With the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett days before the 2020 presidential election, conservatives solidified a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court — and the chance to shape American life and policy for a generation. Behind it all was a powerful Republican from Kentucky: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for whom Barrett’s confirmation was…
Economy
2020 Presidential Election, America, Coronavirus, Culture, Documentary, Economy, Elections, Film, Trump, Voting Rights
Frontline: A Nation in Turmoil (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Filmed across the country this past year by a production team headed by Mike Shum and Blair Woodbury, “American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil” captures the diverse perspectives of a number of people — a pastor, a barber, a doctor, an activist and more — as they deal with COVID-19 in their communities, respond to…
Culture, Economy, Joe Biden, Trump
The Economic Gap Between Biden and Trump Counties
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
While Biden has won an absolute majority of the popular vote, he’s also won that majority from counties significantly more productive than the counties Trump won. A stark difference between counties that went for Biden and those that went for Trump is the significantly higher share of gross domestic product in Biden-supporting counties. (The gap…
Economy, Employment, Poverty, Recession
That’s Not a Recovery: Millions Slip into Poverty & Unemployment Claims Rise
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
That a rush to re-open would lead to an economic rebound was always doubtful (no economic fix without a pandemic fix), but the data are clear that America is experiencing no national ‘recovery.’ Jason DeParle reports 8 Million Have Slipped Into Poverty Since May as Federal Aid Has Dried Up: After an ambitious expansion of…
Business, Coronavirus, Economy, Joe Biden
Kevin, a Small Business Owner, Backs Biden for President
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Economy, Trump
Trump Abandons the Midwest
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Trump plans return visits to Wisconsin during the pandemic he’s exacerbated through lies, but long before the novel coronavirus Trump was lying to the Midwest. Catherine Rampell writes that Trump said he would bring jobs back to Ohio’s manufacturing workers. Instead, he deserted them: “It’s incredible what’s happened to the area,” he said Monday, in…
Economy, Fact Checking, Trump
Trump’s Economy: Exaggerations, Lies, Failures
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Tory Newmyer notes that Trump’s false claims about his economic record typified chaotic debate: Trump did make some claims about the economic record he has compiled in his first term. They were riddled with exaggerations and outright falsehoods. In the first half of his term, Trump’s signature tax cuts and a major spending package gave the…
Conflicts of Interest, Corporate Welfare, Corruption, Economy, Recession, Trump
Not for Us
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Economy, Trump
End the Misery
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Coronavirus, Economy
The Pandemic Economy
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Economists Carmen Reinhart and Vincent Reinhart write in Foreign Affairs that we’re in The Pandemic Depression: Although dubbed a “global financial crisis,” the downturn that began in 2008 was largely a banking crisis in 11 advanced economies. Supported by double-digit growth in China, high commodity prices, and lean balance sheets, emerging markets proved quite resilient…
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Whitewater & Walworth County’s Working Poor, 2020 ALICE® Report
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The 2020 ALICE® report, on those who are “asset limited, income constrained [yet] employed” is now available. These latest data were collected before the recent recession – one can be sadly confident that hardship reaches farther now. For Wisconsin, 11% of households were below the poverty level, and 34% (including those below the poverty level) were…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Coronavirus, Corporate Welfare, Disinformation, Economy, Elections, Herrenvolk, Militarized Policing, Parodies, Propaganda, Protests, Public Health, Trump, Trumpism, Tyranny
The Juice Media: A Message from the White House (Pandemic, Autocracy, Corporate Cronyism, and Disenfranchisement)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
CDA, Charity, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, Recession
A Key Difference Between Bristol, New Hampshire and Whitewater, Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A sad story from April about Bristol, N.H. (population 3,300) reveals key differences between that town and Whitewater. While this new recession affects both communities, the economic hardship will be different. See David Gelles, ‘This Is Going to Kill Small-Town America.’ Bristol depends on one major, private manufacturer: By the end of March, with just…