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

Public vs Private Wealth – Breaking Free

A More Democratic Economy A 1787 newly minted United States of America wasn’t far removed from an old Europe where not so long before all property belonged to the crown or state; where only a hundred years or so earlier John Locke had first defended the idea of private property at a time when most […]

Q3 Update: Housing Delinquencies, Foreclosures and REO

– by Bill McBride Calculated Risk Newsletter REO: lender Real Estate Owned We will NOT see a surge in housing foreclosures that would significantly impact house prices (as happened following the housing bubble) for two key reasons: 1) mortgage lending has been solid, and 2) most homeowners have substantial equity in their homes. Last week, CoreLogic reported […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators for December 9-13

Weekly Indicators for December 9 – 13  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. While the short-term forecast and nowcast have remained relatively constant, the “action” has been in the long leading indicators – some things good, some bad. The biggest thing that happened this week is that the […]

Elite Rich Americans Often Overlook a Factor That is Key to Their Success

Interesting article on wealth. Sometimes being lucky outperforms talent or intelligence. A recent article including some graphs I included. Sources for the graphs are provided allowing the reader to learn more about how wealth is obtained. Article by Vawn Himmelsbach was portrayed in Moneywise. ‘Moneyball’ and ‘Big Short’ Author Michael Lewis Says Elite Rich Americans […]

Good news on real aggregate payrolls, but an additional yellow flag on jobs

 – by New Deal democrat With the update on inflation earlier this week, let’s take a look a real average wages and real aggregate payrolls. Plus there is a significant update to my yellow flag caution on the employment situation. First, nominally nonsupervisory wages rose slightly under 0.3% in November, while consumer prices rose slightly […]

Jobless claims: seasonality strikes again

– by New Deal democrat As is so often the case this time of year, seasonality likely played havoc with this week’s new jobless claims. Last year Thanksgiving was November 23rd; this year it was the 28th, putting it in a different week for many statistics. So the jobless claims this morning were for the […]

Pete Hegseth knows nothing about Marxism

“Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has repeatedly criticized policies allowing gay people to serve openly in the US military, calling them part of a “Marxist” agenda to prioritize social justice over combat readiness.” LOL! I’m absolutely confident that Hegseth hasn’t read a word of Marx or Marxist economics. I’m equally […]

‘Crushing Blow to the Labor Agenda’

as Joe Manchin, Sinema Block Biden NLRB Nominee AB: I never had much respect for Joe Manchin. Just another rich guy out of West Virgnia. Perfect article about Joe’s reign in WV since 2010 “What has Joe Manchin done for West Virginia?” The answer to that question is not much unless it benefited him or […]

Make Democracy Work Again: mandate cert/recert/decert union elections

Dennis Drew discussing labor and why the US does not have more union labor. Higher minimum wage — bunk!  Unions systemically squeeze out the maximum price consumers are willing to pay for their labor. Any lower price should be taken as a unionless discount — I wish I could make up an “official sounding” term […]