– by New Deal democrat This week, in addition to my usual look at jobless claims, especially in view of my post earlier this week breaking down the components of aggregate nonsupervisory payrolls, I want to compare them with several other indicators of increased joblessness in terms of their expansion and pre-recession dynamics. First, let’s look […]
What Andrew Sprung is discussing is the impact of Republicans and Trumps’ change to the funding for ACA healthcare. To explain premium tax credit improvements expired at the end of 2025, causing 2026 premiums to spike for all marketplace enrollees, whether or not they receive premium tax credits. The expiration of the enhanced tax subsidies […]
I posted earlier about my interest in whether higher oil prices would favor freight trains over trucks. Now, not only is the Trump administration driving up fuel prices, it’s also cutting truck drivers. “About 200,000 immigrant truck drivers – virtually all of them in the U.S. legally – will begin losing their commercial driver’s licenses […]
When I was working for one international company, we booked a train trip from Shanghai to Hangzhou. It was not the fastest train (G). It was a slightly slower train (D). Pleasant ride. No clicky-clack and roomy seats, You were not shoehorned into an area or seat. You could recline the seat. Distance was ~125 […]
– by New Deal democrat There’s no major economic news today, so let me take this opportunity in view of last week’s update to the CPI, to update one of my favorite labor market indicators: real aggregate nonsupervisory payrolls. As a brief refresher, over the past 60 years this has been a very good and reliable […]
For the past couple of decades, whenever oil prices spiked, I wondered if this would be good news for railroads. Trains in Europe are still very much a thing, and I’ve traveled by train in England, France, Germany and Spain. There are rail connections from Providence to Boston and to New York City. Of particular […]
Unless you like being beat up? When I was consulting with Ingersoll Engineers, I would handle the materials and supply side of the projects. Much of my time was spent looking at systems, warehousing, inventory, and purchasing. The cost sits in those areas. Depending on the throughput within the factory, you could streamline much of […]
I believe we were married about 8 years before we had enough funds to put down on a home. ~ $55,000 in an Oak and Hickory forest. Two bedrooms on a quarter acre of land. We were able to put 10% down and had an 8% mortgage rate. One year after we sold and bought […]
– by New Deal democrat Probably my biggest theme right now is that most of the economy is either recessionary or at least on the cusp of recessionary. But this has been counterbalanced by AI data center- related spending, and the stock market boom and wealth effect it gave rise to. Last month I highlighted how […]
Picture to the right was what was occurring in the United States 1973. People lining up for gasoline due to an oil embargo against the United States. I was able to find one as taken from the NY Daily News Archive as shown by Getty Images, (Time). Out and about today and did not get […]