New home sales increasing trend continues – for now; expect a major pullback in coming months With mortgage rates having risen sharply (as of this morning Mortgage News Daily has the 30-year rate up to 4.19%, the highest in nearly three years), we are at an important moment for the housing market. In that context, […]
New home sales increasing trend continues – for now; expect a major pullback in coming months
The Omicron wave has receded by almost 90%; what about deaths?
Coronavirus dashboard for February 23: the Omicron wave has receded by almost 90%; what about deaths? No economic data today (Feb. 23), so let’s update the situation with COVID-19. My usual source of graphs, 91-Divoc, is down today, so less elaborate, cluttered graphs from the NYT site to follow. The Omicron wave peaked in the […]
Discussions on Healthcare Topics
Every week my mailbox fills up with articles. Some of which I subscribe too and pay for and others which are freebies. The freebies are slowly disappearing. The first article is an old one and has been on AB before and discussed by Maggie Mahar. Atul asks if healthcare is a right. Maggie and Shadowfax […]
New 50+ year low in continuing jobless claims
New 50+ year low in continuing jobless claims [Programming note: I will post about new home sales later this morning.] Initial claims (blue) declined 17,000 to 232,000 (vs. the pandemic low of 188,000 on December 4). The 4 week average (red) declined 7,250 to 236,250 (vs. the pandemic low of 199,750 on December 25). Continuing […]
Vladimir V. Putin Loses His Mind And Becomes A War Criminal
Vladimir V. Putin Loses His Mind And Becomes A War Criminal Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has just announced a “special military operation” to “de-Nazify the Ukrainian government” so as to halt the supposed “genocide” being committed against Russian speakers in Ukraine. There is not a shred of justification for any of this. The extreme […]
Ethanol Is Worse for the Climate Than Gasoline
A Story Treehugger has been spotlighting this famous Andy Singer cartoon since 2007. “Treehugger, Sustainability for All” received a boost from Slate in and around 2006 when I was a “starred-commenter” (don’t ask) at Slate’s “Moneybox (Daniel Gross)” and “Best of the Fray.” Slate management decided to blow the place up and eliminated the comments sections […]
What Sanctions ?
Russia has just attacked Ukraine. US policymakers seem to agree that we should impose severe economic sanctions (but definitely have no US boots on Ukrainian ground). What can the US do without firing a shot ? I think the US can impose extreme costs on Russia (hurting Russians other than Putin who are not to […]
Climate Change, Front and Center, Government Wrestles With Itself
We as a nation are seriously confronted by a changing environment that is leaving more rain in some spots, and less in others. To the west of the Powell Meridian, drought scorched plains, to the east, floods, washouts. In both, crop failure and societal pressure of devastating loss of both property and life. Take for […]
No Longer Dominant, the AMA is Becoming Progressive
Recent New Yorker article, I read, “The Fight Within the American Medical Association“ What I found interesting is the AMA’s history in support and lack of it for better healthcare. It is going both ways while slowly advancing towards Single Payer. Out of necessity, the AMA has started to move closer to the reality of […]