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

ISM services for November generally positive and improving

 – by New Deal democrat Probably the most important economic news this entire week was this morning’s ISM services report. Services are about 75% of the economy, and this report was for November, which means it is the most wide-ranging and current datapoint we have at the moment. And the news on this front was almost […]

Wealth and Income

Just some basic information and explanation. A few notes on wealth and income and the growth for a few since 1989 K-Shaped Recovery A K-shaped recovery occurs when, following a recession, different parts of the economy recover at different rates, times, or magnitudes. It’s called K-shaped because the path of the different parts of the economy […]

Production weakens while private employment declines

 – by New Deal democrat Although not published by the federal government itself, the Fed’s measure of industrial production relies on some federal data, and thus it was not updated during the government shutdown – which means that this morning’s update is likewise stale, being for September. Industrial production has been much less central to the […]

Still Incomplete Economic Data and . . .

If I am reading New Deal democrat’s commentary correctly today , we definitely are flying blind. We are not getting all the economic detail we need to know which way the wind is blowing economically. Not a good situation to be in and Republicans appear to be ok with this scenario. It can because they […]

If his lips are moving, he’s lying

Trump is borrowing from the Zohran “Socialist” Mamdani playbook to brand himself as the affordability president. ““I AM THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT,” Trump wrote in the Saturday morning [Pravda Social] post. “Trump based that proclamation on his claim that “DRUG PRICES ARE FALLING AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, 500%, 600%, 700%, and more.” He also suggested […]

Deepening Stagflationary Contraction

“November ISM manufacturing report indicates deepening stagflationary contraction”  – by New Deal democrat Normally we begin each month with reports on both construction spending and manufacturing. But even though th federal shutdown has been over for more than three weeks, data releases have been both very sparse and very stale. In particular, construction spending for August […]

New Deal democrat’s Weekly Indicators for November 24 – 28

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. In the aggregate, consumer spending remains robust. On the other hand, as I pointed out yesterday with my aggregation of the various regional Fed reports on manufacturing and services, the largest sector of the US economy appears to be stagnant or even shrinking […]