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

A Couple of Economist Views on Tariffs

First, my opinion. If anybody thinks this is not holding Trade with the US hostage until the other country concedes, they are crazy. Trump is obviously flexing our muscle to gain political advantage and a venue in which to brag. The only thing a tariff will do is protect an industry for a short period […]

The art of the fake deal

The latest meme around the Trump tariffs is TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out. Savvy traders are buying on the TACO tariff dips and selling on the TACO caves. And those caves are popular. “Yesterday, the Conference Board reported that in May consumer confidence surged by 12.3, the largest monthly increase in four years. Bloomberg said […]

Change in Household Income Resulting from the Republican and Trumps extension of the 2017 Tax Bill or the TCJA

Change in Household Income Resulting from the Republican and Trumps extension of the 2017 Tax Bill or the TCJA Daniel Becker had this bar chart on Facebook which details how the tax break will play out. Really great for the 1 tenth of 1 percenters. Good for the top 1 percenters and the upper five […]

Repeat home sales through March confirm continued deceleration of price increases

 – by New Deal democrat Last week the existing home sales report showed continued deceleration in YoY price increases to 1.8%, indicative of the ongoing rebalancing of the housing market. This morning’s repeat home sales reports from the FHFA and S&P Case Shiller confirmed that deceleration and ongoing rebalancing. On a seasonally adjusted basis, in […]

Europe isn’t flying the unfriendly skies of America

It’s not just Tesla that is becoming poison in Europe: “European airlines are freezing their transatlantic growth and pulling back from major U.S. cities like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago as they redirect flights to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Caribbean, where bookings are rising and demand is outpacing the American market. Carriers including […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators May 19 – 23

Weekly Indicators for May 19 – 23 at Seeking Alpha (plus bonus charts)  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. The effects of Tariff-paloooza! are like a slowly building tsunami. The tide rolled out, but now far out at sea there is a horizon to horizon white wall of foam. […]

Tesla tanks in Europe

I wasn’t gonna buy a Tesla before Elon joined the Trump Administration, so his politics weren’t a consideration. Apart from the fact that I wouldn’t pay that much for a car, I’ve never lived in a place where Teslas are green. Before we left St. Louis, ca. 80% of electricity in Missouri came from burning […]

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

Trump says he’s using tariffs to re-shore manufacturing from other countries. Setting aside the fact that it takes years to build and operationalize a manufacturing plant, why would anyone bother when he flip-flops every week? This has nothing to do with jobs in America. This is pure market manipulation for speculators. “Donald Trump has announced […]

Briefly Speaking to the Elimination of Appliance Efficiency

Cutbacks to the Energy Star program will result less efficiency and greater costs to consumers. But then, costs passing to the plebian citizens were not in the minds of Republicans. The thought pattern here being . . . will citizens remember who was responsible for increasing energy costs? Ultimately, Republican in Congress are responsible for […]

A quick note on the Medicare cuts

Better explanation on the “One Big Beautiful Bill” impacts Medicare by Merrill Goozner at GoozNews. It hits providers and insurers directly, not beneficiaries. People need to be educated about the impact — not the $500 billion number. I’m no defender of the cruel and unusual punishment inflicted on the American people by the House Republicans’ […]