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

New home sales and YoY prices change little; expect sideways trend to follow similar recent trend in mortgage rates

New home sales and YoY prices change little; expect sideways trend to follow similar recent trend in mortgage rates  – by New Deal democrat This week we conclude January’s housing market data with repeat sales prices tomorrow, and new single family home sales, which were reported this morning. Per my usual caveat, while new home […]

Is More Work Better? Think Again?

Is More Work Better? Think Again? The freedom of free time, branded as unproductive “leisure,” gets no respect. Originally published at Wealth Economics This post is prompted by a recent tweet from the excellent Joey Politano, but it’s not singling out Joey in particular. “We could be working so much more.” It’s hard to come away with […]

The “gold standard” of employment reports suggests that last summer’s job growth was even weaker than we thought

The “gold standard” of employment reports suggests that last summer’s job growth was even weaker than we thought  – by New Deal democrat While the monthly jobs report gets all the headlines, the “gold standard” for actual employment gains and losses is the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), which as its name indicates, […]

Chasing the mosquito man’s truck

Remember chasing the mosquito man’s truck? silive.com, Cassy Sommer  During the fifties and sixties, it was not unusual to see trucks spraying DDT near heavily wooded and swampy areas. I certainly do not recall kids running behind truck spraying the areas. Some claim this was a common practice. My aunts and mom would have had […]

The bottoming process in existing home sales continues, as YoY price comparisons increase

The bottoming process in existing home sales continues, as YoY price comparisons increase  – by New Deal democrat The bifurcation of the housing market between new and existing home components continues, as existing home sales continue near their bottom, but with a little improvement. Specifically, in January sales increased 120,000 on an annualized basis from an […]

The good news on jobless claims continues

The good news on jobless claims continues  – by New Deal democrat The good news on jobless claims continued this week, as initial claims declined -12,000 to 201,000. The four-week moving average also declined, by -3,500 to 215,250. Continuing claims, with the usual one-week delay, declined -27,000 to 1.862 million: Needless to say, this also helped […]

Biden’s high-tech problem in Michigan

Hemlock Semiconductor continues as an independently run entity with two shareholders: Corning Inc. owns 80.5%, and Shin-Etsu Chemical owns 19.5%. Hemlock specializing in specialty glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies used in semiconductors. Biden has a high-tech problem in Michigan, Christine Mui, Politico, 02/20/2024 Some Information Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company specializing in specialty glass,  ceramics, and […]

Perceptions of inflation vs. wage growth: why the divergence?

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2024 Perceptions of inflation vs. wage growth: why the divergence?  – by New Deal democrat My recent travels included visits to cousins and their children on both sides of my family. Without any prompting from me, inevitably the table talk turned to the state of the economy. Rather than Bigfoot the opinions […]

Asymptotically we Will all be Dead

This will be a long boring post amplifying on my slogan “asymptotically we will all be dead.” I assert that asymptotic theory and asymptotic approximations have nothing useful to contribute to the study of statistics. I therefore reject that vast bul of mathematical statistics as absolutely worthless. To stress the positive, I think useful work […]