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Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – February 09, 2025

By Tony Wikrent

Strategic Political Economy

Franklin D. Roosevelt, State of the Union Message to Congress, January 11, 1944​​​​​​​

[TW: In this speech, FDR proposed an economic bill of rights]

…a noisy minority maintains an uproar of demands for special favors for special groups. There are pests who swarm through the lobbies of the Congress and the cocktail bars of Washington, representing these special groups as opposed to the basic interests of the Nation as a whole. They have come to look upon the war primarily as a chance to make profits for themselves at the expense of their neighbors- profits in money or in terms of political or social preferment….

He’s a barrel of laughs He’s a real comedian: Prince Harry can breathe freely in Montecito, because President Donald Trump has ruled out deporting the self-exiled British royal. Harry’s immigration status is the subject of litigation in Washington DC, with the Heritage Foundation alleging that he may have concealed past illegal drug use that should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa. But the president told The New York Post Friday that he isn’t interested in throwing Harry out of the country. “I don’t want to do that,” he said. “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.” If there was ever a reason for Harry to mend fences with his family this is it. I know Ted Cruz’s ilk are fine with the president of the United States crudely insuring their wives but there’s not reason for Harry to put up with it. This is the schoolboy bully part of Trump that the right just loves which says everything about them. Look at the way they celebrated: I didn’t realize they were thinking of deporting Harry over his past drug use.

The catastrophic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians (the present “ceasefire” notwithstanding) has done nothing to relieve the centuries-old contradictions that exist between and within our three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Mysteriously, God’s role in these ongoing horrors is seldom seriously discussed by our political leaders, the media or even religious leaders. In Continue reading »

Senior MintPress journalist Alan MacLeod joins MintCast to discuss how his investigations into Israeli spies working in American newsrooms led to a smear campaign from The Jerusalem Post.

The post Jerusalem Post Attacks MintPress for Investigating Israel’s Media Influence appeared first on MintPress News.

Just as awful as they ever were Bill Cohen at Puck surveyed some of the Masters of the Universe about Trump’s first moves and they are fine with it. Who are these jerks? One Wall Street executive, who almost went to work for Trump this time around, artfully told me that the president was simply using the Oval Office and the media as his bully pulpit, itself a form of performance art. “Bullies love to see people cower in fear,” he said. “Why be a bully if you can’t do that? So how much of this is just, ‘Justin Trudeau, I’m gonna fuck with him,’ or ‘Mexico didn’t really do shit to stop immigration, time for them to shit their pants a little bit.

. Dynamic programming is a cornerstone of optimal control theory. By recursively breaking down complex problems into smaller, more manageable subproblems, it serves as a powerful tool in economics. Economic analysis often involves decisions with long-term consequences, and dynamic programming helps model how different agents make optimal choices when each decision depends on the current […]

Pizzagate for Trump 2.0 Why Elon Musk’s 20-something vandals aren’t tagging federal buildings the way male dogs mark trees is a mystery. A major goal of the DOGE effort is to publicly demonstrate who’s in charge. Donald Trump still thinks he is. “It’s good to be the king,” said Mel Brooks as the king of France in History of the World, Part 1. Donald Trump thinks so too. He pretended to be a successful business tycoon on TV. Now he’s pretending to be king. As powerful as Trump’s job is, he’s still just the president. The question is for how long? Trump has conferred on oligarch Elon Musk authorities the presidency does not have. Plus, Trump has been too busy playing king to have figured out he’s empowered Musk to usurp the presidency while he’s out ransacking Washington, D.C. It is clear that the Muskovites are bludgeoning anything and everything they perceive as left of center. It is also clear that they have little idea how government actually works and no regard for rule-following. They approach their federal targets with the kind of conspiracy mindset that spawned Pizzagate.

A tech bro treasure hunt, a dictator-funded AI moonshot, and much more from The Lever this week.

A counter-movement is forming A physician friend just yesterday asked me where her donations would have the most impact for stopping Musk-Trump. She was thinking of a couple of nationally known nonprofits. I didn’t have an answer but said I would try to get her one. There are likely many more of you who would send cash to fight the Muskovites if you knew best where to send it. Here are two lists of pending court cases against the Musk-Trump self-coup: Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions (Just Security)Lawsuits Related to Trump Admin Executive Orders (Court Watch) But the two long lists of court cases linked above are a diverse mix of governments not set up for directed donations and private groups that may be. The name-brand nonprofits my friend mentioned are not among them. There are too many NGOs, and it’s hard to know where to focus fire. Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel) spotlighted several groups involved in just one of the lawsuits launched against against the Muskovites, but also key players like Democracy Forward fighting behind the scenes: Self care is going to be important to keep from burning out.

Doctor Who has a unique way of renewing itself that other shows don't have, making each Doctor's intro feel like a pilot for a new show.

A critique of De Grauwe and Ji’s analysis of the UK reserve system, highlighting aspects of the UK’s fiscal framework they have overlooked

THE Pines Canasta group are the delighted recipients of playing card holders handmade by members of the Woolgoolga Men’s Shed. Problem solver and star Canasta player Hannele Perho, resident at The Pines in Woolgoolga, knew she had to find a solution to holding multiple cards in her hands while playing Canasta. Advertise with News of...

The post Woolgoolga Men’s Shed crafts card holders for canasta players appeared first on News Of The Area.

CWA Coffs Harbour branch has donated almost $1300 to the Love Your Sister foundation from its traditional Christmas Markets in December. The two-day sale was stacked with homemade produce and hand-crafted goods. “It was a busy time for events and activities in Coffs, with our sale taking place on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 December,...

The post Coffs CWA Christmas Markets raise almost $1.3k for ‘Love Your Sister’ appeared first on News Of The Area.

Why not kick off Superbowl Weekend by watching some sports movies? I’ve put together a list of 10 personal faves for you. Hey…save some of that guac for me (no double dipping). Bend it Like Beckham – Writer-director Gurinder Chadha whips up a cross-cultural masala that entertainingly marries “cheer the underdog” Rocky elements with Bollywood energy. The story centers on a headstrong young Sikh woman (Parminder Nagra) who is upsetting her tradition-minded parents by pursuing her “silly” dream to become a UK soccer star. Chadha weaves in subtext on the difficulties that South Asian immigrants face assimilating into British culture. Also with Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Breaking Away – This beautifully realized slice of middle-Americana (filmed in Bloomington, Indiana) from director Peter Yates and writer Steve Tesich (an Oscar-winning screenplay) is a perfect film on every level. More than just a sports movie, it’s an insightful coming of age tale and a rumination on small town life. Dennis Christopher is outstanding as a 19 year-old obsessed with bicycle racing, a pretty coed and anything Italian.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Yours truly has a reputation for being tough on grading students. It is true. I am tough. And for a reason. Social science is hard. Getting a grade in it is not something you have a right to. You have to show that you master the material. You have to earn it! One of the […]

How ’bout them eggs, MAGA? Oh heck, look at this: The Trump bump in consumer confidence is already over.  Tariff threats, stock market swings and rapidly reversing executive orders are causing Americans across the political spectrum to feel considerably more pessimistic about the economy than they did before President Trump took office.  Consumer sentiment fell about 5% in the University of Michigan’s preliminary February survey of consumers to its lowest reading since July 2024. Expectations of inflation in the year ahead jumped from 3.3% in January to 4.3%, the second month in a row of large increases and highest reading since November 2023.  “It’s very rare to see a full percentage point jump in inflation expectations,” said Joanne Hsu, who oversees the survey. Republicans have come off a postelection surge in confidence, she said, and Democrats and Independents also seem to believe that economic conditions have deteriorated since last month.  Morning Consult’s recent index of consumer confidence, too, fell between Jan. 25 and Feb.

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Apparently it’s now illegal for the press to cover live events that the government doesn’t want them to cover. Good to know: The Federal Communications Commission is investigating San Francisco-based KCBS for its coverage of immigration enforcement actions in San José last month, sparking concerns from press freedom advocates and drawing right-wing backlash to the radio station. In an interview on Fox News, Trump-appointed commission chair Brendan Carr said he opened the investigation after KCBS shared the live locations and vehicle descriptions of immigration officials on Jan. 26. “We have sent a letter of inquiry, a formal investigation into that matter, and they have just a matter of days left to respond to that inquiry and explain how this could possibly be consistent with their public interest obligations,” Carr said. First Amendment advocates worry the FCC investigation will have a chilling effect on news organizations reporting on the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans.

In two month’s time, 10 years would have passed since the Robodebt scheme was introduced into Australia via a flawed cabinet submission in April 2015 and the federal budget of that year. Robodebt was described in a 2023 BBC article as a “costly failure of public administration” within which “extensive, devastating and continuing” wrongdoing was Continue reading »

Will Australia’s Paris Agreement emissions reduction target for 2035 be consistent with a 1.5oC-world? The US wants a fossil fuel future; China wants renewables. Whatever … coal consumption is still rising. Australia’s contribution to a 1.5oC world Along with all the other nations that are signed up to the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Continue reading »