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

Medicare’s $200 billion Gross Drug Spend

Medicare is almost $200 billion in gross drug spend: Who gets the blame? — 46brooklyn Research This is a complex issue as there are many moving parts to drug pricing and their costs. Perplexing in describing the drug spend issues would seem appropriate. I am not even sure if this long post will adequately define […]

New Deal democrat’s Weekly Indicators for October 31 – November 4

“Weekly Indicators for October 31 – November 4″ at Seeking Alpha.  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. Data doesn’t move relentlessly in one direction, and this week there was some improvement in some of the indicators I follow. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up […]

Wages versus Product Markup

Courtesy of EMicheal in comments. Kind of the point, I have been making for a while now. Labor wages are not the big driver of inflation. Corporations are increasing non-cost related prices and blaming it on inflation. But it’s not because of inflation. It is a cause of inflation. The public newscasters are selling their wares, ignorance, or lies […]

October jobs report: late cycle deceleration and deterioration

October jobs report: late cycle deceleration and deterioration  – by New Deal democrat With the sharp increases in interest rates, and the complete stalling of real consumer spending measured YoY, since early this year I have expected employment to follow suit, decelerating over time to a stall. And the three month average in employment gains […]

The Fed appears determined to cause a Volcker-like recession

The Fed appears determined to cause a Volcker-like recession  – by New Deal democrat Yesterday the Fed raised rates another 0.75%. In the past 8 months, the Fed has raised rates a total of 3.75%. This is one of the steepest increases in interest rates ever, only exceeded by the pace of the two 1970s […]

Jobless claims: steady as she goes

 Jobless claims: steady as she goes by New Deal democrat [ Special programming note: yesterday’s Fed action, and more important the statements made afterward, merit special attention. I will put up a special post on that later today.] Initial jobless claims remained at their recent low level, down -1,000 from one week ago to 217,000. […]

Mainstream Media Is Obsessed With Inflation

Commentary by Left Jabber @ “Left Jabs.” I had the fortune to run across this commentary at Mike’s Blog Roundup as presented by DriftGlass. Left Jabber is taking a different approach than I did in my earlier post. He is saying the same thing about Biden’s fiscal policy the last two years, It made for […]

Despite increase in openings, the decelerating trend of reverse musical chairs remains intact

September JOLTS report: despite the increase in openings, the decelerating trend in the game of reverse musical chairs remains intact  – by New Deal democrat In 2021 and earlier this year, the jobs market was typified by a game of reverse musical chairs in which there were more chairs (available jobs) than players (job seekers). […]

What News Was in My In-Box, November 2, 2022

A lot of good and assorted News topics to be read. I did not include any about the upcoming election. I did include one on polling. The same as 2020, I believe the polling results are tainted. We are not getting a clear picture from polling or news reporting. That is just one of 30-something […]