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

Hourly Wage Labor Benefited more, 2020 to 2023 than Salaried

An interesting phenomenon occurred from 2020 – 2023. Hourly wage labor experienced increasing wages during the pandemic. A recent NBER report by David Autor, Arindrajit Dube, and Annie McGrew susply the data creating a foundation for the Labor v Salary words. To display I provided an additional graph besides the one shown by The Bulwark’s […]

Undocumented labor: solutions, not scapegoating

Trump has promised to deport >10 million undocumented people living in the US. He justifies this by saying they are dangerous criminals. In fact, immigrants commit crimes at a *lower* rate than US citizens. He has announced his intention to deploy US troops in US streets to capture and detain people who are claimed to […]

October existing home sales: a pause, or possibly reversal, in the rebalancing trend

 – by New Deal democrat Yesterday’s report on existing home sales indicated, at least for one month, a pause or even reversal in the previous trend of abating price increases and increased inventory. While existing home sales are  not nearly so important to the economy as new home sales, to the extent that home buyers […]

The end of the “American Century”

The United States emerged in the 20th century after two world wars as the world’s sole superpower. It further cemented its political and economic hegemony with the collapse of the Soviet Union. But like all empires throughout history, the American empire has a finite half-life, and its final decline is in full view. For some […]

The Nation’s Dole for the Wealthy

Musk is on the Nation’s Dole. There is much he has done with the help of government funding. Now he wishes to bring efficiency to government. The largest items he wishes to attack on his list includes veterans’ healthcare, childcare, college grants, NASA, and housing assistance. That is going big with veterans especially when Trump […]

Just Some Manufacturing Data

I ran across this data while looking for Economic Stats on the United States manufacturing ability, Perfect for presentation as it has both detail and charts on the topic. Manufacturing, Supply Chain, etc. has become foreign to many people. It is not a major part of the economy as New Deal Democrat mentions from time […]

Initial claims are positive, while hurricane-adjusted continued claims are neutral

 – by New Deal democrat This week’s jobless claims reflect a little more complex scenario than usual, because the hurricane effects have disappeared from initial claims and their four week average, but likely are affecting continued claims, and are also likely to have a negative impact for the unemployment rate in the next jobs report. […]

Retail Theft

Is theft on the rise or is this another way to winning an election by promising to fight crime. It does get votes as people believe what they want to hear. Shoplifting is not actually on the rise. Once again, the media uses such to sell itself. The Truth about Retail Theft – by Sam […]