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

Economy on Solid Ground “Before Election”

US consumers keep economy on solid ground ahead of election – By Lucia Mutikani Reuters WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew solidly in the third quarter. Consumer spending increasing at its fastest pace in 1-1/2 years and inflation slowing sharply, continuing to defy forecasts of a recession, and outperforming its global peers ahead […]

The economics of healthcare is sick in Vermont

My parents retired to rural upstate NY, where they lived happily for 20 years. But naturally, as they aged, their health declined. At one point, my mom had a pulmonary embolism, and landed in a community hospital in Bennington VT, about 30 miles away. She got the care she needed, but when she was later […]

Potential Bad Year for Housing

Home Sales on Track for Worst Year Since 1995 – WSJ I suspect the same issues with the economy caused by tariffs will also have an impact on housing. Just have to wait and see the impact of Trump tariffs on building materials and internal fixtures such as plumbing, toilets, doorknobs, etc. Much of which […]

Inflation During a Pandemic, Other times, and the Results

Can you blame Biden for this? Not likely. Companies can price to what the market will bear and more. Creating Tariffs on overseas product will exasperate the issue and cause higher prices resulting in inflation. If you wish to cut out overseas companies? Bring the product back to the US for manufacture. That is another […]

Jobless claims: back to almost completely normal and neutral

 – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims continued their return to normalcy this week, as they increased 3,000 to 221,000. The four week moving average declined -9,750 to 227,250, which is tied for the lowest number except for two weeks in five months. Continuing claims, with the typical one week delay, rose 39,000 to […]

Book Review: “Bureaucracy”

– by David Zetland The One-Handed Economist Ludwig van Mises published this short book in 1944, around the same time as Hayek’s Road to Serfdom was published but before Hayek’s 1945 article, “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” These other references are important because (a) Mises was Hayek’s teacher and (b) both were heavily involved in the “calculation debate” […]

Lessons from Livermore’s 2023 Energy Consumption Chart

I have been reading Lloyd for about 20 years now. His specialty I would say is the environment and environmental issues and how humans cause the good, bad, and ugly of them. Good reading with multiple flow charts. Some detail before the Commentary by Llyod. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) produced the first diagrams illustrating […]

The economically weighted ISM average indicates economy expanding nicely, but likely in latter stage of the cycle

– by New Deal democrat [I was busy doing my civic duty the past few days. I’ll have something to say about the election at some point later, but not now.] Yesterday the ISM services report came in very strong for the second month in a row, with the headline at 56.0 and the more […]

Monthly Construction Spending, September 2024

Monthly Construction Spending, September 2024, Census Bureau Construction spending estimates are comprised of estimates based on mail-out/mail-back and interview surveys of selected construction projects and building owners, and estimates developed or compiled from other Census Bureau, federal agency, and private data sources. Total ConstructionConstruction spending during September 2024 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual […]