Category Archives: economics

Trump’s Happy Labor Day

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As the nation celebrates Labor Day, Donald Trump is escalating his attack on the federal workforce by trying to strip union rights from more federal employees.

Trump signed an executive order targeting workers at key federal agencies like the National Weather Service and NASA, arguing for a “national security” exemption to circumvent collective bargaining rights. This is part of Trump’s broader strategy to diminish the power of labor unions, which have long been essential advocates for workers’ rights and protections.

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Kill the Messenger

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Every damn day. That’s what it seems like. Every damn day the man seventy-seven million Americans voted back into office does something more outrageous than the day before. It is exhausting.

Trump eviscerates environmental protections. He accuses former President Barack Obama of treason. He rips up labor agreements. He plans to privatize Social Security. He forces the Smithsonian to take down an exhibit that includes his two impeachments. The European Union, Japan, Columbia University, and CBS are all surrendering to him.

And now he fires the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he doesn’t like the jobs numbers.

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249 Years In

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The date will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

John Adams, Letter to his Wife Abigail, July 3, 1776.

That guy could sure write, couldn’t he? John Adams was prescient. He accurately described the way we celebrate Independence Day. He did get the date wrong. He was certain July 2nd would be the date we celebrate. That was the day the Continental Congress passed Virginia’s resolution on independence. July 4th, the day we do celebrate, was the day Congress approved the text of the Declaration of Independence. The document, primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, spelled out the reasons for the thirteen colonies’ separation from England.

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President Musk II

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Elon Musk has been making the rounds of Washington, giving exit interviews as he steps back from his Trump ordained role of destroying as much of the federal government as possible in the shortest amount of time. No one, perhaps not even Elon, knows why he is leaving a role he so obviously relishes.

Who else would gleefully prance around a stage carrying a chainsaw and celebrating “feeding the United States Agency for International Development into the woodchipper?” That act alone left poor people around the world to starve while food already purchased by USAID from American famers rotted in warehouses. What kind of a monster does something like that and cheers about it?

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He don’t know

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On Meet the Press NBC’s Kristine Welker asked Donald Trump, “don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?”

“I don’t know,” Trump replied.

Excuse me while I reach for my bottle of Excedrin.

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The Trump Recession

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The Trump Recession is upon us. Not officially, that could take months. But the handwriting is on the wall. Just as clear as it was one year ago when every creditable economist warned Donald Trump’s plans for trade tariffs and government layoffs would knock the Goldilocks economy of Joe Biden off its feet. Seventy-seven million voters didn’t believe it. Or didn’t care. Now they can care. Or not. It’s hard to tell.

The latest GDP report shows that the U.S. economy contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, marking a sharp downturn from the 2.4% growth in the final quarter of 2024. This decline was largely driven by a surge in imports ahead of Trump’s newly announced tariffs, which widened the trade deficit and negatively impacted GDP calculations.

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Hip hip for Harvard

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Whether it was a high school football game on a Friday night or a college matchup you have probably all participated in a roaring cheer at one time or another. Anyone who has been following these posts for a while knows that I earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton many years ago where I cheered on many a Princeton team. The college cheer was in fact heard for the first time at the famous first ever college football game between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869.

I write that preamble so that you get the significance of my rousing cheer for Harvard, Princeton’s rival among rivals in the league of elite universities. It is special when a Princeton tiger is moved to compliment people who wear crimson robes. Harvard does have a mascot I am told. But it appears to be an inanimate statue of the school’s founder, which must look strange along the sidelines. I digress.

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