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

Inflation During a Pandemic, Other times, and the Results

Can you blame Biden for this? Not likely. Companies can price to what the market will bear and more. Creating Tariffs on overseas product will exasperate the issue and cause higher prices resulting in inflation. If you wish to cut out overseas companies? Bring the product back to the US for manufacture. That is another […]

Six thoughts about the election and democracy

The Trump problem is not – and never has been – the electoral college The problem is that Donald Trump is a competitive presidential candidate in the United States, despite his manifest unsuitability for office.  There are various reasons for Trump’s competitiveness.  Some of these reasons are structural (the weakness of our parties and our […]

Jobless claims: back to almost completely normal and neutral

 – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims continued their return to normalcy this week, as they increased 3,000 to 221,000. The four week moving average declined -9,750 to 227,250, which is tied for the lowest number except for two weeks in five months. Continuing claims, with the typical one week delay, rose 39,000 to […]

Book Review: “Bureaucracy”

– by David Zetland The One-Handed Economist Ludwig van Mises published this short book in 1944, around the same time as Hayek’s Road to Serfdom was published but before Hayek’s 1945 article, “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” These other references are important because (a) Mises was Hayek’s teacher and (b) both were heavily involved in the “calculation debate” […]

Lessons from Livermore’s 2023 Energy Consumption Chart

I have been reading Lloyd for about 20 years now. His specialty I would say is the environment and environmental issues and how humans cause the good, bad, and ugly of them. Good reading with multiple flow charts. Some detail before the Commentary by Llyod. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) produced the first diagrams illustrating […]

The economically weighted ISM average indicates economy expanding nicely, but likely in latter stage of the cycle

– by New Deal democrat [I was busy doing my civic duty the past few days. I’ll have something to say about the election at some point later, but not now.] Yesterday the ISM services report came in very strong for the second month in a row, with the headline at 56.0 and the more […]

Monthly Construction Spending, September 2024

Monthly Construction Spending, September 2024, Census Bureau Construction spending estimates are comprised of estimates based on mail-out/mail-back and interview surveys of selected construction projects and building owners, and estimates developed or compiled from other Census Bureau, federal agency, and private data sources. Total ConstructionConstruction spending during September 2024 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual […]

Monthly Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, & Orders

Census Bureau monthly report which I broke out a bit differently to make it an easier read or maybe not? I do like inventories being down. Monthly Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, & Orders. – Press Release The purpose of the Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) survey is to provide broad-based monthly statistical […]

Robots and medicine: the future is now

I’m reading every now and then about the future of robot assisted medicine. Robots have long replaced humans in routine, repetitive tasks like auto assembly, but surgery seems like a bespoke activity beyond the reach of robots. Not so. A few years ago, I had mesh hernia repair surgery. The procedure was robotic-assisted laparoscopy. There […]