– by New Deal democrat We continue our exercise in flying blind (into terrain?) as the government shutdown prevented the release of housing permits, starts, and construction this morning; and the Fed did not have the data necessary to update industrial production and capacity utilization. The only current information we have on the housing sector is […]

The same as colleges adjusting to less students so it goes in some school districts. It is not like population is shrinking overall. The US population is still growing in spite of today’s politics. People are not coming to these communities. “Kansas’ Smallest School District Prepares to Close in Warning Sign for Rural Communities,” The […]

Paul Campos has a post up asking:  “What are the main sources of the immense amounts of social dissatisfaction that have fueled among other things the political ascent of the worst person in the history of American politics to the presidency?”  He lists several factors: Campos’ discussion of these factors is worth reading. Obviously, there […]

– by New Deal democrat Under normal circumstances, this would be the morning I would slice and dice the first important consumer data for the month: retail sales. With the government shutdown continuing with no end in sight, all we have are several dart-throws. The Chicago Fed’s final Advanced Retail Trade report for September indicated +0.5% […]

This is a rambling commentary pulling from an Angry Bear writer and two articles. I believe I have it all in order. Most recently Joel discussed Academia with an eye on colleges, “The end of the golden age for academia.” As he points out: “Recent months have brought terminations of 120 staff members at Boston […]

I retired while working at Tier 1s in the world of American and German automotive companies. If I was not in China or the Philippines, I was in western and eastern Europe going to suppliers. Mostly, this was automotive component production for American automobiles and pickups. As you read this piece, I believe you will […]

In his continuous effort to control the media cycle and distract from the Epstein files, Trump has been threatening China on and off with huge tariffs. But as usual, it looks like it’s bluster. Why? “America has made an unusually directional economic bet that is at this moment totally dependent on Chinese rare earth exports. […]

I am X-military, having served during the Vietnam conflict where many of my friends died or were injured. If you chat with me about your war stories, I will probably just nod my head. My overseas duty was with 8th Marines in Cuba as a 2881 MOS even though I was deadly with an M14. […]

“even if Trump’s push to establish authoritarian rule is defeated, it will take many years to recover what we’ve lost.” I have been thinking of this all along. Domestically? Tr_mp has been breaking the nations gains down. What comes to mind is reducing the minimum wage for federal contractors, rolling back rules that strengthening overtime […]

I’ve written previously about the shortage of primary care physicians in the US. In principle, one way to address this shortage is to admit more international medical graduates as physicians. But an historic barrier to this solution is the requirement for US residency training. Some states are passing laws allowing international medical graduates if they […]