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

New home sales confirm upturn in housing, while FHFA and Case Shiller suggest increase in house prices is slowing

New home sales confirm upturn in housing, while FHFA and Case Shiller suggest increase in house prices is slowing This morning we got three reports on housing sales and prices. Let’s start with the sales data. New home sales, while very noisy and heavily revised, tend to lead all of the other housing indicators, even […]

Democrats Introduce Plan to Fix Social Security

“Democrats Introduce Plan To Fix Social Security, the way we fixed the cat,” Commenter and Social Security Expert Dale Coberly assesses the latest plan coming out of Washington DC “Congress has a new plan to fix Social Security. How it would change benefits,” CNBC in the House. Dale was one of the creators of the Northwest […]

Q3 GDP will show economic contraction? 150+ years of short term interest rate history says no

Q3 GDP will show economic contraction? 150+ years of short term interest rate history says no No economic news today, but let me show you one important reason I am not concerned about the supply chain or inflation issues at this point, despite some DOOOMMsaying about a likely punk GDP reading for Q3 that will […]

Oil prices – 7 year high, the longest string of weekly gains on record

Oil prices at 7 year high after longest string of weekly gains on record, Focus on Fracking, Commenter and Blogger RJS Oil prices rose for a record 9th consecutive week to a fresh 7 year high following across the board withdrawals from US oil & product inventories . . . after rising 3.7% to a […]

Application for Regenerative Agriculture Certification

“Regenerative Agriculture Certification,” Michael Smith, Farmer and Economist Dear Regenerative Certification team, It is a pleasure to submit and share what Foxglove Grove has been working toward since our initial business plan and due diligence exploration phase going back to 2015. As of 2020 we have taken 2018 proof of concept, turned it into an […]

Trucking, Railroads, and Industry

The plight of independent truckers Trucking companies are doing their very best to make their business successful. They use services such as the fleet graphics services to help them promote their company. There were quite a few TV shows out there which gave trucking a romantic style of life to live. It was a lot […]

Does economic growth cause unemployment?

Does economic growth cause unemployment?, Econospeak, Sandwichman, October 24 Usually, a question in the title of an article is a teaser and the answer is almost always “no.” Not in this case. The standard argument is that economic growth is necessary to create jobs and that unemployment results from the slowing or interruption of growth. […]

Wealth is leisure. Leisure, wealth.

Wealth is leisure. Leisure, wealth. The three quotes above are from, respectively: 1. William Godwin 2. Charles Wentworth Dilke 3. Karl Marx. There was a very pronounced influence of Godwin on Dilke and of Dilke on Marx (hence indirectly of Godwin on Marx). My research suggests that viewing Marx’s work from the perspective of Dilke’s […]

Median prices for existing homes is probably at peak; expect inventory to continue to increase

 Median prices for existing homes is probably at peak; expect inventory to continue to increase Existing home sales were reported yesterday for September, up 7% month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis. While they are about 90% of the market, they are much less important for the economic cycle than are new home sales, […]

Jobless claims show renewed downward trend; still some slack in continued claims

Jobless claims show renewed downward trend; still some slack in continued claims Jobless claims declined 6,000 this week to 290,000, yet another pandemic low. The 4 week average also declined 15,250 to 319,750, also another pandemic low: With the exception of the last few years of the last expansion, this level of weekly initial claims […]