Weekly Indicators: Points Of Weakness – Just Static? There was another air pocket this week in withholding tax payments, and some weakening in mortgage applications, but the overall tone remains positive, despite the ongoing international chaos emanating from Washington. Once again there was little change this week, and all time frames remained positive. As usual, […]
Supposedly a $300 billion contribution gift is being made to Iran. It is coming from somewhere just like the tax breaks.. Supposedly it is not coming from the United States. Given the past experiences with Trump, it is hard to not believe this is coming from US Taxpayers. What if US taxpayers footing the bill. […]
– by New Deal democrat I’ve been writing about the economy, and employing forecasting models, for over 20 years. For the entire duration of the period, there have been portents of DOOOM written about by many others. I have been much more cautious, going on “Recession Watch” only twice since 2008: in 2019 and late 2022. […]
Not that this is any surprise. Employers have always been looking for way to downsize Labor input in products. Whether it is through automation, better throughput due to factory upgrades, or going overseas. A I have pointed out previously, upgrading equipment (nc to cnc) can have a big input to reducing costs. Improve factory layout […]
One of the many outrages of this political moment in America is the refusal by the Republican majorities in the House and Senate to assert the powers accorded the legislature. With the right-wing majority on the Roberts court asserting the “unitary executive theory” and presidential immunity, the only remaining threat to Trump’s seizing dictatorial powers […]
– by New Deal democrat Yesterday, in addition to the retail sales report, general business sales and inventory were reported – but unfortunately only through April. Nominally, sales (red in the graph below) increased 1.2% while inventories increased 0.5%: Here is the longer term look at total business sales and inventories: In case it isn’t […]
Intro: Former Biden CEA Chair: Jared Bernstein from his new Econ Site. Right now Jared’s site is opened to all readers with no fees for the site. You may want to take a few moments and read what he has to say on various economic topics while you can, This commentary is on inflation and […]
Charles Gaba is the go-to-guy if you wish to learn or know about the ACA. What you are going to read about today is the cancellation of healthcare plans due to a lack of enhanced subsidies. Much of this is due to Congress not renewing the subsidies which supported people during the pandemic and the […]
As a molecular biologist, I’m a huge fan of mRNA vaccines. I enrolled in the phase III Moderna clinical trial for the COVID mRNA vaccines. Since August 2020, I’ve had eight jabs. Yes, I did get a COVID infection along the way, but I didn’t end up in the ED or the morgue. It’s easy […]
Struggling with complicated truths about what has made our ease possible is not a Trumpist thing. To some degree, it has often not been an American thing. As Kevin Levin, who writes the newsletter Civil War Memory, put it this week, “For generations, the history of slavery and emancipation has been minimized, distorted, or simply […]