Growing up and having Fluoride in the water was a big deal for stronger teeth. It was also in toothpaste. There is a whole industry that has grown up around the use of Fluoride in the water and in toothpaste. In Boot Camp, we were given a special and stronger treatment of fluoride. Now they are coming out with reasons not to use Fluoride above a certain level. ​ Global Water – Santa Cruz Water Company, Inc. recently sent a notice to customers in...

Project Syndicate 18th of September, 2024 “Shortly after taking office, the United Kingdom’s new Labour government announced the discovery of a massive shortfall in public finances. While much of the political debate has centered on the size of this fiscal hole, the real culprit is the set of arbitrary rules that British governments have imposed on themselves since 1997.“ LONDON – Shortly after taking office, the United Kingdom’s new Labour government announced the discovery of a...

Project Syndicate 21st of August, 2024 “Even though recorded performances provide some valuable benefits, most people prefer live events. That is because the audience is part of the production, and the two sides exchange energy and the gamut of human emotions in a way that would be impossible in any other setting.“ SALZBURG – While taking in the immensity of Anton Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony at this year’s Salzburg Festival, one of classical music’s most celebrated events, I kept...

There is only one acceptable end to the war in Ukraine. And it doesn’t involve giving Kyiv the weapons it would need to entirely drive Russia out Aug 14, 2024 “The nation must clearly speak with one voice,” declared Baroness Neville-Rolfe, then Conservative minister of state at the cabinet office, on 20th February 2024. No remark so neatly captures the mindset of Britain’s foreign policy and defence establishment on Ukraine.  The official view, from which Labour has never...

This describes the behavior of crazy monetarist traders. 

Apparently many influential Chinese economists are old-style Keynesians. There is no indication that they understand the basic principle of MMT —  a sovereign currency issuer that doesn't create financial obligation in currency it does not issue has a monopoly on its currency. This is especially important considering that China faces deflation rather than inflation.It's up to the Finance Ministry now. Wikipedia:The Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China (Chinese: 中华人民共和国财政部;...

Not MMT or economics as such but it is interesting in that Bill is an MMT founder so his stance on economic sociology is relevant. There was an interesting article in the UK Guardian the other day September 26, 2024) – Take it from me (and Keir Starmer) – you should never pretend to be more working class than you are. I don’t usually agree with the journalist but this article made me reflect on a lot of things.… Aside:The scrutiny arises because many of these “Labour people” appear to have...

– by New Deal democrat On Friday I highlighted the sharp positive revision to the personal saving rate.  That was a byproduct of a similar sharply higher revision to real personal income over the past two years. Here is what those revisions, to real personal disposable income, look like: Instead of being up 6.8% since just before the pandemic, real disposable income is up 10.6%. A historical look at the most salient economic indicators...

I did not know this. In Phoenix, etc. The subject of this commentary, “Invitation Homes” has approximately 7300 available homes for rent at prices which would equal a mortgage payment, property taxes, and the required homeowner’s insurance. I am sitting in the middle of all of this in AZ. The only reason I can think of for not buying is poor credit, bankruptcy, no funds to pay for a realtor, closing, etc. Even so, why would you mess with rental...

Race and sex as causes In the potential outcomes approach to causality, sex and race are often not considered causes since they do not fit within this counterfactual manipulation/intervention framework of causal inference. Sex and race cannot be directly manipulated or intervened on, which is said to make it difficult to conceptualize what the ‘potential outcomes’ would be for individuals if they were of a different sex or race.  This leaves us in a...