– by New Deal democrat The first part of this week is all about more housing data. This morning started out with  existing home sales, which although they typically constitute about 90% of all sales are the least important for forecasting purposes, since the main thing that happens is only a change in ownership, and therefore they […]

“(Reuters) -Tesla shares jumped 10% on Monday, lifted by the long-awaited launch of the company’s robotaxi service that CEO Elon Musk has for years championed as a key driver of the electric vehicle maker’s lofty valuation. “The automaker deployed a small fleet of self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, marking the first time its […]

 – by New Deal democrat There is an old saying that “economic expansions don’t die of old age. They are murdered.”  I have been writing about the economy, and examining all sorts of leading, coincident, and lagging indicators, for 20 years; and the longer time goes on, the truer that saying appears. My most recent examination […]

The United States already had the highest rate of child poverty compared to other wealthy, developed nations. According to the most recent data from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). The U.S. child poverty rate was 20.8 percent, and the average for similar countries excluding the United States was 11.2 percent using data […]

A quick run-down on Trump and Republican’s H.R. 1 bill. This has already passed in the House and is now at the Senate for consideration. There may be some changes and resistance yet. There is a widespread agreement the most vulnerable will take the biggest hit, and it is by design. Under H.R. 1, the […]

In 2006 Joel Garreau wrote “300 Million and Counting” in the Smithsonian. It was then we were at a replacement rate of 2.01. The nation was barely replacing itself.  November 20, 1967, the population of the United States passed 200 million. It had taken ~29 years to add 100 million more people to the US […]

Along with the return of trump, the United States popularity is in decline. U.S. President Donald Trump receives mostly negative ratings in a new Pew Research Center survey of 24 nations. More than half in 19 of these countries say they lack confidence in Trump’s leadership in world affairs-Pew. I would suggest not traveling globally […]

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. The trends that have been in place ever since the start of Tariff-palooza!, aided and abetted by the GOP budget-busting bill and the burgeoning Israel-Iran war, are continuing. The US$ is declining, oil prices are spiking, rail traffic has turned negative, and […]

Introduction to Pharmacy Benefit Managers and their role with pharmacies, insurance companies, drug manufacturers, and healthcare. They do have an impact on the costs of healthcare through the pricing of drugs. Also, a large impact on growth in drug prices, higher patient out-of-pocket costs, availability, and the closing of independent pharmacies. What Pharmacy Benefit Managers Do, and […]

I’m reading these religion-based and politically based articles saying Americans need to have more children. WTF? “In an effort to get Americans to have more children, the Trump administration has proposed ideas such as a $5,000 “baby bonus” or a $1,000 tax-deferred investment account for children born between 2025 and 2029. It’s as if we’re […]