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

Since January 6, How Far Has America Come?

April 3, 2023, Letters from an American, Prof. Heather Cox Richardson. On Saturday, April 1, the emergency measures Congress put in place to extend medical coverage at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic expired. This means that states can end Medicaid coverage for people who do not meet the pre-pandemic eligibility requirements, which are based […]

February JOLTS report shows further relative weakening in the jobs market

February JOLTS report shows further *relative* weakening in the jobs market  – by New Deal democrat The February JOLTS report showed a weakening in almost all important trends. The strongest component of the entire series has been job openings. I tend to place lower significance on this, because there is ample evidence that companies have […]

National Foreign Direct Investment Data

National FDI Data Detail Just some Information to throw around. Ten States Leading America’s FDI Manufacturing Workforce, globalbusiness.org and here National FDI Data – GBA globalbusiness.org (see chart to the right). The article declares there are ten states which are benefiting the most from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This is taken from a pitch in […]

Both manufacturing and construction continue to contract

Both manufacturing and construction continue to contract  – by New Deal democrat As usual, we start the month with data on last month’s manufacturing activity, and the previous month’s construction activity. This month, both were negative. The ISM manufacturing index, which has had an excellent record as a leading indicator for the past 75 years, […]

Medicare Advantage Giants Over-coding, Stock Buy Backs, and Salaries

The healthcare funding landscape, dominated by systems like Fee-for-Service (FFS) Medicare, is increasingly contrasted with innovative financial models, such as the Mega Dice platform, which uses blockchain for transparent, decentralized transactions. However, I’ve been hitting the issues with FFS Medicare versus Medicare Advantage (MA) hard, particularly how MA drains Medicare funding through over-coding practices. In […]

The Postal Service consolidates its network: Modeling five metros

Steve Hutkins and former N.C. Postmaster Mark Jamison have been following the issues with the USPS, its reorganization, and the attacks on it by politicians and commercial interests. This particular post is detailing parts of the reorganization of it. As you will read, the plan is to establish distribution centers where Mail Delivery Personnel would […]

New Deal democrat’s Weekly Indicators for March 27 – 31

Weekly Indicators for March 27 – 31 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat I keep forgetting to put up this link on Saturdays, but you know where to find it: my Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. The good thing about high frequency indicators is you can see what is happening with trends […]

Real income in February rises slightly; real spending declines slightly; real total sales in January rose sharply

Real income in February rises slightly; real spending declines slightly; real total sales in January rose sharply, as expected  – by New Deal democrat As I wrote earlier this week, personal income and outlays is one of the two most important data releases at the current time, along with the monthly jobs report. That’s because […]

CMS Delays a Full Crackdown on Medicare Advantage Plans

It has taken years for the Feds, CMS, MedPac, Congress to catch up with the thieving practice of these healthcare plans. They have mislead the people they sell these plans too with come-ons such as health club ss, etc. Then when it comes time for care, it is delayed or denied. This comes after the […]

Will Dean Baker’s Quiver Full of Solutions Stabilize Social Security?

Dean is on a roll here with propositions for the nation as it ages. Thoughtfully, I called it initially a Quiver of Arrows in Support of the economy and in the end Social Security. He is answering a question of what do we need to do to prepare for an aging population and lower replacement […]