It is very easy to disrupt a complex system and very hard to get it going again. Trump, Musk, and the Muskateers decided to limit overhead on NIH grants to 15% fearing that some of the overhead might get money to DEI deans. They also limited communication of government health agencies with the public. The […]
Both my dad and my father-in-law worked throughout their post-military careers at Y-12 in Oak Ridge. During the war, Y-12 was the site of uranium enrichment by the calutrons (K-25 was the gaseous diffusion plan, enrichment by gas chromatography). Having grown up in Oak Ridge, I’m quite familiar with its role in national security, unlike […]
Housing construction declines further into recessionary territory – by New Deal democrat As promised, economic data resumed this morning, and with it my extended posts. First, the usual point that housing is a very important and leading sector of the economy, typically turning down more than a year before a recession begins. And with higher […]
Fairly new article on international manufacturing. I broke it down, added information plus another chart, and did some editing. It really was a good article on manufacturing. I just made it better based on my fifty years in supply chain and throughput. Industrial Policy is Back. Is That a Good Thing? What Are the Issues? […]
This “Keep Calm” post showed up in my inbox today. I posted a partial of Economist Claudi Sahm’s report. She is discussing January CPI. I am more interested in the layoffs at the government and now corporations. I am seeing companies starting to follow suit with layoffs. Today and after the crash at Washington D.C., […]
Can Trump Tank the Biden Economy? Here Are Eight Ways – by Dean Baker CEPR President Biden handed off the best economy to an incoming president since at least the 2001 handoff from Clinton to Bush II. In his last quarter in office, GDP grew at a 2.3 percent annual rate (final demand, which excludes […]
“Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. “Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency […]
This comes after Trump decides to have all charges dropped for NYC Mayor Eric Adams. The attorneys were threatened with being dismissed by the Deputy Attorney General. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered others to dismiss the NYC Mayor Adams indictment. He will not do the dirty work himself after named acting U.S. Attorney […]
– by New Deal democrat It’s that time of month again for my favorite indicator for the consumption side of the economy: retail sales have been tracked for over 75 years. When they are lower YoY, that has historically been a good (not perfect) indicator that a recession is near. That’s because that same 75-year […]
– by New Deal democrat Now that we are well past the Holidays, seasonality has settled down and so have the comparisons for jobless claims. Initial claims declined -7,000 to 213,000 last week, and the four-week average declined -1,000 to 216,000. With the usual one week delay, continued claims declined -36,000 to 1.850 million: On […]