Kevin Drum 🕸

People like me talk frequently about the fact that folks who are modestly right of center are obviously scared by a lot of the Democratic stands on culture war issues these days. Perhaps we should dial down the way we talk—or maybe even what we genuinely believe—about these things? People to my left demand particulars. ...continue reading "Should Democrats change their tune on a few culture war topics?"

Today is inflation day, and the BLS reports that the US inflation rate rose considerably less than than the European rate jump announced a few days ago. But it still went up a lot. The headline inflation rate increased from 7.9% in February to 8.5% in March: (Note that this chart shows headline CPI, which ...continue reading "Chart of the day: Inflation in March"

In a few hours the Commerce Department will release inflation figures for March, something that we're all waiting for with bated breath. While we await this momentous event, here's an inflation chart inspired by Brad Polumbo. However, unlike his, which shows year-over-year inflation, mine is based on the inflation rate from month to month. Why? ...continue reading "How much is ARP spending responsible for high inflation?"

Voting rights are in the news again thanks to Andy Kroll's semi-tick-tock in Rolling Stone about the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, both of which failed to pass earlier this year because Republicans filibustered them. The whole story is strange. Everyone agrees that there was never any chance of ...continue reading "The defeat of voting rights is not hard to understand"

This boat did not do well during Hurricane Ida. I took this picture on Highway 315 somewhere south of Houma, which was piled high with trash and ruined furniture that still hadn't been picked up. I suppose somebody will come along eventually for it.

I'm at the infusion center to begin a new chemo regimen. This is my fourth, and I'll be getting it until the CAR-T folks open up a slot for me. I got here at 9:30 am after taking some Pepcid with breakfast along with 40 mg of dex. This compares to the 2 mg I'm ...continue reading "Health Update"

A week ago, Elon Musk announced that he owned 9.2% of Twitter and would be joining the board of directors. Twitter stock rose. By Thursday, everyone was already tired of his bullshit and Twitter stock began to drop. Over the weekend Musk withdrew from the board and on Monday Twitter stock opened higher. Lesson: Elon ...continue reading "Elon Musk is a bad idea"

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, here are the items that have gone up in price the most over the past year: This is why voters are so upset over an inflation rate of 7%. That may be the overall inflation rate, but for some of the things that are most visible to them ...continue reading "Here are the top 20 items most affected by inflation"

What's the best measure of the spread of COVID-19? That's a hard question to answer these days, but I think that hospitalizations have emerged as everyone's go-to metric. So here it is: The good news is that just about everyone has peaked and is starting to come down. The only exception is France, which is ...continue reading "Raw data: COVID-19 hospitalizations"

Here is Hilbert looking magnificently toward the future, which he envisions as a chicken in every pot and a thousand cans of cat food in every garage.

Yesterday I casually mentioned that I didn't think the overproduction of PhDs was a big problem. This produced some pushback, including the familiar complaint that it dooms lots of PhD-havers to a life of penury as members of the huge pool of adjunct professors desperately hoping they'll eventually land a full-time tenure-track job. It's true ...continue reading "There is no glut of PhDs"

Walmart is getting a lot of media play for announcing an increase in pay for its long-haul truck drivers: The company, in a bid to keep its supply chain running smoothly, is setting starting salaries for its truck drivers between $95,000 and $110,000 a year, up from an average starting salary of $87,000, said a ...continue reading "Are Walmart truck drivers getting a big raise?"

My distance vision now seems to be 20/20 or pretty close to it. My near vision is significantly improved: I'm writing this without glasses, which means my medium vision is usable in a pinch, though still a bit fuzzy. My reading vision is still unusable without glasses, but at least it's not just a big ...continue reading "Eyeball update"

Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas, much more powerful than CO2. And emissions of methane keep going up: The bad news is that the amount of methane in the atmosphere isn't just rising, it's accelerating. The good news is that methane only lasts about 50 years before it breaks down. If we can get ...continue reading "Chart of the day: Methane emissions reach record high"

I love liberal fights over Obamacare: Almost no writer on the left actually understands the ACA. Adding the individual mandate significantly increases the CBO cost of the law. This is why the GOP used repeal of it as a pay for in their reconciliation bill. https://t.co/IQqEDr0zCb — Jon Walker (@JonWalkerDC) April 7, 2022 It's true ...continue reading "Let’s fight over the individual mandate some more!"

This morning I went in to get the first adjustment to my new eyes. By tomorrow I should have better near and far vision and I'll be ready in another week for adjustment #2. The adjustments will continue until we're all happy with the results. However, my doctor really, really wanted my eyes dilated for ...continue reading "Fun day"

Spring has sprung, and that means pictures from the garden. You've seen this pink rose before, and you'll probably see it again, but this is the 2022 version. It's an especially good one, I think, because I caught it at the perfect moment in its unfolding.

From Chad Orzel, writing about the overproduction of PhDs by American universities: This is a topic where I’m so worried that something I write will be taken the wrong way that I often end up hedging so much that nobody finds it worth a response. Hah hah, do you really think that hedging will prevent ...continue reading "Quote of the day: Do we mint too many PhDs?"

A few days ago the LA Times published security camera video of a sheriff's deputy who knelt on the head of a handcuffed inmate for about three minutes. The circumstances are a little murky, but luckily the sheriff is ON IT: Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he is launching a criminal investigation to ...continue reading "LA sheriff is investigating misconduct, but not the kind you’d think"

Sam Levin reports on the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill passed in early 2021: As part of the American Rescue Plan Act (Arpa), the Biden administration’s signature stimulus package, the US government sent funds to cities to help them fight coronavirus and support local recovery efforts. The money, officials said, could be used to fund ...continue reading "In California, $1 billion in COVID funding has gone to police — so far"