With monthly GDP reported today, we have the following picture of the economy.
Figure 1: Nonfarm Payroll employment incorporating preliminary benchmark (dark blue), implied September NFP incorporating Bloomberg 10/2 consensus (blue +), civilian employment (orange), industrial production (red), personal income excluding transfers in Ch.2017$ (green), manufacturing and trade sales in Ch.2017$ (black), consumption in Ch.2017$ (light blue), and monthly GDP in Ch.2017$ (pink), GDP (blue bars), all log normalized to 2021M11=0. Source: BLS via FRED, BLS preliminary benchmark, Federal Reserve, BEA 2023Q2 second release via FRED, S&P Global/IHS Markit (nee Macroeconomic Advisers, IHS Markit) (10/2/2023 release), Atlanta Fed (10/2/2023 release), and author’s calculations.
Commentary from SPGMI:
Monthly GDP rose 0.4% in August following a 0.5% increase in July
(unrevised). The increase in August extended a run of robust monthly
gains that began in May. Over this four-month span, monthly GDP rose at an annual rate of 5.7%. The increase in August was fully accounted for by increases in net exports and nonfarm inventory investment; domestic final sales were essentially flat in August. The level of monthly GDP averaged over July and August was 4.6% above the second-quarter average at an annual rate. Implicit in our latest tracking estimate of 4.8% GDP growth in the third quarter is a slight (0.1%) decline in monthly GDP in September.
I’m a night owl Menzie, I love these late night posts.
Unrelated to post: (This wasn’t entirely difficult to predict).
https://www.wsj.com/tech/apple-china-met-to-discuss-beijings-crackdown-on-western-apps-2219afcb
Assumably Apple is willing to be submissive to a dictator for the revenues~~also not difficult to predict.
BTW, that last paragraph from SPGMI pretty much summarizes how President Biden is destroying this nation. Let’s hope the orange thing at the front of a courtroom acting like a toddler who didn’t get his Snickers candy at checkout can rescue us.
Underrated stat:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT
October 9th, will be a Monday:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/predicting-years-nobel-prize-economics-narayan-ramachandran
https://www.hse.ru/en/news/community/862148382.html
I remember when I mentioned how much I liked Esther Duflo on this blog 2-3 times before she and her husband won the Nobel. And other than being mocked by Barkley Rosser for bringing up her name vs all the old white men that Barkley thought were much better choices, I was met by the sound of crickets on this blog. I never predicted Duflo would win, but I had made it clear before she won the award that I admired her work very much.
Paul Krugman lays out the case that the budgetary cost of helping Ukraine push back on Putin’s aggression is worth protecting democracy. His close? Trump and the MAGA hatters (which includes JohnH) hate democracy:
https://dnyuz.com/2023/10/02/why-maga-wants-to-betray-ukraine/
Why MAGA Wants to Betray Ukraine
The answer is, unfortunately, obvious. Whatever Republican hard-liners may say, they want Putin to win. They view the Putin regime’s cruelty and repression as admirable features that America should emulate. They support a wannabe dictator at home and are sympathetic to actual dictators abroad. So pay no attention to all those complaints about how much we’re spending in Ukraine. They aren’t justified by the actual cost of aid, and the people claiming to be worried about the cost don’t really care about the money. What they are, basically, is enemies of democracy, both abroad and at home.
Did Krugman mention that while the far right component of the U.S. Republican party is counting pennies slowly like Grandma checking out of the general store, one penny every two minutes, that Slovakia has now gone over to pro-Russian Prime Minister Robert Fico. I guess Bruce Hall and CoRev can celebrate now. I’m assuming “ltr” is ready to throw a celebration as well. Maybe, like Xi Jinping, they can make Apple apps illegal there as well.
https://www.rferl.org/a/slovakia-elections-ukraine-support/32617800.html
Slovakia is a small country of no consequence. The real problem, Poland, has been solved. Turkey has a lot more consequence, but Biden has brilliantly held Ergodan on a short leash. Ergodan is now getting his cheap grain from Ukraine, so he will be nice. Nothing to see here.
I wish I could be as indifferent about Robert Fico as you are. I suppose Belarus is “small fries” also? But it struck me as largely assistive and beneficial to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine when Putin was stationing troops along Belarus’ southern border. If Fico does nothing else, he is very apt to yank aid that Slovakia has been providing Ukraine up to now, similar to how the U.S. Republicans are attempting to rob Ukraine of defense support.
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/
I’m assuming “—” is ready to throw a celebration as well.
I’m assuming “—” is ready to throw a celebration as well.
I’m assuming “—” is ready to throw a celebration as well.
[ Ceaseless crazed lying and bullying.
Always the need to harm and intimidate. ]
“Ceaseless crazed lying and bullying.
Always the need to harm and intimidate.”
Does Xi know you talk about him that way?
Just curious what you think about the CCP censoring the picture of the two Chinese track stars embracing and accidentally showing the number “64” (their two lane numbers, on their shorts) while doing so. Since you may not have seen the image: https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/04/china/hurdlers-hugging-photo-censor-china-intl-hnk/index.html. Thoughts? Comments?
“ltr” equates images of Winnie-the-Pooh with the Nazi swastika, so I wouldn’t anticipate any deep answers here.
Moses, thanks for the kind mention. While the US is capable of throwing a lot of money toward Ukraine (over $20billion was sent to World Bank which then sent it to Ukraine as a PEACE initiative,
Unlike the MDTF, PEACE Fund disbursements do not
require a prior affirmation of macroeconomic policy
framework sustainability, nor are they tied to a set of
reform commitments. (CRS Reports)
…
there are non-financial limits that are real and non-political or bi-partisan (take your pick).
US officials emphasized to CNN that there is a set level of munitions in US stockpiles around the world, essentially an emergency reserve, that the military is not willing to part ways with. The levels of those stockpiles are classified.
But officials say the US has been nearing that red line as it has continued to supply Ukraine with 155mm ammunition, the NATO standard used for artillery rounds. The US began ramping up ammunition production last year when it became clear that the war would drag on far longer than anticipated. But the ammunition will still take “years” to mass produce to acceptable levels, National Security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN Sunday.
…
But US officials became so concerned in recent weeks about the US’ ability to resupply Ukraine that President Joe Biden decided to send Kyiv highly controversial cluster munitions. The move was politically dicey and risked alienating European allies, many of whom have banned the munitions because of the risk they pose to civilians.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/18/politics/ukraine-critical-ammo-shortage-us-nato-grapple/index.html
Nothing is ever as simple as it first appears.
We are spending 5% of our military budget to get real live testing of all our weapons systems and strategies against the weapons and strategies of one of our two main adversaries in this world. In the process that adversaries military is being drastically depleted whereas not a single US soldier is dying. This is the BEST DEAL EVER – think you for for competent leadership President Biden.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/opinion/life-expectancy-college-degree.html
October 3, 2023
In America, Not Having a College Degree Can Take Years Off Your Life
By Anne Case and Angus Deaton
By many measures, the U.S. economy is thriving: Unemployment stands close to the 50-year low set in April, the fraction of people aged 25 to 54 in work is at a two-decade high, gross domestic product is growing rapidly, inflation is falling, and the S & P 500 is a third higher than it was before the pandemic.
While encouraging, economic statistics like these offer an incomplete picture of the state of the country. There is a deep and persistent national malcontent — in one recent NBC News poll, nearly three-quarters of Americans say the country is on the wrong track, while Gallup reports that poor life ratings are at record highs.
What the economic statistics obscure in the averages is that there is not one but two Americas — and a clear line demarcating the division is educational attainment. Americans with four-year college degrees are flourishing economically, while those without are struggling.
Worse still, as we discovered in new research, the America of those without college degrees has been scarred by death and a staggeringly shorter life span.
Almost two-thirds of American adults do not have college degrees, and they have become increasingly excluded from good jobs, political power and social esteem. As their lives and livelihoods are threatened, their longevity declines.
In the 1970s, American life expectancy grew by about four months each year. By the 1980s, it was similar to life expectancy in other rich countries. Since then, other countries have continued to progress, with life spans increasing by more than two and a half months a year.
But the United States has slowly, gradually and then precipitously fallen behind.
[Graph]
These ever widening gaps have long troubled demographers and prompted three reports from the National Academy of Sciences. The gaps grew wider during the pandemic.
But even before, not only was life expectancy in the United States far from that of the best performing countries — Japan and Switzerland — but it was also more than two years lower than that of the worst performers — Germany and Britain — among 22 other rich countries.
Public health authorities in the United States record educational qualifications at death so that, after 1992, we can calculate life expectancy by college degree, starting at age 25, when most people have completed their education. In new research using these individual death records, we have found startling results.
Life expectancy at age 25 (adult life expectancy) for those with four-year college degrees rose to 59 years on the eve of the pandemic — so an average individual would live to 84 — up from 54 years (or 79 years old) in 1992. During the pandemic, by 2021, the expectation slipped back a year.
But we were staggered to discover that for those without college degrees, life expectancy reached its peak around 2010 and has been falling since, an unfolding disaster that has attracted little attention in the media or among elected officials.
Adult life expectancy for this group started out two and a half years lower, at 51.6, in 1992 — so an average individual would live to nearly 77 years old. But by 2021, it was 49.8 years (or almost 75 years old), roughly eight and a half years less than people with college degrees, and those without had lost 3.3 years during the pandemic.
[Graph]
The divergence of life expectancies on either side of the college divide — one going up, one going down — is both shocking and rare. We have found reference to only one other case in modern history, in the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Like those countries, the United States is failing its less educated people, an awful condemnation of where the country is today.
If all Americans had the life expectancy of the college educated, the United States would have been one of the best performers among the rich countries in terms of life expectancy, not the worst. It is the experience of those without college degrees that accounts for America’s failure.
The educational divide is also clear in economic circumstances. Since 1979, wages for those with a B.A. or more far exceeded wages for those with less education. Families without a member with a college degree had a median income that was only 4 percent higher in 2019 than in 1970, compared with 24 percent higher for families where at least one member had a college degree. According to Federal Reserve data, wealth was equally split between those with and without college degrees in 1990, but today three-quarters of wealth is owned by college graduates.
Why is this happening in America? We and others have documented an increase in corporate power relative to workers, which includes the decline of competition, the decline of unions and their ability to raise wages for workers without college degrees and the decreased mobility of workers from less to more successful places.
Other rich countries have been less prone to creating an elite class out of the college educated, while the United States has designed a system that too often works for itself but not for working-class Americans. They have been increasingly excluded from the local and national power that once came with unions and have lost good jobs and wages to excessive health care costs, globalization and automation. Furthermore, the children of the elite rarely serve in the military and increasingly hoard places in top selective colleges.
Unhealthy behaviors are more common among people without college degrees, but those behaviors can often be traced to the environments in which they live, lack of work and community decay, as well as their being targeted by the pharmaceutical industry in the first phase of the opioid epidemic. The destruction of good jobs for less educated men also helps explain much of the decline in stable two-parent families among non-college-educated men and women. We have also increasingly come to believe that a college degree works through often arbitrary assignation of status, so that jobs are handed out not on the basis of necessary or useful skills but by the use of the degree as a hiring screen….
Anne Case and Angus Deaton are economists at Princeton.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2024777118
March 8, 2021
Life expectancy in adulthood is falling for those without a BA degree, but as educational gaps have widened, racial gaps have narrowed
By Anne Case and Angus Deaton
Abstract
A 4-y college degree is increasingly the key to good jobs and, ultimately, to good lives in an ever-more meritocratic and unequal society. The bachelor’s degree (BA) is increasingly dividing Americans; the one-third with a BA or more live longer and more prosperous lives, while the two-thirds without face rising mortality and declining prospects. We construct a time series, from 1990 to 2018, of a summary of each year’s mortality rates and expected years lived from 25 to 75 at the fixed mortality rates of that year. Our measure excludes those over 75 who have done relatively well over the last three decades and focuses on the years when deaths rose rapidly through drug overdoses, suicides, and alcoholic liver disease and when the decline in mortality from cardiovascular disease slowed and reversed. The BA/no-BA gap in our measure widened steadily from 1990 to 2018. Beyond 2010, as those with a BA continued to see increases in our period measure of expected life, those without saw declines. This is true for the population as a whole, for men and for women, and for Black and White people. In contrast to growing education gaps, gaps between Black and White people diminished but did not vanish. By 2018, intraracial college divides were larger than interracial divides conditional on college; by our measure, those with a college diploma are more alike one another irrespective of race than they are like those of the same race who do not have a BA.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/opinion/life-expectancy-college-degree.html
October 3, 2023
In America, Not Having a College Degree Can Take Years Off Your Life
By Anne Case and Angus Deaton
By many measures, the U.S. economy is thriving: Unemployment stands close to the 50-year low set in April, the fraction of people aged 25 to 54 in work is at a two-decade high, gross domestic product is growing rapidly, inflation is falling, and the S & P 500 is a third higher than it was before the pandemic.
While encouraging, economic statistics like these offer an incomplete picture of the state of the country. There is a deep and persistent national malcontent — in one recent NBC News poll, nearly three-quarters of Americans say the country is on the wrong track, while Gallup reports that poor life ratings are at record highs.
What the economic statistics obscure in the averages is that there is not one but two Americas — and a clear line demarcating the division is educational attainment. Americans with four-year college degrees are flourishing economically, while those without are struggling.
Worse still, as we discovered in new research, the America of those without college degrees has been scarred by death and a staggeringly shorter life span.
Almost two-thirds of American adults do not have college degrees, and they have become increasingly excluded from good jobs, political power and social esteem. As their lives and livelihoods are threatened, their longevity declines.
In the 1970s, American life expectancy grew by about four months each year. By the 1980s, it was similar to life expectancy in other rich countries. Since then, other countries have continued to progress, with life spans increasing by more than two and a half months a year.
But the United States has slowly, gradually and then precipitously fallen behind.
Life expectancy in the United States falls behind other rich countries
Life expectancy of Americans at birth
These ever widening gaps have long troubled demographers and prompted three reports from the National Academy of Sciences. The gaps grew wider during the pandemic.
But even before, not only was life expectancy in the United States far from that of the best performing countries — Japan and Switzerland — but it was also more than two years lower than that of the worst performers — Germany and Britain — among 22 other rich countries.
Public health authorities in the United States record educational qualifications at death so that, after 1992, we can calculate life expectancy by college degree, starting at age 25, when most people have completed their education. In new research using these individual death records, we have found startling results.
Life expectancy at age 25 (adult life expectancy) for those with four-year college degrees rose to 59 years on the eve of the pandemic — so an average individual would live to 84 — up from 54 years (or 79 years old) in 1992. During the pandemic, by 2021, the expectation slipped back a year….
Anne Case and Angus Deaton are economists at Princeton.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=14GnX
January 15, 2018
Life Expectancy at Birth for United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and United Kingdom, 2000-2021
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=11RGk
January 30, 2018
Infant Mortality Rate for United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and United Kingdom, 2000-2021
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=159AZ
January 15, 2018
Life Expectancy at Birth for United States, Israel and Switzerland, 1992-2021
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=159B9
January 30, 2018
Infant Mortality Rate for United States, Israel and Switzerland, 1992-2021
Are you kidding me?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/former-president-donald-trump-set-to-appear-in-new-york-court-for-opening-of-civil-fraud-trial/ar-AA1hzdLh#image=AA1hAdT1|1
“Donald Bender, the Trump Organization’s long-time accountant with the Mazars USA firm, told the court that he issued yearly “statements of financial condition” for the former president’s businesses that were based on numbers provided by the company and rarely questioned them.”
I am not an accountant but I have at least a clue what the financial audit partner is responsible for (never mind that BS about audits from JohnH as we know that troll cannot count past 10 without taking off his shoes). It is true that the business has to prepare the financials but no accounting partner worth his salt would approve the financials without pressing the client on their veracity.
Now Mazars may be a third rate accounting firm but this is malpractice. Of course this is why Trump hired Mazars.
Yeah, next we’ll be hearing that all of Enron’s numbers are false. The same as bank credit rating agencies, audit firms would “never” sell their big-hearted audits. Corporations don’t “shop” for audits, and drug addicts like Michael Jackson don’t “shop” for doctors. This is idyllic America we’re talking about, damn it. You take back what you said about Mazars, right now!!!! CNBC and Jim Cramer won’t stand for your tawdry accusations!!!! Cramer says you are part of the tabloidization of American news!!! Shame on your Sir!!!! And shame on any of your family pets!!!!! Even your goldfish!!!!! You!!!!……. You!!!!……. CFTC-lover you!!!!!
“next we’ll be hearing that all of Enron’s numbers are false.”
Talk to anyone who worked for Andersen back then – they knew Enron was cooking the books well before the collapse. The word had gone out not to gloss over this mess until Enron told the Andersen partners that a $50 million per year contract was on the line. So they sucked it up and ultimately destroyed the partnership. Short-term gains for long-run disasters.
BTW, I haven’t checked my WorldCom stock shares recently. They must be killing those bastards at AT&T right now. Yeeeehaaaawww!!!!!
American accounting firms selling soft-hearted audits…….. Hahahahaha!!!! Really?!?!?!? Somebody’s been binge-watching CBS’ 60 Minutes again……..
Chas Freeman: “The way the American media have dealt with the Ukraine war brings to mind a comment by Mark Twain: “The researches of many commentators have already thrown much darkness on this subject, and it is probable that, if they continue, we shall soon know nothing at all about it.”
It is said that, in war, truth is the first casualty. War is typically accompanied by a fog of official lies. No such fog has ever been as thick as in the Ukraine war. While many hundreds of thousands of people have fought and died in Ukraine, the propaganda machines in Brussels, Kyiv, London, Moscow, and Washington have worked overtime to ensure that we take passionate sides, believe what we want to believe, and condemn anyone who questions the narrative we have internalized…
If the purpose of war is to establish a better peace, this war is not doing that. Ukraine is being eviscerated on the altar of Russophobia. At this point, no one can confidently predict how much of Ukraine or how many Ukrainians will be left when the fighting stops or when and how to stop it. Kyiv just failed to meet more than a fraction of its recruitment goals. Combating Russia to the last Ukrainian was always an odious strategy. But when NATO is about to run out of Ukrainians, it is not just cynical; it is no longer a viable option.” https://chasfreeman.net/the-many-lessons-of-the-ukraine-war/
Of course, pgly and Ducky will try to spin Charles Freeman as just another Putin stooge. But check his bio, part of which is quoted here: “He was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 1993-94, earning the highest public service awards of the Department of Defense for his roles in designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War European security system and in reestablishing defense and military relations with China. He served as U. S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm)…He was Director for Chinese Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from 1979-1981. He was the principal American interpreter during the late President Nixon’s path-breaking visit to China in 1972. In addition to his Middle Eastern, African, East Asian and European diplomatic experience, he served in India.” https://chasfreeman.net/biography/
But Krugman thinks that opponents of this pointless and futile proxy war are Putin stooges. The man has never stooped so low…Joe McCarthy would be proud.
Johnny, quick question – which country invaded the other?
“If the purpose of war is to establish a better peace, this war is not doing that.”
Agreed. And since Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr. Freedman needs to raise this point with Russia. Or perhaps you could raise this point with Russia the next time your Russian masters get in touch with a paycheck and a new “narrative”.
Johnny loves narratives. Like when Johnny tells us what I’ll do before I do it. Johnny regularly assigns made-up professions, levels of income, beliefs, behaviors and thoughts to those who disagree with him. Johnny is backing the invaders, Putin’s Russia, and that’s not a good look. So instead of discussing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the basis of facts, he tries to change the subject to made-up nonsense about other commenters.
‘Cause that’s just the kind of person Johnny is.
March 1936 Hitler sent 20000 soldiers into Rhineland.
France stood still.
Should France have nipped Hitler then?
Same question at Munich in 1938
Jonny boy has been ordered by his master Putin to do more worthless spinning so people will not notice how Putin treats his own troops with such utter disdain:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-war-ukraine-storm-z-b2423103.html
Putin’s ‘punishment battalions’ full of convicts and drunk recruits: ‘They’re just meat’
Russia is recruiting prisoners into ‘Storm-Z’ squads to bolster their forces in Ukraine. They are often used as cannon fodder
Drunk recruits. Insubordinate soldiers. Convicts. They’re among hundreds of military and civilian offenders who’ve been pressed into Russian penal units known as “Storm-Z” squads and sent to the frontlines in Ukraine this year, according to 13 people with knowledge of the matter, including five fighters in the units. Few live to tell their tale, the people said. “Storm fighters, they’re just meat,” said one regular soldier from army unit no. 40318 who was deployed near the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine in May and June.
check his bio.
I did. You haven’t all that much. He started off as a Nixon stooge in China went onto blame the US for 9/11 and generally has been criticized for naive views re the Middle East. Yea – a long resume tattered with all sorts of criticisms and controversies.
That bio was written by the subject of the bio. Excellent for objectivety.
Exactly as I predicted…pgly and Ducky to negatively spin Chas Freeman’s bio. But let’s not forget that Freeman earned “the highest public service awards of the Department of Defense for his roles in designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War European security system and in reestablishing defense and military relations with China.” https://chasfreeman.net/biography/
Sounds like Freeman is someone worth listening to…but not according to gung-ho warmongers like pgly and Ducky.
Since pgly and Ducky can’t debate the merits of a pointless and futile proxy war in Ukraine on the basis of facts, they just snark, insult, and smear others, even calling Freeman a Nixon stooge.
“pgly and Ducky to negatively spin Chas Freeman’s bio.”
It is called filling in the blanks dumbass. You cite his glossly self serving fluff and I do actual research. I see you cannot refute my actual research so you repeat your usual worthless garbage.
Come on Jonny boy – this fluff of yours is weak tea and an embarrassment to your own mom.
“gung-ho warmongers like pgly and Ducky.”
Odd – we are both calling for Putin to end his war crimes. You are the one cheering his aggression on.
Same Chas Freeman who wrote “I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be…They should expect to be displaced from the ground they occupy.”?
Not good news from Chas for Russian dissidents or separatists IN UKRAINE. Or, what am I missing?
Jonny boy reads the resume written by Chas Freeman himself, which leaves out a lot. Gee Jonny boy – Bruce Hall may be trying really hard to catch you in the race for 2023 troll of the year but damn – you are not going to be caught!
“If the purpose of war is to establish a better peace, this war is not doing that. Ukraine is being eviscerated on the altar of Russophobia.”
Wow – whoever wrote this garbage might blame New Yorkers for 9/11. Oh wait – he did!
Maybe your boy back in the late 1930’s would have told the Brits to relax as Nazi rule was a good thing.
Freeman on the government crackdown in Tiananmen Square? The government should have shut down the protests even earlier. Seriously – this is JohnH’s kind of guy!
NOW you’re worried about Ukraine?Your “worries” would quickly cease if the invading Russians decided to cut THEIR losses and go home. Simple solution, but somehow one you have yet to suggest. You’ve been busy denigrating Ukraine, its president, his family, et. al. You’ve even quoted those who believe Ukraine should negotiate by agreeing. to terms favorable to the invader.Yet, you have the audacity to moan about a futile, pointless war!
By now, JH, your tongue is so forked it’s a wonder your mouth has not suffered permanent damage. You likely need upper body protection soon to go with fire retardant pants that can protect habitual liars whose pants catch fire hourly if not daily.
Other than most posters here, who would stoop to calling you a Putin stooge? For me, stooge will do just fine.
You suddenly noticed that I’m concerned about Ukraine? Well, of course. What’s happening there is what has happened to every country that agreed to be the host of a US proxy war.
Chris Hedges: “There are many ways for a state to project power and weaken adversaries, but proxy wars are one of the most cynical. Proxy wars devour the countries they purport to defend. They entice nations or insurgents to fight for geopolitical goals that are ultimately not in their interest. The war in Ukraine has little to do with Ukrainian freedom and a lot to do with degrading the Russian military and weakening Vladimir Putin’s grip on power. And when Ukraine looks headed for defeat, or the war reaches a stalemate, Ukraine will be sacrificed like many other states, in what one of the founding members of the CIA, Miles Copeland Jr., referred to as the “Game of Nations” and “the amorality of power politics.”
https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/12/chris-hedges-ukraines-death-by-proxy/
Little Jonny boy omits two pesky facts:
(1) Hedges worked for RT America until recently;
(2) In a March 2022 piece for the Salon website, Hedges wrote that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was “a criminal war of aggression”.
Jonny boy may be a serial liar but his lies are so transparent it makes me laugh.
For all his posturing, JH is clearly NOT anti-war. Currently, he’s simply anti U.S. and European assistance to Ukraine. He’s been offered countless opportunities to say this pointless, futile, and wasteful could end quickly with a pull out by the invading Russian forces. The ones who began and continue this pointless, futile, and wasteful war.
That would be meaningful as Ukrainian civilian casualties approach 30,000, according to UN estimates. That he won’t exposes his fake anti war handwringing as dishonest, deceitful, and way, , way more than blatant hypocrisy.
Russian stooge? Why limit him? His current stoogeism appears to be boundless.
So a senile old clown who retired from real work 30 years ago, babbling out his lack of knowledge on what is happening today. I guess you really had to dig way down into the bottom of the barrel to find someone who would support Putins narratives.
What I’m dying to know is what Hillary Clinton thinks. She got Richard Holbrooke to do all her dirty work on Mid-East diplomacy and then take the credit for Holbrooke’s blood sweat and tears and eventual death from heart failure, and Susan Rice to fall on the sword for all of Hillary’s mistakes. She’s a classy lady and on the rare occasions she’s not collecting money from Saudis and other foreign governments, she’s who I trust on foreign policy.
Then there’s the server thing. But that doesn’t count because nobody warned Hillary it would be a huge F**k up
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/colin-powell-warned-hillary-clinton-careful-personal-email/story?id=41832016
https://time.com/4348021/hillary-clinton-emails-ig-report/
JOLTS!
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm
JOB OPENINGS AND LABOR TURNOVER – AUGUST 2023
The number of job openings increased to 9.6 million on the last business day of August, the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, the number of hires and total separations changed
little at 5.9 million and 5.7 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (3.6 million) and layoffs and
discharges (1.7 million) changed little. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job
openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and by establishment size
class.
The rise in openings was nearly all in professional ans business services. No idea why.
Mega MAGA show this afternoon. McCarthy refused to give democrats a deal and is going head to head with the Clown rebellion. Get out the popcorn and hold on to your seat. Regardless of outcome this will be interesting.
I’m trying to decide best snack of choice here. I got red hots, almond M&Ms, Mint fudge cookies, old Starbursts that may be getting hard now, small sized Moon Pies, Lemon coated Marshmallow Pies. I think that’s about it, unless you count Blue Ribbon (out of Le Mars Iowa) ice cream sticks. Sweets I have with coffee, tangy sour I have with soda pop (red hots would be matched with soda). Don’t be afraid to answer this junk-food-junkie vote late as they may have multiple votes on McCarthy today. Make your fastfood degeneracy count. VOTE below!!!!!
Is Trump really this stupid? Or does he want the judge to destroy Trump’s empire?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-gags-trump-after-ex-president-attacks-his-law-clerk/ar-AA1hE55m?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=c282d3af6aba439bb61000459def71bc&ei=6
Shortly before a lunch break, Trump circulated a false rumor about Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s clerk
Steve Reilly and Adam Klasfeld
The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial on Tuesday issued a gag order after the former president attacked his clerk by name and shared her image on social media. “Personal attacks on members on my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I won’t tolerate it [in my courtroom],” said New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron. He added later to “consider this a gag order for all parties from posting about any members of my staff.” The judge rebuked the “untrue and personally identifying posts” about a staff member.
“Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, along with a picture of the clerk and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The post appeared to show a photograph of Greenfield standing next to Schumer, without any more context. Fact-checkers note that false rumors about Schumer and infidelity appear to trace their origins to a now-shuttered satirical website.
Engoron didn’t mention the former president by name, but the remarks clearly referred to him. The judge said he ordered the post deleted, and it was. Trump deleted his Truth Social post.
The judge rebuked the “untrue and personally identifying posts,” which identified Greenfield by name and by a picture of her and Schumer.
Trump apparently decided to not request a jury trial. That to me means he want to lose the trial. He would not lose the properties but would be fined and lose the right to administrate the properties. To the low information voters that would be considered as “the democrats stole Trumps properties” – something that would be a harder sell if he was convicted by 12 citizens. The “evil democrats/pedophiles stole the properties” narrative would give Trump a big boast even among low information non-MAGA-cult people. Perhaps enough to win the general election.
Got some entertaining melodrama in the U.S. House of Reps right now. Look for a live stream in your neighborhood.
McCarthy ousted as Speaker. Good riddance. Votes to oust. All 214 Democrats. 8 MAGA members.
My understanding was it was 208 Democrats and 8 Republicans for a total of 216 yes votes for removal. Can you tell me where NYT and C-SPAN got their math wrong?? Speaking of which, I never heard Nancy Pelosi’s vote.
I stand corrected. Working on a technical paper which has my math all twisted.
I can’t even seem to do calculus anymore (I got a D and a B in my two calculus classes in college, so don’t ask me), so you’re at least one up on me. I just thought in this case it was important to be exact. Although in defense of myself the class I got a D in was taught by the Dept Dean and >85% of the class had dropped out or taken an “Incomplete” by the end of the term. So….. crazy times. Probably still shameful performance for a class at a small state university.
Geoff Bennett:
“As we talk about Congress, there’s this effort now led by Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Does Congressman McCarthy, Speaker McCarthy, does he deserve to keep his job as speaker, and should Democrats help bail him out?”
Hillary Rodham Clinton:
“Well, I’m going to let Hakeem Jeffries and his caucus decide that. But I was pleasantly surprised that the speaker did the right thing when he made common cause with those, as we like to say, grownup members of his own Republican Caucus and Democrats to keep the government open. I would have hope that that kind of mature leadership isn’t punished by the most extreme members of his caucus. So, how the Democrats play this — and they have a couple of different options — is for them to decide. But I think McCarthy did the right thing for the country. And isn’t that a good thing to be able to say he did the right thing for the country?”
There you have it from Hillary folks. McCarthy LIED to President Biden, yanked out defense funding for Ukraine of $6 Billion, promising President Biden the Ukraine defense funding would be put back later, and Hillary thinks “McCarthy did the right thing”. I tell you, those young students at Columbia University can’t get that type of “insight” and “political acumen” from just anyone. Only Hillary.
I suspect the bar for doing the right thing is really low. Maybe we should praise Putin for not using nukes yet.
Whatever Ducky and pgly think about the wisdom of the Ukraine war, it has finally become a political issue in the United States…on many levels. US propaganda’s effectiveness in stifling dissent has been compromised.
Republicans’ refusal to approve aid to Ukraine is a clear sign that the geni out of the bottle. Suddenly it has become acceptable to ask questions about US involvement in Ukraine. All Ducky and pgly’s snarks, insults, and attempts to vilify any dissenting opinion will be in vain. That geni has left the bottle.
One big issue concerns who the West is really supporting in Ukraine: “Prior to the U.S. and NATO decision to aid Ukraine against its Russian-backed separatists, these militias were commonly identified as neo-Nazi in the Western media. They professed to be followers of Stepan Bandera – who has now been adopted as a revered national figure by Kyiv. Bandera was famous for his extreme Ukrainian nationalism, fascism, antisemitism, xenophobia, and violence. He and his followers were allegedly responsible for massacring 50,000 – 100,000 Poles and for collaborating with the Nazis in the murder of an even larger number of Jews. After the US/NATO proxy war broke out, despite their continuing display of Nazi regalia and symbols on their uniforms and their ties to neo-Nazi groups in other countries, Western media ceased to characterize these militias as neo-Nazis.” https://chasfreeman.net/the-many-lessons-of-the-ukraine-war/#_ftn4
The issue of Ukrainian Nazis is now front and center…thanks to the Canadian government’s honoring one in the Parliament and having him rub shoulders with Canada’s top leaders. As a result, “Israel urges Canada to address WW2 Nazi immigration policy towards Jews” https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-761391
Canada’s foreign minister, “Chrystia Freeland’s granddad was indeed a Nazi collaborator – so much for Russian disinformation” https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/chrystia-freelands-granddad-was-indeed-a-nazi-collaborator-so-much-for-russian-disinformation
Yet another issue asks where the money really going? “Leaked U.S. strategy on Ukraine sees corruption as the real threat.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/02/biden-admin-ukraine-strategy-corruption-00119237
The eventual, steady drip, drip, drip of bad news and uncomfortable questions is an important characteristic of the US’ pointless and futile wars of the past 75 years. Once people start to hear the seamy details of the US ally and start to ask how their tax dollars are being use, the process of losing public support becomes irreversible, much as Ducky and pgly wish their Russophobia could reign supreme.
For actual information about Russias attack on Ukraine and Putins processes and motives to get there, the ISW had a great summary.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/weakness-lethal-why-putin-invaded-ukraine-and-how-war-must-end
“The issue of Ukrainian Nazis”
Yea – Jonny boy has gone full Putin with his disgusting lies.
Finally, you’ve come out and approved the Russian invasion. You’re no longer hiding behind your obviously fake anti-war stance. Instead, you’re on board with Russia’s insistence that its main mission is deNazifying Ukraine. Sure, the deNazifying has cost 10,000 or so civilians their lives with another 17 000 or so wounded, but, in your eyes, it’s certainly been worth it.
That being the case—since you’re all in on this one—you can cease your faux handwringing over pointless, futile destructive wars. Clearly, for you, this war is far from being pointless and futile. The Russians are on the March, and you couldn’t be happier.
No need to lie any more, especially after your previous post on the evisceration of Ukrainian forces. Your anointed good guys are winning. No need for you to parade around as a champion of the oppressed. You’ve chosen the billionaire ex- KGB colonel as your idea of what a leader should be.
Your horribly forked tongue can finally recover.
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera died in 1959. This is Putin’s excuse for his war crimes? Damn – you are truly the dumbest troll ever.