Kevin Drum 🕸

There's not a ton of state-by-state polling on abortion, but when Roe v. Wade is overturned and control of abortion law is returned to the states this is suddenly going to become very important. Here is a Pew survey from 2014 that asks whether abortion should be legal or illegal in "most or all" cases. ...continue reading "Raw data: Views on abortion by state"

This is a lovely yellow alstroemeria hiding in the shadows in our front yard. It is apparently commonly known as a Peruvian lily or lily of the Incas, which I didn't know until about half a minute ago. I'm learning more about flowers every day.

As I was trying to think of something else besides Roe v. Wade, it occurred to me this afternoon to wonder how long the Ukraine war was likely to last. We fought the Soviet Union as proxies in Vietnam for about a decade. We fought them as proxies in Afghanistan for five or six years. ...continue reading "How long will we fight the Russians in Ukraine?"

From the Wall Street Journal: Job openings and the number of times workers quit reached the highest levels on record in March, as a shortage of available workers continued to pressure the U.S. labor market. Sure, this is true, and the BLS press release even said so. But who cares? Quits always go up when ...continue reading "People are quitting their jobs at totally normal rates"

Why does my local medical center have an outline of a cannabis leaf on its floor?

I imagine that this week is going to be abortion always and everywhere unless a meteor hits Kyiv or something. However, even though you might not be in the mood for good news about Justice Alito's latest tactical nuke on the progressive movement, there is a small bit of good news in his opinion that ...continue reading "A (tiny bit) of good news about Samuel Alito’s decision overturning abortion rights"

According to Politico, a draft Supreme Court ruling has been leaked that overrules Roe v. Wade completely. If this turns out to be a final opinion, I find it fitting that it was written by the Court's worst member, Samuel Alito; and affirmed by its most crotchety ideologue, Clarence Thomas, along with its three Trump ...continue reading "Court leak spells end to constitutional right to abortion"

I have no idea why I did this. I was just curious what the latest American Time Use Survey¹ showed about the difference in activities between working-age men and women. [Clarification: That is, this chart shows how many more minutes men spend on each activity compared to women.] Here it is: On average, working-age men ...continue reading "Raw data: How working-age people spend their time"

White backlash. One of the most powerful cultural forces throughout American history is white backlash. It is intense, self-righteous, often brutal, and absolutely inevitable. Anyone in the civil rights activism biz is an idiot if they don't understand this and have a plan to deal with it. Sex education. Conservatives have always been conservative about ...continue reading "Three random things"

Believe it or not, I've been meaning to take this picture for years. I've just never had my camera handy at night when I've driven past it. But a few weeks ago, on a dex night, I was puttering around at 3 am and finally got my picture. There's just something about the sharp lines ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"

Data here.

Last weekend I wrote a long, chart-laden post that summarized the evidence about housing in the US. I received some criticism that seemed reasonable, so I figured I'd address them here. Anne Paulson suggested that I shouldn't compare housing growth to population growth because housing is an adult thing. If a family has more children, ...continue reading "Housing update"

It's been a bit of a slow blogging week around here. On Monday I had a four-hour infusion. On Tuesday I met with my oncologist and then had a long lunch with a friend. On Wednesday I had my fourth—and hopefully last—eye adjustment. Thursday was crash day. Friday was also crash day. And then Saturday ...continue reading "Only in death does Trump part"

It's getting late, and Charlie is waiting for Marian to wake up so they can go upstairs to bed. It didn't take long.

Here is the Wall Street Journal today: Worker Pay and Benefits Grow at Record Pace, Pressuring Inflation Compensation for American workers grew rapidly in the first quarter, as a tight labor market put more money in workers’ pockets while also keeping pressure on inflation. Business and government employers spent 4.5% more on worker costs in ...continue reading "Worker pay and benefits plummet at record pace. Yes: plummet."

OK, I have to ask one more time. Suppose President Biden cancels all student debt. What happens next? It just starts piling up again for new students? State universities are forced to cut tuition and fees dramatically? The federal government starts massively subsidizing all university education? Or do we just hold a student debt jubilee ...continue reading "What happens after we cancel student debt?"

This is a patch of primroses in Borrego Park, a small overlook in Lake Forest.

By now you're all aware that GDP declined in the first quarter. Here's why: Consumer spending, government spending, and private investment—the key components of GDP—were up 1.8% on an annualized basis last quarter. That's no great shakes, but it's not too bad either. However, imports and exports are also a part of GDP. Normally they ...continue reading "GDP was down 1.4% last quarter, but it’s not all bad news"

Monday was the start of Milky Way season. It was the first time in 2022 that the core of the Milky Way rose at a decent hour (around 1 am) and there was no moon. Since it was a dex night for me, I went out to take some pictures. But I couldn't find it. ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"

How's the economy doing? Inflation is up, but other than that GDP is growing; unemployment is down; consumption is high; investment is strong; corporate earnings are good; and businesses are growing. Here are the latest numbers for that: About 80% of job gains come from expanding businesses. Ditto for job losses. The other 20% come ...continue reading "Net job gains were up yet again last year"