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

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 […]

Monthly Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, & Orders

Census Bureau monthly report which I broke out a bit differently to make it an easier read or maybe not? I do like inventories being down. Monthly Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, & Orders. – Press Release The purpose of the Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) survey is to provide broad-based monthly statistical […]

The Lowest Wages in the United States for Labor

There is more to this report on Labor than what I am presenting here. Consulting to manufacturing gave me an excellent background on the costs of Labor as compared to Overhead and Materials. Whacking Labor does not gain business much in return and will lead to inefficiency in manufacture and delivering a timely product. If […]

“Annual home price growth cooled for the seventh consecutive month”

ICE Mortgage Monitor: “Annual home price growth cooled for the seventh consecutive month” – by Bill McBride Calculated Risk Newsletter Here is the ICE November Mortgage Monitor report (pdf). Press Release: ICE Mortgage Monitor: Record Levels of Tappable Equity, Fed Rate Cuts Could Spur Resurgence in Home Equity Withdrawals Mortgage Delinquencies Increased in September Here is a graph […]

E-Verify and undocumented workers in America

When alcoholic beverages were illegal in America, drinking didn’t stop. Alcohol smuggling just became lucrative for criminal gangs. Drugs like cocaine and heroin have been illegal for decades. Consumption of cocaine and heroin didn’t stop; smuggling of these drugs just became lucrative for criminal gangs. Making undocumented migration illegal and militarizing the Mexican border didn’t […]

Four More Items in the Wages Category Outpacing Prices Debate

Angry Bear posted content on the lowest-wage workers or the lowest 10-percentile of labor having the greatest increase in wages. We used EPI charts Maybe the same two charts can show the same impact here on this commentary. These two charts will show the increase in wage for the lowest 10% of wage earners and […]

Are There Similarities Between 2008 and 2020?

I was nosey . . . First a Chart. more charts and then the verbiage . . . Thanks to Strategic Exit for giving me a foundation. There are more informational stats at YouGov Survey: “Political Violence and Extremism.” I was curious, YouGov depicts themselves as an international online research data and analytics technology group. […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators October 28 – November 1

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. There’s always some noise in the high frequency data, and this week that noise was in the positive direction, as almost all of the coincident data shows strength. On the other hand (and this is the economy we’re talking about, there’s always […]