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

Trump the Chump

It’s time to shit-talk the president. Congressional Democrats have had difficulty figuring out how to respond to Trump’s lawlessness, mendacity, stupidity, and cruelty.  The democratic base wants them to talk tough, but the hard reality is that they have almost no formal power and lack a party leader.  As a result, Trump has been left […]

Existing home sales, prices, and inventory remain rangebound

 – by New Deal democrat Although they constitute about 90% of all housing sales, I don’t pay too much attention to existing sales because they are not nearly so important as new home sales, since the latter involve much more economic activity in the building process, plus more landscaping and furnishings. As I’ll show below, what […]

New Deal Democrats Weekly Indicators Summation May 4- 8

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. Surprisingly, most of the data is almost relentlessly positive. In particular, those things most tied up with AI — corporate profits, stock prices, and downstream consumer spending — are particularly strong. Also, American energy companies are making windfall profits from the closure of […]

Healthcare Insurance Costs

Healthcare Insurance for a company is Overhead cost. Overhead costs are expenses supporting a business. They are not directly associated with labor input, to a product, or to a service you sell. I would not blame Labor for the rising role of healthcare costs in Overhead. This is beyond the cost of Labor input. It […]

Short-Changing Programs for Children

This piece from the Urban Institute’s Kids’ Share discusses how cuts to federal programs will have a negative impact on all children benefiting from federal programs. That is a given. However it will be a much larger impact than thought. Such programs make up a smaller percentage of the Federal Government spend. There is little […]

Special Day Today, One Which May Go Uncelebrated for Various Reasons

When I say uncelebrated, it could be result of various unpreventable causes. Mother’s Day is a congressionally established holiday to celebrate Mothers. The nation does honor mothers the second Sunday of each May. In AZ, we are the unrelated grandparents to a Mexican family living across the street from us. While their mom is in […]

April jobs report: reversals in 2025 (?) trends give rise to the second positive report in a row

 – by New Deal democrat My current Big Theme is that the AI Boom (or possibly bubble) is counterbalancing a stagnant or even shallowly recessionary rest of the economy. (I have to ask NDd whether he meant 2026). This was reflected in what has happened in the past few months. The initial jobs report for February was […]

Oil Shorts – Insider Trading

Sources are CNBC, Financial Times, BBC, Reuters Paul Krugmam (subscriber) gives a lengthy review of what took place at his substack Paul Krugman. I am not going to put his dialogue up. However, he says; “Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense.” I can not imagine how they are pulling this off. Isn’t […]

MAGA means ‘immiserate workers’

This is what the MAGA GOP supports: “Workers are earning record low wages and other compensation compared to their labor output, according to the BLS productivity and costs report published Thursday. Called the “labor share,” this indicator essentially measures how much of the nation’s economic earnings is used to pay wages and other worker benefits. […]

February and March construction spending show two leading sectors in decline; only AI spending holding up the economy

 – by New Deal democrat Tomorrow, Angy Bear will have New Deal democrat’s April jobs report up. I believe you will find it somewhat different than what others are posting. ~~~~ It has become increasingly likely that the Boom (or maybe Bubble) in spending on the construction and operation of AI data centers may be […]