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

Lipstick on a pig

Musk’s Tesla brand is becoming toxic. The unsold cyber trucks are accumulating in large lots. Sales of Tesla sedans have slumped, partly because Musk himself is a toxic brand and partly because of competition. Looks like Musk is crying “uncle.” “Elon Musk, who turned an upstart electric vehicle maker into an industry-changing powerhouse, is pulling […]

Regional Fed manufacturing indexes suggest rebound continued in January, with continued inflationary (tariff-related?) pressures

 – by New Deal democrat Although the last federal government shutdown has been over for 2.5 months — and a new one might begin this weekend — with the exception of a few headline indicators like inflation, industrial production, and employment, most of the data is still lagging by at least one month, i.e., it has […]

Wealth Tax in California

I follow Robert Reich daily missives on his site. I did subscribe to it. Robert has a habit of commenting on issues or things I would like to know more about. I do agree with much of what he says so it may be one reason why I read him. The topic of today’s commentary […]

Repeat home sales indices for November indicate continued rebalancing vs. new home prices — at a glacial pace

 – by New Deal democrat For the past year, my view has been that the housing market is in recessionary territory, although that has not translated to the economy as a whole. As per usual, home sales lead house prices; and that trend continued with the Case Shiller and FHFA repeat sales house price indexes through […]

Stale data watch: manufacturers’ new orders soared in November — more evidence of AI data center building?

 – by New Deal democrat With another likely government shutdown looming at the end of this week due to DHS funding, we are still playing catch-up from the last one that ended in November. This morning’s edition of stale data was durable goods manufacturing for November. One of the stories of the latter part of last […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators January 19-23

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. The trends from last year are continuing so far this year. On the plus side, initial jobless claims are very low while stock prices continue near all time highs, and consumer spending is on a tear. On the minus side, the US$ started […]

Another ICE murder in Minneapolis

ICE murdered an ICU nurse in cold blood yesterday. I would love to see ICE completely defunded and disbanded. Do we need immigration and customs enforcement? Sure. But this program isn’t doing that. It’s simply being used by the Trump Administration as a provocation to justify martial law. At the end of January 2026, the […]

Changes in Employment

I do not know if readers are keeping up with the news on employment or not. So, I decided to go back to December and grab one of Dean Baker’s commentaries on Manufacturing Jobs lost during Trump’s first year. Since the beginning of 2025, the economy has been losing jobs, This was not just in […]