by jpitney | Jul 21, 2025 | Economic Policy, Trade
Tariffs aren’t instant inflation. Goods take a month at sea, another in customs, and more time in storage. Then you work through the storerooms that businesses filled ahead of time. Only then do new costs hit shelves. So yes, tariffs raise prices—just not right away....
by jpitney | Jul 20, 2025 | Budget, California Politics
Dan Walters at CalMatters: When Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders were drafting a more-or-less final 2025-26 state budget last month, they were closing what they described as a $12 billion deficit, a number that the state’s media repeatedly cited. It...
by jpitney | Jul 19, 2025 | Polarization, Public Opinion
Megan Brenan at Gallup: Americans’ average confidence in major U.S. institutions is unchanged since last year, with a near-record-low 28% of U.S. adults expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in nine institutions...
by jpitney | Jul 18, 2025 | Military, Presidency, Separation of Powers
Don Wolfensberger: As we have relearned recently, members are reluctant to go against presidents of their own party, and minority party opposition, while expected, seldom has legs. Presidents since Nixon have uniformly ignored or denounced the War Powers Resolution...
by jpitney | Jul 17, 2025 | Congress, Economic Policy
From CBO: In this report, the Congressional Budget Office assesses its economic forecasts over the first two years and five years of each baseline period from as early as 1976. (The baseline period is the time frame covered by the agency’s annual baseline...
