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

House Debt Ceiling Bill

voting 217 Yes 215 no the House has passed a bill which would increase the debt ceiling, slash spending, and repeal (most of) the IRA. This ends the fun period when we could laugh at Republicans for demanding that Biden negotiate without themselves making a bargaining proposal. The bill is horrible. I am a Democrat […]

Debt

To be clear, our national debt problem is due to revenues insufficient to cover expenditures. More than anything else, for the past 40 plus years, this accumulated deficit is due to Republican opposition to tax increases coupled with their eagerness to cut taxes on the wealthy given the opportunity to do so. Most, if indeed […]

Are home sales bottoming?

 Are Home Sales Bottoming? – by New Deal democrat For the past few months, I have speculated that home sales were bottoming. This morning’s report on March new home sales put an exclamation mark on that idea. New home sales increased 57,000 in March (from a February level downwardly revised by -17,000) to 683,000 annualized […]

What type is your Aluminum and From What is It Derived

Llyod Alter formerly of Treehugger was the one I would always read on Treehugger. I would say this goes back a couple of decades. I was writing my stuff in the comments section of Slate’s Moneybox or The Best of the Fray. Somehow Treehugger became associated with Slate and I picked up on them and […]

The Costs of the Defragmentation of the Global Economy

by Joseph Joyce The Costs of the Defragmentation of the Global Economy The integration of markets across borders has slowed down, and in some cases, reversed. These changes come in the wake of the global financial crisis, Donald Trump’s embrace of trade restrictions, Great Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, the disruptions in global supply […]

House prices on track to go negative YoY by summer, despite monthly increase in February

House prices on track to go negative YoY by summer, despite monthly increase in February  – by New Deal democrat House prices through February as measured by both the FHFA (gold in the graphs below) and Case Shiller (red) Indexes rose, the former by 0.5% (after a downwardly revised 0.1% in January), and the latter by […]

Little Good can Come from Private Equity in the Healthcare Industry

Little Good can Come from Private Equity in the Healthcare Industry, Angry Bear Two Years ago As if we did not have enough issues with the commercial healthcare insurance industry attempting to supplant single payer Medicare (minus setting hospital budgets, doctor fees, and pharmaceutical costs to the consumer) and the VA with commercial healthcare insurance […]

What Happens When a Safety Net Hospital Closes?

Much of this article I rewrote to make it clearer for the reader. It is written by upper management. I do disagree with the conclusions. Throwing more money at healthcare is not going to solve the issues he discusses. The article praises Commercial Healthcare Insurance who pay more for patient care and whose costs are […]

Income tax withholding payments stumble again

Income tax withholding payments stumble again  – by New Deal democrat The important data this week will include new home sales tomorrow, Q1 GDP and initial jobless claims on Thursday, and most importantly of all (imo) real personal income and spending, along with real manufacturing and trade sales on Friday. In the meantime, today let […]