An Urban's Rural View

Most users of U.S. government statistics understand they're imperfect but believe the mistakes are honest. The recent firing of the nonpartisan professional head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the replacement of her with a strident partisan undermines that trust.

The next MAHA report may not recommend against glyphosate, as farmers fear, but there are other ways the health and human services secretary can take swipes at the herbicide.

The rolling hills called the Palouse in Washington and Idaho are a magnificent panorama, especially during wheat harvest.

One of the most important countries having a hard time reaching a deal to ease the recently imposed U.S. tariffs is Japan. The pro-American ruling party just suffered a major electoral defeat.

As presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised to make Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Secretary of Health and Human Services and said he'd let Kennedy "go wild on the food." And so Kennedy has.

The Declaration of Independence was signed at the height of a movement historians call the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment has few fans among the increasingly influential faction of post-liberal intellectuals.

Though the effects of tariff hikes have yet to show up in the inflation reports, the Federal Reserve expects to learn a lot more about their effects in the next few months. In the meantime, it's keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged.

The American bald eagle, now our national bird, has made a comeback from extinction and, just as importantly, a comeback in the nation's esteem.

When interest rates on long bonds rise, the U.S. dollar usually gains value. That this has stopped happening suggests foreign investors are seeing the U.S. as a riskier place to invest and are demanding even higher interest rates.

The U.S.-China agreement to reduce tariffs will allow more trade but it won't help solve the most critical American economic problem with China: our reliance on that country for critical manufactured products.

While markets are expecting interest rate cuts later this year, the economic outlook is so uncertain that rates could go up, down or sidewise.

A trade deal between the U.S. and China could be difficult to reach. Which country has more tolerance for pain is a key question in this trade war.

"Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future" is a thought-provoking antidote to the angst so many feel about the rise of artificial intelligence.

Smartly targeted tariffs can encourage businesses to build factories in the U.S. The administration's tariffs are not smartly targeted.

Economists say the risk of a recession is increasing, so it's a good time to consider what a recession is and why an economy can feel like it's in a recession even when it doesn't qualify under the usual definitions.

At its latest meeting the Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, but Fed policymakers pushed up their inflation projections and expressed confidence in the economy.

The U.S. was the main builder of the post-World War II world order. Judging from the first few weeks of the second Trump administration, the U.S. is now in the process of unbuilding that order.

Don't think the pain from the national debt lies in the future. We're feeling it now.

The 47th president's bromance with the 25th is about more than tariffs.

Many Americans are cutting back on drinking, even some who have doubts about the studies painting alcohol as a health risk.