Kanwal Sibal @KanwalSibal • 6h X The Iranian ship will not be where it was if we had not invited it to talk part in our Milan exercise. We were the hosts. I am told that as per protocol for this exercise ships cannot carry any ammunition. It was defenceless. The Iranian naval personnel had paraded before our president. The attack by the US submarine was premeditated as the US was aware of the Iranian ship's presence in the exercise to which the US navy was invited but withdrew from participation at the last minute, presumably with this operation in mind. The US has ignored India's sensitivities as the ship was in these waters because of India's invitation. We are far from politically or militarily responsible for the US attack. Our"responsibility" is at a moral and human plane. A word of condolence by the Indian Navy ( after political clearance) at the loss of lives of those who were our invitees and saluted our president would be in order.

Some context to the Iranian boat that was targeted by US off Sri Lanka coast

Former Indian FM: “US was aware of the Iranian ship's presence in the exercise to which the US navy was invited but withdrew from participation at the last minute”

I’ve spent years, decades, obsessing over the Bush Administration’s Iraq WMD lies, writing about them, debunking them.

I can think of no lie about Iraq WMDs told by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al that comes even close to the enormity and absurdity of this lie from Donald Trump.

ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 63,000 Jobs in February; Annual Pay was Up 4.5% /PRNewswire/ -- Private sector employment increased by 63,000 jobs in February and pay was up 4.5 percent year-over-year according to the February ADP National...

www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

AOC: We already have multiple American service members who are dead for an illegal action that the president has pursued with no plan out. They don’t know why they got into this war. They’re talking about a hundred different reasons, and they don’t know how they’re getting out.

Reality Sets In on Trump’s New War Surprise! War in the middle of the world’s most important oil fields has consequences

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/reality-se...

Crude oil prices up 31% YTD. Krugman estimating a $15/barrel increase translates to 0.3% higher price level overall, with a $50/barrel increase about 1%, latter roughly equal to Trump's tariffs. We're a lot less dependent on Middle-Eastern oil now than we were decades ago.

Welcome to Wyoming, the Frontier of America’s New Gilded Age

Great article on wealth inequality.

Welcome to Wyoming, the Frontier of America’s New Gilded Age www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...

The economic news has been terrible for Trump, so attacking Iran is helping hide it:
1. SCOTUS overturns tariffs. Corporations suing for their tax / tariff refunds shows Trump was lying about who pays.
2. Inflation is rising again.

Keep talking about this. Trump has been lying that tariffs aren’t paid by Americans, but giant refunds prove otherwise. The timing of the attack on Iran is in part to keep the tariffs out of the news.

Warnock: "We heard tonight the rumblings of a desperate man who's trying to present case he can for the midterms. It was half lies, half grievances. He knows he is quickly losing power."

I’m boycotting the State of the Union, but Becky Roberts will attend as my honorary guest. She’s one of 22 million Americans facing higher premiums after Trump and Republicans let ACA tax credits expire and cut Medicaid. I invited her so Trump must face the people hurt by his policies.

Wage growth continues to decelerate, signaling weakening employer demand for employees & difficulty for workers in securing raises

Within-worker, over the year typical wage growth decelerated from 4.1% in Sept to 3.6% in Jan, slowest in over 4.5 yrs

@atlantafed.org Wage Growth Tracker #NumbersDay

Racist voters picked a racist to keep immigrants out, despite his pledge to raise their prices via tariffs and the fact that immigrants drive income growth while reducing deficits.

DoJ cases against protesters keep collapsing as officers’ lies are exposed in court String of embarrassing defeats for prosecutors as experts condemn DoJ effort to cast people as ‘violent perpetrators’

"In Chicago, of 92 people arrested for assaulting or impeding officers last fall, 74 cases have resulted in no charges; in 13 cases, charges were filed and dismissed; and five charged cases were still pending. . . there have been no convictions.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

www.goldmansachs.com/insights/art...

47 ways Trump has made life less affordable in the last year In the first year of his second term, President Trump has actively made life less affordable for working people. Affordability has two sides—prices and pay. While public debate fixates on rising costs...

47 ways Trump has made life less affordable in the last year www.epi.org/publication/...

The bottom 80-90% are worse off due to Trump's tariffs and his 2025 tax act. We all pay higher prices due to the tariffs, and millions get less Medicaid and SNAP benefits. The tax cuts aren't enough to offset that for the vast majority.

Tonight, I'm co-presenting the monthly economics update I've done for the past decade or so, from 7-9pm central time. We go through a slide deck and answer live questions and chat messages as we go.

Click on the calendar link to join the event tonight.
nwsofa.org/calendar/

Tonight, I'm co-presenting the monthly economics update I've done for the past decade or so, from 7-9pm central time. We go through a slide deck and answer questions and chat messages as we go.

Click on the calendar link to join the event tonight.
www.nwsofa.org/calendar/

Graphically speaking...

Right-wing Heritage Foundation’s own data shows fewer than 100 noncitizens voted since 1982 (!!!)

This is not a real problem. “The SAVE ACT is a Trojan horse to nationalize elections”: open.substack.com/pub/thiswill...

My message remains the same a year later.

We don’t have kings in America, and I won’t bend the knee to one.

“I Have Been Here Too Long”: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility Hundreds of children are currently being held with their parents at an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. In letters and drawings, eight kids convey the pain of feeling trapped with no end...

ProPublica received eight handwritten letters from children who have been held at the detention center that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was recently released from.

We'll let their words speak for themselves.

Obama: "The rogue behavior of agents of the federal government is deeply concerning and dangerous ... the sort of behavior that we've seen in authoritarian countries and we've seen in dictatorships, but we have not seen in America."

In summary, labor market is very weak while most household financial measures look good. KPMG did a nice overview of the situation and risks for 2026. 16/END
kpmg.com/us/en/articl...

The key long-term budgetary challenge is flat revenue from Republican tax cuts, while spending increases for Medicare and Social Security as the country ages. 15/

CBO estimates Trump's main policies will add about $1.4 trillion to the deficit trajectory inherited from Biden, or $4 trillion if Trump's tariffs are canceled. Even if SCOTUS rules against him, he can find other ways around the ruling. 14/

A key CBO insight on the budget is that much of the deficits over the next decade are driven by interest, which is also a source of income to investors helping boost growth. 13/

CBO released the budget and economic outlook, a great source of analysis from a definitive source. They forecast the economy to muddle along with slow growth and limited job creation from an aging country and immigration restriction. 12/
www.cbo.gov/publication/...

The personal savings rate has fallen significantly since Trump started, from 5.1% in Jan '25 to 3.5% in Nov '25. People are spending, boosting the economy. They're buying more stuff after inflation adjustments. It may be driven by the booming stock market. 11/