sacrifice all. It is unfortunate banks, etc., are willing to...

This Crooked Timber post on declining population has prompted me to get started on what I plan, in the end, to be a lengthy critique of the pro-natalist position that dominates public debate at the moment. My initial motivation to do this reflected long-standing concerns about human impacts on the environment but I don’t have any particular expertise on that topic, or anything new to say. Instead, I want to address the economic and social issues, making the case that a move to a...

They all sold on the hotter than expected CPI number. Then of course the market bounced back. 

Right-wing ranters in my Twitter timeline are pooh-poohing the whole climate discussion without doing their homework. So, here’s a little reader to aid and abet (sorry, early retired teacher and that all).Let’s start at the beginning:1. CO2 is measured at the Manua Loa station. Results are clear, robust, and stark: CO2 is increasing. And no, CO2 is not ‘following temperature’ as the latest lazymeme from the lazyright wants to have it. It’s following us. We’re causing it. A ‘mass...

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