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

Real retail sales rebound, forecast a continued “soft landing” for jobs growth

 – by New Deal democrat The Bonddad Blog As per usual, real retail sales is one of my favorite indicators, because it gives so much information about the consumer, and since consumption leads employment, it helps forecast the trend in the latter as well. And the news this morning was good, as nominally retail sales […]

Tesla and the law of gravity

OK, Tesla isn’t Bitcoin and it isn’t Trump’s Pravda Social, but: “Tesla announced to Gigafactory Texas employees that it will shorten Cybertruck production shift amid rumors that it is preparing a round of layoffs. “We received several reports today from Tesla employees hearing rumors of an important round of layoffs happening this week at the […]

59% of People Retaining Medicaid Coverage Were Renewed Through Ex Parte Processes 

Medicaid Renewals Of the people retaining Medicaid Coverage as of April 11, 2024 . . . Fifty-nine percent were renewed on an ex parte basis while 41% were renewed through a renewal form, though rates varied by state. Federal rules require states to first try to complete administrative (or “ex parte”) renewals by verifying ongoing eligibility […]

Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker

by KFF Pulled together data from KFF to get an idea of what is happening with US healthcare. Big issue is people do not know. Another issue is state’s resistance to enrolling people. Hope this helps . . . Recent data on monthly Medicaid disenrollments, renewals, overall enrollment and other key indicators. Figure 1 above […]

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses Congress . . .

Prof. Heather Cox Richardson Letters from an American When Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addressed a joint meeting of Congress today, he tried to remind lawmakers of who Americans are. “The U.S. shaped the international order in the postwar world through economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power,” he reminded them. “It championed freedom and democracy. […]

New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators April 8 – 12 2024

 – by New Deal democrat The Bonddad Blog My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. Long Lead Indicator Remain Unchanged. Short Lead Indicators show Improvement. Coincidental Indicators suggest a stable consumer and taxpayer environment for 2024. There has been a lot of churn in both the short leading and coincident indicators in the past […]

Manipulating Supply Chains and Manufacturing, for Corporate Influence and Profit

The one thing we keep on seeing is the manipulation of supply chain by circumstance to achive manufacturing shortfall, and influence to maximize profits. Much of what we have and are experiencing was avoidable. The tools exist to give better perspectives of what is going on from start to finish of product. As you read […]

Real average wages and aggregate payrolls signal continued growth

 – by New Deal democrat Keep in mind NDd only talks about Real Average Wages in which he does not include supervisor wages or increases. In this regard, readers get a much better perspective of Labor wages and earnings. Since NDd was traveling, we have an additional post this week. The Bonddad Blog On Wednesday […]

The actual cost of college in America

I’m seeing the usual hyperventilating about college tuition. Look, there’s a lot of competition, particularly among the more competitive universities, to post exorbitant sticker prices for tuition because it makes them look valuable. The reality is that college tuitions are steeply discounted and most domestic students get “scholarships” that reduce the actual cost. “ . […]