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

Housing: a big miss in permits with important ramifications

Housing: a big miss in permits with important ramifications NOTE: I’ll have a more comprehensive report up at Seeking Alpha later, and will link to it once it is posted. Despite a smart month over month increase in starts, this morning’s report on housing permits and starts, taken as a whole, was a sharp negative. […]

A detailed look at Industrial Production during this expansion

A detailed look at Industrial Production during this expansion In the past week there’s been a little highbrow relitigation of the drivers of the “Great Recession” between Paul Krugman and Ben Bernanke. Bernanke plumps for it having been a “credit event” — and as to the crisis of 2008, he is clearly correct — while Krugman says it was […]

The Messenger Wore A Skirt

I had written this in 2009 and it also appeared in “the new agenda.” It is a decent piece about people who saw the coming crisis pre-2007/8 and those who opposed them. Recently, Stanford Magazine did an article on one of the University’s former law review presidents who graduated at the top of the 1964 […]

Weekly Indicators for September 10 -14 at Seeking Alpha

Weekly Indicators for September 10 -14 at Seeking Alpha – by New Deal democratMy Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. An anomalous surge in demand deposits led to one of the 5 biggest weekly jumps in M1 money supply ever as reported by the Federal Reserve this week. By clicking on the link and reading, […]

Go, Secretary Mnuchin! Save The Iranian Banks!

Go, Secretary Mnuchin! Save The Iranian Banks! In the Sept. 14 Washington Post, Josh Rogin is all shocked and upset about a report that people in the US Treasury Department, apparently supported by, if not outright led by, Secretary Steve Mnuchin, have been stonewalling or slow-moving a memo that was ordered up by President Trump […]

The Taboo against raising wages is still thriving among small businesses

The Taboo against raising wages is still thriving among small businesses The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) put out its monthly confidence and hiring reports over the past few days. The confidence report soared to new high, so the economy is Teh Awesome and happy days are here again! Right? And look! It’s confirmed by […]