Karen Petrou explains why so many people are unhappy with Joe Biden's economy: The mortal enemy of Bidenomics isn’t Donald Trump; it’s a reliance on aggregate and average numbers.... For most Americans, a sense of financial well-being doesn’t come from capital returns in the stock market or even from house price appreciation. It comes in ...continue reading "No, paychecks are not falling ever shorter these days"
From the Wall Street Journal: The prosecutor investigating why classified documents ended up at President Biden’s home and former office is preparing a report that is expected to be sharply critical of how he and his longtime aides handled the material, but the probe isn’t likely to result in a criminal case, according to people ...continue reading "Prosecutor expected to be “sharply critical” of Biden’s classified documents"
I have to admit that on my "things that will provoke massive political unrest" bingo card, I didn't have war in the Middle East. There's always war in the Middle East! Live and learn.
You may be aware that a section of Interstate 10 in downtown Los Angeles has been closed due to arson. How are residents taking it? The New York Times is at top. The LA Times is at bottom: Different parts of the elephant, I guess.
Fog of war and all that, but, um, yeah: Where's the photo of the Hamas command center and the entrance to the underground tunnel network? Because 10 AKs and half a dozen hand grenades doesn't cut it when you're trying to justify an attack on a HOSPITAL. https://t.co/RJOtVZanWi — Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) November 15, 2023 ...continue reading "Al-Shifa hospital has a few guns, but no Hamas command center"
Kiera Butler reports today that since the pre-pandemic era the overall childhood vaccination rate has fallen from 95% to 93%: Childhood Vaccination Rates Are Declining. You Can Blame MAGA. This latest development is no random statistical blip—actually, I’ve been dreading it for a while now. What started as a campaign by a small group of ...continue reading "Childhood vaccination rates have remained low this year"
Today at lunch the topic of traffic came up. If lots of people are working at home these days, shouldn't commuting traffic in cities be down considerably? I said I'd check, but that turns out not to be easy. Here's one data point: This is national data and it shows no change whatsoever in urban ...continue reading "Raw data: Urban traffic pre- and post-COVID"
An op-ed in the Washington Post today complains about all those touchscreen apps asking how much of a tip you want to leave: Tipping is now out of control. Gratuity prompts have become so widespread and indiscriminate that a new study from the Pew Research Center shows it is causing mass confusion and frustration. ....The ...continue reading "Please leave a tip if you read this blog post"
This is a church steeple in the city of Banning during late winter, with a bit of snow still left on the mountains. The church elders need to fix their cross. It's crooked.
Republicans: can't live with 'em, can't chop 'em up for cat food: For review, since Johnson took over as speaker, House Republicans have: Yanked THUD from the floor Yanked FSGG from the floor Voted down a rule on CJS Had 93 no votes on a clean CR Still no action on AG Appear to be ...continue reading "Republicans still unable to pass anything"
Zeke Faux's account of the crypto industry, Number Go Up, is a great book. But there's an odd thing about it: The genesis of Faux's interest in crypto is Tether, a so-called "stablecoin" that's always equal to exactly $1 and is backed 1:1 by currency and safe securities. Faux wants to learn more about Tether—for ...continue reading "What’s the deal with Tether?"
There is, I suppose, not much point in trawling the internet every morning and arguing with random conservative posts. But sometimes I just shake my head and can't help myself. Here is Jimmy Quinn, national security correspondent for National Review: There’s a lot to say about the implications of the Biden administration’s apparent return to ...continue reading "America is the envy of the world"
The Producer Price Index dropped substantially in October: This is good inflation news. It's a volatile series, but on a trend basis PPI is down to 0%. Even the PPI for services was down to 0%. On a conventional year-over-year basis, PPI in October clocked in at 1.3%.
The latest hotness about the economy is that people aren't satisfied with low inflation. They don't merely want prices to rise more slowly, they want prices to return to their old levels. I don't know if this is true, or even whether it's an effective attack line. Either way, it ain't gonna happen. In the ...continue reading "It’s not the inflation, it’s the prices?"
Andrew Gelman and pals have a new paper out that looks at one aspect of partisan polarization: perceptions of the opposite party vs. reality. What they found shouldn't surprise anyone. In a nutshell, Democrats think Republicans are more conservative than they really are, and Republicans think Democrats are more liberal than they really are. Here's ...continue reading "Here’s why we hate each other"
There won't be a government shutdown this month. Republicans supported Mike Johnson's continuing resolution only barely, 127-93, but Democrats joined up with the non-insane Republicans to give the CR a bipartisan 336-95 victory in the House. It's expected to pass the Senate later this week. The CR lasts through late January, which means that at ...continue reading "Government shutdown avoided yet again"
Here's the latest YouGov poll showing Democratic preferences in the Gaza war: Every age group is more sympathetic to the Israelis than the Palestinians with the exception of the youngest cohort, which is slightly more sympathetic to the Palestinians. Overall, Democrats approve of Joe Biden's handling of the war by 62-21%.
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