“The vast majority of commercial and industrial establishments are now working not for the free market but for the government.” V.I. Lenin, State and Revolution; 1917 This Lenin quote leapt…
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Economy
To kick off the New Year, 60 minutes pulled out a man from yesteryears: Paul Ehrlich. If you do not know who Ehrlich is, you are probably a young person.…
“If you hate Starbucks so much, why don’t you go somewhere else?” In Michael Hiltzik’s Los Angeles Times article, “Why Starbucks has become a huge unionization target–and why the company…
Total nonfarm payrolls posted a 223,000 gain in December versus a 256,000 rise in November (revised down by 7,000), while October had an increase of 263,000 (revised down by 21,000).…
The Institute for Supply Management’s NMI composite services index decreased to 49.6 percent in December, sinking 6.9 points from 56.5 percent in the prior month. December was the first drop…
Initial claims for regular state unemployment insurance fell by 19,000 for the week ending December 31st, coming in at 204,000. The previous week’s 223,000 was revised down from the initial…
Sales of light vehicles totaled 13.3 million at an annual rate in December, down from a 14.2 million pace in November and a 15.2 million pace in October. It was…
Everywhere in education, you see incentives at work. The incentives, though, are so far removed from the actual goals of education that they produce perverse results. Goodhart’s Law is usually…
Economy
When Federal Interest Payments Come to Exceed the Military Budget: Time to Stop Defending the Rest of the World
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A new year dawns bright, with the US hurtling over the fiscal cliff. The lame duck Congress voted for a pork-packed $1.7 trillion budget bill. As the saying goes, it’s…
The Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 48.4 percent in December, the second consecutive reading below neutral and the lowest level since May 2020. The survey…