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

The NPR program, This American Life and Student Loans

Interview Request:  The NPR program, “This American Life,” is looking for people living outside the US to interview about their student loans.  They have done surprisingly strong journalism in the past.  If this is you, please send an email to: [email protected] If you are outside of the United States and have Student Loans, “This American Life” […]

Integrity Use to Be a Valuable Commodity in New Home Building

Our first new home purchase. I knew we were to have issues and would be working through them. It was new and something we had not had before. Arizona’s Registrar of Contractors says they are seeing an uptick in complaints against new home builders. Residents in Maricopa City is south of Phoenix where state highway […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators for September 4 – 8 2023

Weekly Indicators for September 4 – 8 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. The tug of war between the headwind of high interest rates and the tailwind of low commodity and consumer inflation continues. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you right up […]

Open Thread September 9, 2023 Where do Americans mingle the most?

A question being asked by The Economist; Where do Americans mingle?, Vienna Virginia  Sit-down chain restaurants foster more cross-class mixing than any other institution. Sit-down chain restaurants, like Olive Garden, Chili’s, and Applebee’s are prime sites for many Americans. Restaurants bring Americans together more than any other private or public institution and eclipse bars, churches, petrol […]

Jimmy Kimmel and Candidate Jimmy McMillan said rents were too high. What about drug prices?

Excellent take on Drug Pricing as written by Dr. N. Adam Brown at MedPage Today. In 2016 the 21st Century Cures Act was passed by the House. The intent was to make it easier for pharmaceutical companies to bring new drugs to market and short cut the clinical trial processes. Health Affairs had this to […]

Anchor Brewing is on its last kegs, sorry its last legs.

Another story where culture clash and the company buying the business does not understand the process. How that would happen, I am not sure. However, this is a clash of cultures and a misunderstanding of the company’s capabilities. Anchor Brewing and Its Workers Anchor Brewing is on its last kegs, sorry its last legs. and just […]

Despite 6+ month low in initial claims, yellow caution flag remains

Despite 6+ month low in initial claims, yellow caution flag remains  – by New Deal democrat Last week the initial claims numbers justified restarting the yellow caution flag. This week initial jobless claims declined -13,000 to a 6+ month low of 216,000. The 4-week moving average declined -8,500 to 229,250. With a one-week lag, continuing claims […]

Utah officials sued over failure to save Great Salt Lake

In Arizona, much of its water is drawn from the Colorado River. As everyone knows, The Lake Colorado Eiver Reservoirs dropped ~150 feet since 1983. It gained water due to the recent hurricane and also a large snowfall this last year. It still has not returned to prior levels. Meanwhile, the state of Arizona continues […]

Scenes from the August employment report – and a warning

Scenes from the August employment report – and a warning  – by New Deal democrat The weekly lull after last Friday’s employment report will end tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s take a deeper dive into a few important trends in that report. First, the unemployment rate rose 0.3% to 3.8% – which is totally not surprising […]