a Better Bubbleโ„ข

Kevin Drum ๐Ÿ•ธ

Chart of the day: The most outdoorsy state is . . .

1 week ago
A few days ago I was fascinated to see something new on the BEA calendar: "Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, U.S. and States, 2022." Wuzzat? Sadly, it turns out to have nothing to do with recreation satellites. It's the "satellite account"—whatever that is—for outdoor recreation. Here are the most and least outdoorsy states in the country: ...continue reading "Chart of the day: The most outdoorsy state is . . ."
Kevin Drum

FLASH: Conservative judges rule against NAACP

1 week ago
Private citizens have always been allowed to file discrimination suits regarding voting rights. But no longer, at least in the upper Midwest: The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-to-1 ruling, held that private plaintiffs can’t bring legal claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.... [The ruling] said the Arkansas branch ...continue reading "FLASH: Conservative judges rule against NAACP"
Kevin Drum

Money and happiness

1 week ago
According to a study reported by the Wall Street Journal, everyone would like more money. But how much more money? They displayed the answer in absolute dollars, but I converted it to percentages for a clearer look: Assuming this is meaningful—which I'm not sure of—this is an interesting U shape. People become more satisfied with ...continue reading "Money and happiness"
Kevin Drum

OpenAI hires interim CEO to replace Sam Altman

1 week 1 day ago
What. The. Fuck? Sam Altman won’t return as CEO of OpenAI, despite efforts by the company’s executives to bring him back, according to co-founder and board director Ilya Sutskever....Emmett Shear, co-founder of Amazon-owned video streaming site Twitch, will take over as interim CEO, Sutskever said. This is from The Information, but it's all over the ...continue reading "OpenAI hires interim CEO to replace Sam Altman"
Kevin Drum

Answered! What is an โ€œEZ pass for whalesโ€?

1 week 1 day ago
During the Republican debate a couple of weeks ago, I had a question about a peculiar commercial halfway through: what is "Biden's whale EZ pass lane"? Today, Politico finally—finally!—answers me: A new television commercial from a GOP-linked conservative group accuses Biden of raising gasoline prices by creating an “E-ZPass lane for whales in the Gulf.” ...continue reading "Answered! What is an “EZ pass for whales”?"
Kevin Drum

Circular A-4 is the most important rule youโ€™ve never heard of

1 week 1 day ago
The Office of Management and Budget issued a new set of guidelines for regulatory analysis a couple of weeks ago, and it's surprisingly important. It's also pretty technical, so hang on. The rules are set out in Circular A-4, one of OMB's 136 circulars, and the first thing it addresses is the discount rate that ...continue reading "Circular A-4 is the most important rule you’ve never heard of"
Kevin Drum

Junk fees probably arenโ€™t going away anytime soon

1 week 1 day ago
The Washington Post reports today on the proliferation of junk fees: The fees together may cost Americans at least $64 billion annually, according to a rough White House estimate. This may sound like a lot, but it actually amounts to only 0.34% of all consumer spending. However, that understates things because there are huge swaths ...continue reading "Junk fees probably aren’t going away anytime soon"
Kevin Drum

Raw data: E-commerce in the US

1 week 1 day ago
Here's a look at online shopping: E-commerce spiked during the pandemic but then subsided until mid-2022. Since then it's been growing again. It looks like the pandemic gave e-commerce a permanent 2% bump relative to its long-term growth rate.
Kevin Drum

Raw data: Shoplifting in big American cities

1 week 2 days ago
Last month I showed some data suggesting that, sensational media reports notwithstanding, the rate of shoplifting hadn't changed much recently. Today I came across a new analysis from the Council on Criminal Justice that reports shoplifting rates from 24 big cities across the country. Here it is: There has been a smallish spike in shoplifting ...continue reading "Raw data: Shoplifting in big American cities"
Kevin Drum

Sam is gone, Sam is back?

1 week 2 days ago
From the Wall Street Journal: OpenAI is making efforts to bring back Sam Altman, the chief executive it ousted Friday, said a person familiar with the matter. (Updates to follow as news develops) Um, what?
Kevin Drum

Friday Cat Blogging โ€“ 17 November 2023

1 week 3 days ago
Hilbert was in the hallway quietly posing for the camera yesterday when Charlie decided to check in and see what was going on. Before long Charlie was rolling around and photobombing everything in sight while Hilbert sat there scowling at him. It is, after all, Hilbert's week for catblogging.
Kevin Drum