How Big Business Is Winning

As government regulations are crafted to favor larger enterprises and labor unions decline in their ability to fight for better wages and working conditions, the lack of any countervailing power means that profits will rise and wages will fall and the economic situation of a large portion of the population will worsen.

Big Business

Paul Krugman--Thinking About a Trade War

The effects may not be overwhelmingly large, but big enough to notice and probably concentrated in specific sectors of the economy.

The Effects of a Trade War

Paul Krugman--The Effects of the Tax Cuts on Business Investment

There has been almost no economics underlying Trump's policies. His advisors are hacks and the best of them--Gary Cohn--resigned when Trump wouldn't listen to reason over tariffs. Navarro, Kudlow and the rest mark the march to Fox News talking heads as political and economic advisors. If Sarah Sanders does leave will Hannity be the new press secretary?

Tax Cuts and Leprechauns

A Truck Full of Money

Just finished reading “A Truck Full of Money” by Tracy Kidder. Great book. Kidder is an excellent writer about tech. One of my all time favorites is “Soul of a New Machine “ written in 1981. It was his first book and won numerous awards. I highly recommend both books.

Flogging Molly

The Best of Flogging Molly

A Better Electoral System

Ranked Choice Voting

Grownups Try in Vain to Reason with Petulant Trump

The Quest to Grow the First Great American Wine Grape

Growing the "Super Grape"

Krugman: Coal, Cash and Bad Faith

Ten years ago the big debate was whether we should adopt a comprehensive strategy to limit greenhouse gas emissions... [H]owever, technology has been coming to our rescue. The single biggest source of greenhouse emissions, the thing we really need to stop, is coal-fired electricity generation (which has lots of other public health costs too.) And a funny thing happened: coal-fired power became uneconomical. Instead of building new plants, we’re retiring old ones. Partly this was the result of cheap natural gas thanks to fracking. Increasingly, however, we’re looking at the effects of the technological revolution in renewables, which has produced spectacular declines in the cost of wind and solar power. Even if you believe in the sanctity of free markets — which you shouldn’t — you should recognize that markets are now driving a great transition to clean energy.

Coal, Cash and Bad Faith

Jerkish

Philip Roth:

"I found much that was alarming about being a citizen during the tenures of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. But, whatever I may have seen as their limitations of character or intellect, neither was anything like as humanly impoverished as Trump is: ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English.”

Republican Politicians: (a) Hate Americans (b) Are Stupid (c) Are Just Mean (d) All of the Above

Krugman on healthcare and the social safety net.

The Plot Against Healthcare

Stupid Is as Stupid Does

Krugman on trade and tariffs (this is what he won a Nobel Prize for).

Oh What a Stupid Trade War

Here’s what the GOP’s ossified tax policy ignores

How long do you think this can go on? As long as Trump and his enablers can successfully blame Democrats for the country's problems. That's why Democrats need to forget about what scum Trump is and concentrate on proposing policies that help those who have been left behind.

Jennifer Rubin writes the conservative view in the Washington Post:

Republican Tax Policies Hurt their Constituents

Are Democrats Running a Smart Campaign?

Democrats United?

Trump needs a Fact Checker—or Maybe He Just Needs Facts

Six Trump “Errors” in Speech at the Naval Academy

Did the F.B.I. Save Trump’s Presidency?

Trump Owes the FBI—Even if He Won’t Admit It

Crypto Currency

Robert Schiller on the history of crackpot money.

The Old Allure of New Money

Krugman: The Problem in the Market for Labor

This is part and parcel of the rise of money in politics, which has led to anti-labor policies by the Federal Government--yes even under Obama. Until we realize that when a large proportion of the workforce doesn't earn a living wage, we'll never understand why economic growth and inequality are sapping our nation's capacity.

Monopsony, Rigidity, and the Wage Puzzle

Obama's Legacy--Has It Been Destroyed?

A pessimistic view of Trump's impact on the US. There are really three essays--the one on Obama's legacy is the first. 

The second is a comparison of Trump and Shakespeare's Richard III. From that essay:

"And this is indeed the kernel of what I fear: that if Mueller at any point presents a real conflict between the rule of law and Trump’s ego, the ego will win. If Trump has to fire his attorney general, and anyone else, he will. If he has to initiate a catastrophic conflict to save face, he will. If he has to delegitimize the Department of Justice, empty the State Department, and turn law enforcement against itself, he will. If he has to unleash unspeakable racial demons to save himself from political oblivion, he will not hesitate to do so. If he has to separate children from parents, describe humans as animals, and turn Christians into pagans, he will not blink. This is what a tyrant does."

One should note that Richard III's reign lasted only two years. We should be so lucky.

The third is a movie review of what must be the most downer movie of all time.

Obama’s Legacy Has Already Been Destroyed

How Bad Can It Get? This is how Bad.

We now live in a kleptocracy. If there was ever a reason to purge the Republicans from power...

Did China Just Bribe Trump to Undermine National Security?