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

Primary care physicians and unions

One of the phenomena that have led to increased income inequality and the hollowing out of the middle class in America is the decline of unions. Recently, it appears that some workers are trying to claw back some of that lost economic ground. Now I don’t count PCPs as middle class or working class. Yes, […]

Just a Bunch of Charts Depicting Immigrants Coming to America

The U.S. benefits from immigration but policy reforms needed to maximize gains: Recommendations and a review of key issues to ensure fair wages and labor standards for all workers, Economic Policy Institute – by Daniel Costa, Josh Bivens, Ben Zipperer, and Monique Morrissey Migrants and immigrants who resided in the United States in 2022 accounted […]

Getting the Story Right on What Happened

Inflation was caused by Wall Street and companies rent-taking by increasing prices because they could do so by manipulating the supply chain. I started working is Supply Chain in the seventies for a small company by the name of Baxter Travenol. It was smaller then. It was in the old Walgreen’s building before it moved […]

Whither housing? A look at interest rate and inflationary considerations

– by New Deal democrat Starting tomorrow we get to the time of month when the data on the important long leading sector of housing begins to be reported. So let me update a few important points about where this sector is likely going and its effects on the economy. As we probably all know […]

Diversity in healthcare delivery

Years ago, we had an MD/PhD student in our program who had Eilers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that causes joint laxity and frequent painful joint dislocations. After over a decade of being misdiagnosed, her correct diagnosis was made by a physical therapist, not a physician. I noted in a previous post that I’ve been […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators for November 11 – 15

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. More the recent ‘same’ this week: short term and coincident indicators are a little noisy, but continue to say the economic OK. Meanwhile the longer leading indicators are mixed and weighing on future growth. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring […]

Review of the Tax Code and Who Benefited the Most from the Breaks in It

A review of the tax break impacts from 1981 till 2020 and who benefited the most from them. I found it to be interesting and detailed in what was occurring during this time period. As you read it and review the graphs, I believe you will find the majority of the tax breaks were targeting […]

Access to medical care: right or privilege?

America is the only industrialized nation where you can go bankrupt because of medical care. The ACA helped mitigate that risk for tens of millions, but the Trump Administration is promising to abolish the ACA. For those with some form of health insurance (private insurance, the ACA, Medicare), there’s still the challenge of (a) finding […]

Production turns more negative

– by New Deal democrat Industrial and manufacturing production slid further in October, by -0.3% and -0.5% respectively. They are also down respectively -1.2% and -1.8% from their late 2022 highs: It’s a good thing I suppose that manufacturing is no longer such an important part of the American economy, because as the below graph of […]

Lawler: Early Read on Existing Home Sales in October

by Bill McBride Calculated Risk From housing economist Tom Lawler: Based on publicly-available local realtor/MLS reports released across the country through today . . . I project that existing home sales as estimated by the National Association of Realtors ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.97 million in October, up 3.4% from September’s […]