From The No Good Deed Files – Digby’s Hullabaloo (digbysblog.net) Jim Tankersley @ The NY Times reports (Italicized quotes) the Biden administration has pulled off an amazing success in some places that will never reward him for it: America’s so-called “left behind” counties — the once-great manufacturing centers and other distressed places that struggled mightily at […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2023), received over 1,200 complaints involving credit card rewards. Which is reflective of a 70 percent increase over pre-pandemic levels. Some complaints are perennial issues such as the administration of credit card rewards. Consumers are claiming credit card companies are denying them benefits after they met program requirements. Others suggest […]
I love the smell and taste of freshly cooked bacon. That said, I very rarely eat bacon, for the same reason I rarely eat sausage, ham or bratwurst. Preserved meats are associated with a higher risk of colon cancer. But if you *do* eat bacon, can you afford to? Not according to Donald Trump, who […]
The leading sectors of the labor market are still generally trending positive – by New Deal democrat Our economic news drought ends tomorrow with the CPI report, and I’ve beaten the issue of unemployment to death, so today let’s turn to the leading sectors from the Establishment Survey portion of the jobs report, whereas I’ve […]
There are seventy-one pages to this FTC report. My commentary looks at 5 edited (mine) pages of the report. The intent is to introduce you to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and the control they have over the market. The services they provide has been integrated with the healthcare insurance companies. Which makes this a dynamic […]
– by New Deal democrat In my discussion yesterday of why the Sahm Rule might be giving a false signal at present, I noted that “in addition to the 1980-81 double-dip period, significantly the only other time [a big increase in new entrants into the labor force leading up to a recession] even came close […]
by Merrill Goozner GoozNews Government prognosticators once again foresee rising health care costs amid falling insurance coverage. Is this an election prediction? Each mid-year, economists and actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offer their predictions for the direction of health care spending over the next decade. This year they projected health care’s share of […]
by Chandra Childers Economic Policy Institute Working Economics Blog Some background on the author; Chandra Childers is a senior policy and economic analyst with the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at EPI. Her work is primarily focused on supporting EARN’s state and local policy research and advocacy network in the Southern United States. Childers is committed […]
– by New Deal democrat AB: What does the Sahm rule signify? If the three-month moving average of the jobless rate rises by at least a half-percentage point from its low during the previous 12 months, then a recession has started. NDd; In my summation of Friday’s employment report, I wrote that “[t]here will probably […]
by Dean Baker Center for Economic and Policy Research That’s what readers must conclude after reading this Washington Post’s piece on President Biden’s plans to increase corporate taxes and taxes on the rich. At one point, the piece reports the response to these plans from Rep. Steven Scalise (R-La), the second-ranking Republican in the House: “He tries […]