Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

SPR at a 21-year low, Distillates at a 17 year low

RJS, Focus on Fracking Summary: Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a 21-year low, distillates supply at a 17-year low The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending May 6th indicated that after another drop in our oil exports, another oil withdrawal […]

Coronavirus dashboard for May 13: the virus will gradually become less lethal

Coronavirus dashboard for May 13: the virus will gradually become less lethal – because you can only die once, COVID-19 is still a pandemic and will gradually transition to an endemic. A year ago I thought that between nearly universal vaccinations and an increasing percentage of the population already infected, the virus would wane into […]

Weekly Indicators for May 9 – 13 at Seeking Alpha

 by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for May 9 – 13 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. One measure of how the Russia-Ukraine war has been “normalized” globally, is that industrial commodity prices have declined sharply – on the order of 25% – in the past two weeks, taking back […]

The Malthusianism of Benjamin Franklin and The Abortion Issue

The Malthusianism Of Benjamin Franklin And The Abortion Issue, Econospeak, Barkley Rosser Thomas Robert Malthus may well have been the least favorite economist of Karl Marx. Basically, Marx did not like him because he saw Malthus as blaming poverty on the poor themselves, their inevitable sinfulness that led them to constantly reproduce themselves excessively when […]

New jobless claims rise slightly, but continuing claims make another 50+ year low

New jobless claims rise slightly, but continuing claims make another 50+ year low, May 12, 2022  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose 1,000 to 203,000, continuing above the recent 50+ year low of 166,000 set in March. The 4 week average also rose by 4,250 to 192,750, compared with the all-time low […]

Decreased Pricing for Container Shipping

Having run a warehouse for a major $12 billion automotive component corporation, I can relate to container shipping globally. To ship such products, you can click here now. We shipped full containers to a number of countries on a weekly and monthly basis. This was dependent upon production demand. Reporting good news, a trend, and […]

Weekly Indicators for May 9 – 13 at Seeking Alpha

Weekly Indicators for May 9 – 13 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. One measure of how the Russia-Ukraine war has been “normalized” globally, is that industrial commodity prices have declined sharply – on the order of 25% – in the past two weeks, taking back […]

Not the Proud Ones or the Oathers this time

Amazing Republicans are trying to skew the peaceful (so far) protests of pro-choice consisting mostly of women as being violent. Not that they never get angry . . . they can and will. They are not happy with SCOTUS and are making it known peacefully. Cruz and others are trying to make this into something […]

With the Fed already having begun to “stomp on the brakes,” inflation is still running very hot

With the Fed already having begun to “stomp on the brakes,” inflation is still running very hot As promised, here is my second post on the April CPI number. The YoY advance in consumer prices, +8.3%, is down from last month’s 8.6%, which was the highest 12 month rate since 1981. As I suggested last […]