– by New Deal democrat The ISM manufacturing and services reports assume heightened importance this month in view of the continuing federal government shutdown. These two, along with the regional Feds’ manufacturing and services reports, are our best sketch of the economy until the more thorough federal reports resume (hopefully?) We already have the regional Feds’ […]
The embolden part is emphasis by Thom and not by myself. This does make sense in that employers are sharp enough to know they can cut wages so as to profit from what is paid to Labor through government aid to it. It becomes a trade off with government assistance trade off to company labor […]
Brief rundown on how manufacturing has evolved over the past 40 years. Moving from solely Labor to less Labor at a higher value. One worker at a CNC machine can do the manufacturing of multiple workers at separate stations performing one or two functions. Lower Labor cost, faster throughput, and a promise of less inventory […]
– by New Deal democrat As I’ve reiterated several times this month, the two items of information I am paying the most attention to in the absence of official federal economic data are the Regional Fed Banks and the ISM, for both of their manufacturing and services reports. I should add that earlier this week […]
– by New Deal democrat With the shutdown of almost all economic statistics from the federal government, one of the most important remaining sources is the Fed and its regional banks. All 5 of them that publish manufacturing and services reports have now done so. Which means that we have a decent placeholder proxy for […]
Keep in mind much of the issue during the last four years pre-Tru_p was the result of Covid and the stimulus packages put in place to help Americans. Many companies took advantage of government loans which were later forgiven. Others took advantage of a Covid economy by increasing prices in various manner such as packaging. […]
Most of us have read about tariffs and rising prices. Coupled together a piece from The Economist and Robert Reich’s latest. “Trump’s impact on the economy and the nation? The damage from the tariffs that are in place is starting to be felt. The collapse in migration is an enormous and underappreciated shock to the economy. […]
The perception being, citizens are viewing it as not as serious for a second year. “Crime in U.S. Seen as Less Serious for Second Straight Year,” GALLUP WASHINGTON, D.C. — Building on last year’s less-negative assessments of crime in the U.S., Americans’ perceptions have again improved in 2025. Less than half, 49%, now say crime is an […]
Tariffs do not make the United States secure. Many countries like to sell and supply to the US because it is a large market. The people are more secure and can afford many things. The US relies on foreign countries to supply many different things to it. Some of the hazards of such a reliance […]
I’ve long said that libertarianism is the political philosophy of middle school boys and arrested development, the apotheosis of solipsism. Libertarianism holds that property rights are the only rights that matter, and that in any conflict the marketplace, not the state, must and can resolve conflicts between interests. That, my friends, is feudalism. And feudalism, […]