Kevin Drum

Irvine

Political Blogger and Writer at Freelance

Political blogger and writer, formerly for the Washington Monthly and Mother Jones magazine, now on my own.

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Articles

Trump plan blows up the debt, gives most money to the rich

Aug 27, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

This kind of wonky analysis seems even more pointless than usual this year, but just for the record here's an estimate from the Penn Wharton Budget Model of how much each candidate's economic proposals will affect the national debt:Trump's proposals blow up the debt by 5x more than Harris's. Here's how they affect income:Again, no surprise. The Trump plan is steadily more generous the richer you are. Harris is most generous to the poor and reduces income slightly among the rich.
Kamala and the press

Aug 27, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

I know this is a Trump talking point, but honestly, Kamala Harris really needs to sit down for some interviews with the press. It's something we should expect from any presidential candidate. I've cut her some slack because she became a candidate only a few weeks ago. But she's been vice president for more than three years and a top-rank politician for more than a decade before that. She should be able to handle an interview by now. And keep in mind that the longer she waits the riskier things get.
Please note: There was no Biden administration in 2020

Aug 27, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

A couple of days ago Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter to Republicans saying that health officials had pressured Meta to remove COVID misinformation while the vaccine was being rolled out. He now regrets this, though he didn't really say why. Then there's this:The Zuckerberg letter didn’t stop with details of the well-known crackdown on Covid misinformation.
Lunchtime Photo - Kevin Drum

Aug 27, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

This is the famous wheel at the Prater amusement park in Vienna. If you've ever seen The Third Man, you'll recognize it. May 18, 2024 — Vienna, AustriaFacebook Twitter EmailPrint
Raw data: Per capita GDP around the world

Aug 27, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

According to the International Monetary Fund, per capita GDP in the US is currently $85,000. This figure is adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity, so it takes into account differences in living standards throughout the world. Here's how everyone else is doing:With the exception of a few tiny countries, the US is the richest region in the world and the fastest growing except for China and India—both of whom are still far behind us. This is remarkable.
Texas judge once again does what Texas judges do

Aug 26, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

This feels like about the millionth time we've seen this recently:A federal judge in Texas has.... Does it even matter what this judge did? He overturned a Biden program, of course, and in this case it happens to be one that provides a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are married to US citizens. But it hardly matters. It could have been anything from Biden. Just bring it to the Eastern District of Texas and it's toast.
We have a record number of teachers this year

Aug 26, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

The new school year has started, and that means it's time for an evergreen story about teachers being burnt out and quitting in record numbers:Teacher exit rates reached new highs in the past two years, according to data from several states. In Texas, thousands more teachers left the classroom in 2022 and 2023 compared with the years before the pandemic.
Don’t touch Social Security

Aug 26, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

Pew has a new report out today about the values and policy opinions of Trump and Harris voters. As you'd expect, they disagree widely on everything. Except for Social Security:Nobody—not Democrats, not Republicans, not independents—wants Social Security touched even slightly. It's still the third rail of American politics.
It’s finally time to impeach Joe Biden

Aug 26, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

From Axios:House Republicans are furious about being forced into a last-minute Biden impeachment vote — which they say could hurt their campaigns, top GOP sources tell Axios. Even leadership doesn't want it. But just one member can force a vote.... With Congress stuck in D.C. next month to hammer out a short-term funding deal, there's plenty of time for an enterprising Republican to force the issue. A vote on articles of impeachment is privileged and has to be voted on within two days.
Raw data: Heat-related deaths in the US

Aug 26, 2024 | jabberwocking.com | Kevin Drum

This is from a research letter in JAMA today:Average temperatures in the US have gone up 2°F since 2000. That might not seem like much, but when the average increases a little the tail of the bell curve increases a lot. In the past decade, that small increase in average temps has caused the number of extreme heat waves to increase by upwards of 3x. Thus the very large increase in heat-related deaths.