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

Trump’s ‘Great Healthcare Plan’ Leaves Open Questions for People with Pre-existing Conditions

Trump’s most recent healthcare plans as reported on by the former Kaiser Family Foundation known today as KFF. It appears and as reported. Trump is taking from various sources for his plan. Hopefully, a united Congress improves upon what Trump is proposing and what Republicans had in mind earlier. Many US citizens could end up […]

Import and Export Price Indexes During and After Shutdown

I had thought it might be good to take a look at the impact of the shutdown. Just a one-time BLS report and no opinion on the impact by me . . . other than it being harmful to Labor. Brief BLS Summary: US import prices increased 0.4% over the two months through November 2025, […]

Trump hyperventilates about tariffs

Two “deadlines” have come and gone for the SCOTUS to rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s tariffs. Meanwhile, Trump is throwing brush-back pitches. He bleated on social media: “”If the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!” So the tariffs aren’t to enforce fair trade practices, […]

Jobless claims continue to be very positive, near multi-decade lows

 – by New Deal democrat First, usually the week following the employment report is very quiet, and I put up “scenes from the report” with some important graphs. With all the releases catching up on old data this week, I haven’t done that; but because jobless claims are the only significant data this morning, I intend […]

Conversation on Population Growth

Celia: I will offer up another perspective. In 2006, Joel Garreau wrote a piece in the Smithsonian called “300 million and Counting.” This article is still readily available. The point of the article was the U.S. population which was an approximate 300 million. It was on the verge of creating only enough citizens to maintain […]

December existing homes sales add evidence to the “green shoots” thesis for sales, while inventory still has a long ways to go

 – by New Deal democrat Although the government shutdown is long over, the most recent government housing updates have been for October, I.e., two months stale. Thus the NAR’s existing home sales report has temporarily become among our best look at housing sales, prices, and inventorythe housing market.  As per my context all this year, after […]

Monthly retail sales sharply higher in November, but flagging YoY real sales spell further trouble

 – by New Deal democrat Real retail sales, one of my favorite broad-economy indicators, was updated through November this morning, making only one month stale. This, along with real personal spending, is one of the two most important indicators which have been missing, as we know the jobs and real income have been stagnant, but […]

SCOTUS on Immigrants and Legal Status

Coming by way of Sarah Burris at AlterNet, etc. It was not that long ago when Kavanaugh penned an opinion giving more leeway to immigration agents. His claim for doing so was “they rarely take American citizens into custody. If such were to occur by mistake a citizen is taken, they are released very quickly.” […]

The Rest of the Story

A reputable source of information to read and determine for yourself what took place. I subscribe to Letters from an American. I find Prof. Heather to be accurate and forthcoming in her articles depicting what is happening in the United States today. The story is quite different tah what is being broadcast. Indeed, it is […]