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

Teachers Pay and Benefits

A new survey underscores the importance of professional salaries and benefits like paid parental leave in keeping educators in the profession—and how collective bargaining can have a major impact. “How Teachers View Their Pay and Benefits” Tim Walker, Senior Writer Ask most K-12 public school teachers what would make them stay in the profession, better […]

Bangkok

I do not recall being in this section of Bangkok. As it is, Bangkok is an interesting city having quite a bit of history to it. The residents are nice to Americans and others. Most are trying to just make a living. They look to foreign visitors to make part of their income. I found […]

Blockbuster initial jobless claims report suggests unemployment could decline all the way to 4.0%

– by New Deal democrat I wasn’t able to get to either the GDP report or the jobless claims report yesterday. I’m going to hold off on the GDP report until next week, because there was a lot going on, but this morning (before the ISM manufacturing Index comes out) let’s take a look at jobless […]

Stagflationary real personal income, real spending on durable goods were recessionary in March, but consumers and manufacturers haven’t retrenched

 – by New Deal democrat Personal income and spending are among the most important monthly indicators of all, because they give us a detailed look at consumption by the broad range of American households. And since consumption leads employment, they also give us an idea of what is likely to happen with regard to jobs […]

The quandary of housing: almost all signs are classically recessionary; so why hasn’t there been a recession?

– by New Deal democrat As I reiterated the other day, housing is the one long leading signal of the economy that has been soundly negative – indeed frankly recessionary – for the past year. That trend continued in March, although there are signs of it bottoming out. Without having caused a recession.  Let me start […]

Buying a Home Today May be Difficult

Sometimes, you can get the best deals when the economy is not so good. However, you may end up with a higher mortgage rate. One years we purchase a home In Schaumberg, Il for a good price and ended up with a 12% mortgage due to the economy. Since my wife’s mother was living with […]

Maybe Lower Oil Costs?

Having greater oil reserves gives the UAE leverage to strike out on its own. The UAE nation has not been supplying more oil due to imposed restrictions by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries who act as one exporting group. Or simply stating there is more capacity than demand. And OPEC wishes to keep oil […]

Teaching Iran a Lesson

I subscribe to a Dean Baker site. Typically, he is on the economic side of information. This commentary has a little bit of both economics and politics. What to do with Iran when the president is Trump. The rest of the world teeters economically for every action Trump takes. “Trump’s Ignorance Could Kill Millions” Patreon […]

Europe, Ukraine, and Iran; and Trump’s impaired emotional/cognitive relationship to negative consequences

This is a speculative post.  I don’t have any expertise in foreign policy.  I just want to clarify my own thinking, and posting is a way to force myself to do this.  So caveat lector, and let’s see what you all have to add. European leaders seem increasingly willing to criticize Trump.  Here is Bloomberg: […]