“The Grain Deal,” Econospeak by Barkley Rosser Finally we have something sort of hopeful happen in the war in Ukraine that might help alleviate problems it has generated for much of the world. A deal has been struck to allow Ukrainian grain to be exported from Odesa and two smaller ports near it across the […]
Weekly Indicators for July 18 – 22 at Seeking Alpha – by New Deal democrat I wasn’t able to get to this link yesterday, but my Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. The situation with the leading indicators continues to ever so slowly deteriorate. But there is some good news as well, as gas prices […]
The Eurozone is not an optimum currency area. The Euro as such was a bad idea to begin with. Notably, this was the standard view of US economists. The North American argument (originating in Canada) was that a currency should be used in an area within which people are willing to move to get a […]
I have discovered that there are still people who think that adopting the Euro was a good idea, or at least not a bad idea, or at least not a catastrophe. They seem to have decided that the Greek fiscal tragedy is a minor issue. I will leave it out of the discussion. My view […]
There is a lot of noise about the shortage of semiconductors. I am not going to explain it all here. You will find the explanation of manufacture in the articles. It takes weeks to grow wafers and then Fab semi-conductors. Not maintaining orders for semiconductors creates shortage when production starts up again. The purchase of […]
“Ford Plans to Gut Workforce, Cut Thousands” – 24/7 Wall St. (247wallst.com), Douglas A. McIntyre, July 21, 2022. Gasoline or electric is the question for product. Ford could take a gradual change to electric from gasoline. It does not appear to be in the cards for Ford CEO Jim Farley. The Ford CEO wants to […]
Increasing trend in jobless claims continues; on track to give recession warning in November Initial jobless claims rose another 7,000 to 251,000 last week, an 8 month high. The 4 week average rose 4,500 to 240,500, a 7+ month high. And continuing claims also rose 51,000 to 1,384,000, which is 78,000 above their 50 year […]
We are firmly into an ENSO phase in the United States that could be regarded as the essence of the word dire. Milestones in Texas the past two weeks from a drought, weather, and a livestock production perspective are coming fast and often. Largely throughout the entire west – it’s hot, dry, and uncomfortable, both […]
Existing home sales now down 25% from peak; but price increases keep steamrolling on Although existing home sales are less economically important than new home sales, what has been happening with their prices, given the experience of the housing bubble and bust 15 years ago, is of added importance. The simple summary is that sales […]
A collection of interesting reads, news, and articles from the last week. Healthcare “Fauci to Retire by End of Biden’s First Term” (medscape.com), “Biden’s chief medical officer (Fauci), who has also been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, told Politico he is not planning to wait for COVID-19 to […]