Economics
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A Prime Minister With a Spine, And A Tariff War Wisconsin Didn’t Ask For
I noticed a few Canadian flags flying in Madison this weekend. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one relishing watching Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney take on Donald Trump by saying, essentially, “No.” to his demands in trade talks. Many Americans are tired of heads of state who tiptoe around the bombast and bluster from this… Continue reading
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More Development Dollars Allocated In Dane County For African-American Community Programming
Recently, Dane County residents learned that it has committed a $1.5 million investment toward the new MTZ Family Life Center, spearheaded by the MTZ Charitable Organization associated with Mt. Zion Baptist Church in South Madison. The project recently broke ground this month as part of an $8.8 million capital campaign to expand vital community services. Madison Mayor… Continue reading
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The Results When Friendship Meets A Crazy Wrecking Ball
Canada and the United States have spent generations building a relationship that looks less like diplomacy and more like a long, comfortable marriage with shared borders, shared industries, shared cultural shorthand, and the occasional good‑natured ribbing about hockey or health care. The underlying theme is that neighbors who get along tend to prosper. We can… Continue reading
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Story Of The Week: Fractions Widen Between UAE and Saudi Arabia
I suggest the most interesting and consequential news story this week was the growing divide between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. I noticed that national evening news broadcasts on ABC and NBC, while giving time to fluff stories and reports because they had videos of crashes and fires, could not provide viewers the… Continue reading
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Madison TV News Story About Grocery Prices Was Seriously Tone Deaf
If one were looking to report on the impact of high grocery prices on the wallets of Madisonians, it might be assumed a reporter would head to Hy-Vee, Metcalfe Market, or a Woodman’s store. But when the WKOW news team chose the story, they went to Whole Foods. Or, as it is comically referred to,… Continue reading
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Chaos In The Republic: What President McKinley’s Assassination Revealed About A Fractured America
Eric Rauchway’s Murdering McKinley situates the assassination of President William McKinley within a nation deeply divided by the forces of industrial capitalism. I probably did not need to pull another book from the shelves this weekend, but I was in the mood for something different, so the slim volume of just over 200 pages fell… Continue reading
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SOTU: Why Aren’t Donald Trump’s Supporters Ecstatic Right Now?
One might assume that on the day of President Trump’s State of the Union address—one full year into his second term—his supporters would be basking in the warm glow of triumph. After all, this is the moment they fought for. The victory they insisted would restore greatness, stability, and a kind of mythic national order.… Continue reading
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Court Rules Donald Trump Is Not a Tariff Vending Machine
I was wrong. I had predicted that the Supreme Court, while ruling that a president does not have the authority to hijack tariff-making policy through the executive branch, would hand down a 5-4 decision. I had Justice Gorsuch with the conservative minority on the bench. As we know, he joined with the majority, a decision… Continue reading
Caffeinated Politics 