Kevin Drum 🕸

We're on vacation again! This is our first big vacation in five years thanks to this and that and, of course, COVID-19. But everything has gone swimmingly so far on this one. The flight was on time; our driver met us punctually at the airport; the weather is good (a little warm for me, but ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"

The BLS released its annual report on foreign-born workers today, so let's celebrate by taking a look at the unemployment rate of native vs. foreign-born workers: As you can see, foreign-born workers generally have a slightly lower unemployment rate than native-born workers, but during the pandemic they lost their jobs in large numbers and their ...continue reading "Raw data: The unemployment rate of native vs. foreign-born workers"

Here's a squirrel poking its head above the grass to see if there's anything worth seeing. It was taken along Laguna Canyon Road.

Well, it's happened: Finland and Sweden formally applied for NATO membership on Wednesday, a move that, if approved, would fundamentally transform the security landscape of Northern Europe and give the alliance a valuable edge against Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. We can all thank Vladimir Putin, geopolitical master strategist, for this.

This is a Sara Orangetip butterfly, which got bumped from Monday's schedule by our lunar eclipse. So here she is now in all her orange-tipped glory. I've posted a picture of this butterfly before, but this is a much better shot. It's sharp enough that you can see the little black dots on its head.

Consider two ways of saying a similar thing: According to the Census Bureau, people of color make up an increasing share of the US population. This will most likely benefit liberals, who will certainly try to take political advantage of it. Not only are non-white folks having more children than white people, but liberals are ...continue reading "Two statements"

Consumers continue to spend, spend, spend: Retail spending in April wasn't quite as great at the Wall Street Journal says, since they naturally didn't bother adjusting for inflation, but it was still pretty good. Spending in April was up 7% over March on an annualized basis, even though the trendline remains far above the pre-pandemic ...continue reading "Retail spending was up 7% in April"

The problems with Abbott's infant formula plant in Sturgis just get mysteriouser and mysteriouser. The New York Times reports that Abbott has finally agreed with the FDA to reopen the Sturgis plant: The agreement stems from a U.S. Department of Justice complaint and consent decree with the company and three of its executives. Those court ...continue reading "It sure looks like Abbott is the bad guy in the Abbott infant formula scandal"

Good news today. Last month I started a new chemo regimen and my M-protein level has already started to turn around: This is only a small drop, but what matters is that my M-protein levels have been slowly rising for over a year and now they're headed in the other direction. In other good news, ...continue reading "Health update"

I was planning to skip last night's lunar eclipse because I've already got plenty of pictures of lunar eclipses. But then when the time came, naturally I had to go outside to see it. And then I had to take some pictures. So here it is, about 90% full, which is all we got in ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"

Generally speaking, infants are fed formula only during their first year. So at any given time, the number of infants of "formula age" equals the total number of babies born in the previous twelve months. Here's what that looks like: The number of live births had been trending downward for years and then dropped more ...continue reading "Raw data: Live births in the US"

Here's a chart of COVID-19 deaths that has long puzzled me: This shows COVID deaths, so it's fairly reliable. What it shows is that, generally, the US has been about average compared to other similar countries except for three specific periods: Summer 2020 Autumn 2021 Winter 2022 In two cases, we have spikes that were ...continue reading "There are three puzzling eras in the US COVID-19 timeline"

The baby formula disaster is certainly peculiar. Apparently the FDA reported potentially dangerous manufacturing practices at Abbott's Sturgis plant as far back as September. But nobody did anything, and another FDA visit in February provoked the formula recall: In February, the FDA warned parents not to use certain popular powdered infant formulas manufactured at Abbott's ...continue reading "The baby formula shortage is . . . peculiar"

The Wall Street Journal has an update for us. A month ago they reported that average pay for CEOs of large companies had increased to $14.2 million last year. But now we have final figures: The median pay package for chief executives of the biggest U.S. companies reached $14.7 million in 2021, setting a sixth-straight ...continue reading "CEO pay is up 78% over the past decade"

Here it is. In nominal terms—which is what people see at the pump—this week's price of $4.33 is a 30-year high, breaking March's recent high by a penny. So far. UPDATE: Here's an update of my chart showing gasoline prices along with a trendline based on the price of WTI oil: A month ago I ...continue reading "A brief history of recent gasoline prices"

Charlie is hard at work hunting down the hand strap on my camera. However, I am pleased to report that it survived the onslaught.

Four weeks of eye adjustments are now complete and my artificial lenses have been locked in. Starting on Friday I no longer have to wear anti-UV glasses and my eyesight will have recovered from today's dilation fest. Hooray. Then it will just be a matter of waiting. I'm not very happy with how things turned ...continue reading "My eye adjustments are finished. Maybe."

I don't know what this guy was doing while I was waiting for a train at the Vermont/Sunset station on the LA Metro red line. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.

Hmmm. Finland has officially decided to apply for membership in NATO. Russia is pissed. A lot of people under 40 or so might not understand why this is a big deal. Finland is just your standard Western democracy, after all, and has been part of the EU for decades. The only surprising thing is that ...continue reading "The end of Finlandization"

Last night someone suggested that tracking COVID-19 cases was sort of pointless these days because so many people do home testing that never shows up in national statistics. That's true, and several readers mentioned that sewage testing is the latest and greatest method for tracking COVID according to those in the know. That got me ...continue reading "How is wastewater holding up near me lately?"