Hmm. I see that some people are accusing me of overreacting to one bad month of job news. Um, no. What has actually been happening is that conventional wisdom overreacted to four months of good(ish) news, and the March numbers were a useful corrective.

Look at my current favorite measure of the labor market, the employment-population ratio of prime-age Americans — employment rather than unemployment so as to avoid distortion by people dropping out, prime-age to avoid demographic issues as the population ages. Here it is: (see graph above)

It’s only April – early April at that – and my medical debt is already taking its toll. After surgery in January, the bills started rolling in before I was able to return to work. Yes, I have insurance, and I have a job. So I do consider myself lucky compared to so many Americans who do not. But I am also in the same boat as tens of millions of other Americans: we’re building and paying medical debts after an injury or illness that takes our money away from other things.

And Why Taxpayers Shouldn’t Stand for It Any More 

Along with “fivedollaragallongas,” the energy watchword for the next few months is: “subsidies.” Last week, for instance, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez proposed ending some of the billions of dollars in handouts enjoyed by the fossil-fuel industry with a “Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act.”  It was, in truth, nothing to write home about -- a curiously skimpy bill that only targeted oil companies, and just the five richest of them at that. Left out were coal and natural gas, and you won’t be surprised to learn that even then it didn’t pass.

Here we go again. Another round of the game we call Congressional Creep. After months of haggling and debate, Congress finally passes reform legislation to fix a serious rupture in the body politic, and the President signs it into law. But the fight’s just begun, because the special interests immediately set out to win back what they lost when the reform became law.