Consumers may not suffer from more inflation per official data if Trump imposes tariffs. But that does not mean they won’t be worse off.
Thursday, December 4, 2025
Will the Newly Declassified CIA “Assessment” of Covid Origins in Wuhan Include the Possibility of Early Spread in Italy?
The possibility of early Covid spread is unlikely to mentioned in the newly released CIA assessment of Covid origins, since ths alternative hypothesis clearly contradicts the timeline held today as canon.
Wolf Richter: DOGE Seeks to Shed Vast Amounts of Government Office Space. Here’s How Much the Government Leases, and Where, and What Leases it Can Shed During Trump’s Term
For CRE, the motto in 2024 was “Survive till 2025” via extend-and-pretend. Now it’s 2025, and here comes the government’s office space.
Michael Hudson: Trump’s Balance-of-Payments War on Mexico, and the Whole World
Why US trade and economic threats against Mexico could trigger a financial/currency crisis that may propagate across the Global South
President Trump Promises to Make Government Efficient − and He’ll Run Into the Same Roadblocks as Presidents Taft, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush, Among Others
Why “make government efficient” and cost cutting programs are close to destined to come up short.
2:00PM Water Cooler 1/24/2025
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; Trump on the road in North Carolina and California.Hegseth advances to floor vote; Smile Nazis in action; Snow in the South ~
How Much Will Trump’s Bark Exceed His Bite? Doubts About Whether Disruptive Federal Hiring and Spending Pauses Will Produce Lasting Changes
Trump is adept at using his willingness to be wildly inconsistent to destabilize opponents. But he is unduly fond of using blunt instruments like tariffs that he can impose unilaterally, with insufficient consideration of whether they will work all that well, let alone what bad unintended effects they might generate. What Trump has done so […]
At Davos, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez Just Said the Quiet Part Out Loud on Online Anonymity and Digital Identity
“In our countries, no one can walk the streets with a mask on their face,” and “yet we allow people to roam freely on the Internet without linking their profiles to a real identity.”
The Curse of the Household Analogy
It can’t be said too often: national government spending is not like household spending, and acting as if it is is damaging.
Building a Movement for Social Justice in the Time of Trump
Unlike many who are upset about Trump’s win, Liz Theoharis and William Hartung focus building a broad-based opposition with policy goals
2:00PM Water Cooler 1/23/2025
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; Trump wants nuclear reduction talks with China, Russia; Trump readies Schedule F assault; Energy in the executive; George R.R. Martin back in print ~
More Kentucky Dirty Dealings: Attorney General Schemes to Leave Hundreds of Millions in Pension Recovery on the Table, Give Sweetheart Payout to Attorneys, To Settle Claims Against Private Equity Kingpins KKR and Blackstone, Including Ones by Plaintiffs the AG Does Not Represent
A new legal low: the Kentucky Attorney General wants to gift the pension fund’s money to KKR and Blackstone to settle claims against them.
