September jobs report: a very positive report within a framework of continued deceleration As I have written many, many times, consumption leads employment; and the near stagnation in real sales and spending signaled that we should expect weaker monthly employment reports, with both fewer new jobs and a higher unemployment rate. In September, the former happened; […]

The conclusion is the standard conclusion that US inflation is currently definitely too high

This “Letter from an American” author Prof. Heather has a different spin to it. Prof. Heather is discussing OPEC and the impact it is going to have on the US as well as other counties not having the wealth we have. One thing I did not know is, Russia is the Vice-Chair of OPEC. Or […]

Jobless claims rise; the gas price low is probably ending  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims may have ended their recent downtrend. Initial claims rose 19,000 to 219,000 from last week’s 5 month low. The 4 week average rose 250 from its 4 month low to 206,500. Continuing claims, which lag somewhat, increased […]

Putin Supporters In US Becoming Desperate  Latest reports have after Putin annexed four oblasts in Ukraine the Ukrainian military making numerous gains in several of those and simply on a major roll that seems very unlikely to be stopped or even slowed down all that much, short of Putin using nuclear weapons. First Lyman was […]

Six billion. I have written and rewritten the first line of this over and over and over again. Six billion. That is the amount of current US dollars American farmers have to come up with this year as fertilizer prices hit highs not seen since 2008, on top of higher prices last year. The difference […]

Once again, automotive is building inventory dues to parts shortages. Semiconductors appear to be an issue again or the issue never went away. Much of this is due to automotive OEMs trying to drive parts cost down to the tiers. Many of them are running tight budgets due to the OEMs. They will not hold […]

August JOLTS report: the game of reverse musical chairs in the jobs market is ending  – by New Deal democrat Since early this year I’ve been making the point that, because of the pandemic, there have been several million fewer persons looking for work, leaving a huge number of unfilled job vacancies, particularly in the […]

One Handed Economist David Zetland reviews a review by The Economist of the book Superabundance. I admit I did not read the book or even scan it. I will do so later when I have some time to do so. The subtitle kind of gives it away as it promotes (“The Story of) Population Growth, […]

September manufacturing new orders and August construction spending both turn down  – by New Deal democrat As usual, we begin another month and another quarter with important manufacturing and construction data. The ISM manufacturing index has a very long and reliable history. Going back almost 75 years, the new orders index has always fallen below 50 […]