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

More on stock market indexes’ advance-decline lines: the healthy and the sick

– by New Deal democrat I am currently on vacation, and as the shutdown continues with no end in sight, the only sources of economic data are from the Fed and its regional banks, the States (unemployment claims and sporadic updates on tax withholding), and private sources.  In other words, I might play hooky several days […]

Tabulations of state level reports indicates 228,000 initial claims, 1.938 million continuing claims last week

– by New Deal democrat Among the economic data that is not being reported due to the federal government shutdown are initial and continuing jobless claims. Which, as I pointed out last week, is interesting because they were reported during the lengthy 2013 shutdown and for at least part of the 2018-19 shutdown. But both […]

Tariffs Impact on Price

Briefly: Prices are up. The unknown is whether and how much tariffs are impacting prices. Much can be influenced by news reports to the public. Prices did increase on imports. Are Tariffs Raising U.S. Retail Prices? Econofact The Issue: Tariffs on imported goods have risen steeply since President Trump’s second inauguration, to the highest level […]

Republican Mega Bill Will Impact Healthcare Coverage

We have posted information on Angry Bear before from various and different sources. We expect healthcare costs to increase. The article says 15 million will lose healthcare coverage. I have seen reports of up to 20 million will lose healthcare coverage. Many will lose coverage as a result of cutting Medicaid and loss of subsidies […]

Bot docs and the economics of primary care

The way to make money in medicine is to do procedures (colonoscopies, surgery). Primary care physicians, as a rule, don’t to procedures. They diagnose and, when necessary, refer to a specialist for procedures. So primary care physicians don’t make the big bucks. Med school graduates carrying loans from college and medical school are attracted to […]

Students Voting for Trump did Not Gain Them any Help or Access to Student Loan Bankruptcy

None of this means people can default whenever they wish. It does mean the consequences for student loans is harsher than for commercial loans, etc. One example is our president. Trump’s bankruptcies amount to $billions. No one has said no to Trump, you have to pay it off. The reason being? He is entitled to […]

But Friedman told me the world is flat!

Thomas “Mustache of Understanding” Friedman assured us that globalization has leveled the economic playing field, facilitating competition and collaboration, making the world “flat.” So how’s that going? “Thousands of U.S.-bound packages shipped by UPS are trapped at hubs across the country, unable to clear the maze of new customs requirements imposed by the Trump administration. […]

Teacher Pay Penalty

EPI has a good article on Teacher salaries. I stole part of it to paste on Angry Bear The Teacher Pay Penalty reached a record high in 2024: Three decades of leaving public school teachers behind, Economic Policy Institute Over the past three decades, stagnant weekly wages of public school teachers have fallen further and […]

The “Big Picture” nowcast and forecast

 – by New Deal democrat We are well into our data blackout, as no federal economic data whatsoever was released this week. Even sites that functioned in previous shutdowns, such as the Treasury Department’s “Daily Treasury Statement,” have been taken offline. This is simply not the way a functioning country works. So let me conclude this […]

U.S. residents’ foreign financial assets and liabilities

U.S. International Investment Position, 2nd Quarter 2025 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) The U.S. net international investment position, the difference between U.S. residents’ foreign financial assets and liabilities, was –$26.14 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2025, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Assets totaled […]