Industrial and manufacturing production close to 10 year+ highs in June – by New Deal democrat If the news in housing construction the other morning was cautionary, the news on manufacturing and industrial production was very good. Manufacturing production (red in the graph below) rose 0.4% in June, and is only 0.2% below its post-pandemic […]
GOP Pretends as usual By Robert Reich Substack The Republican Party began its national convention last night, with a bow to . . . (wait for it) . . . organized labor. Or Unions. You read that correctly. A few days ago, the Republican National Committee sent out an email with this remarkably ironic headline: […]
General Motors Receives $500M Federal Grant to Electrify Lansing Grand River Plant by R.J. King DBusiness Magazine AB: Plant conversions from building gasoline and diesel driven vehicles to EVs. A timely move even if the newer models will require need modifications in later years. General Motors Co. today announced it has received a $500 million grant […]
Housing permits and starts stabilize, but construction comes close to generating yellow recession caution signal – by New Deal democrat There was good news and bad news in this morning’s report on housing permits, starts, and construction. The good news is that both permits and starts stabilized after last month’s initially reported multi-year lows. The […]
The yellow caution flag on retail consumption is up – by New Deal democrat Retail sales declined -0.1% in June, but since consumer inflation also declined -0.1%, real retail sales were unchanged for the month. There was an upward revision to May which helped out the comparisons slightly, but for the entire first half of […]
I was born into an America where the eight-hour workday was widely observed. But what was for me just another fact of life was a hard-won right of the labor movement that cost hundreds of lives. “Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age […]
The inverted Treasury yield curve: we are in uncharted territory – by New Deal democrat We passed a significant anniversary last week: the spread for the 10-year minus 2-year Treasury has been inverted for over 2 years (blue in the graph below). The 2-year minus 3-month Treasury spread has also been inverted for 20 months […]
Just Released: New Data on Record Credit Card Debt & Interest Rates – WalletHub, Diana Polk WalletHub analyzed Federal Reserve data released today and found that credit card debt hit a new record high of $1.27 trillion in May 2024, which is 4% higher than last year after adjusting for inflation. With the average credit card APR now even […]
Except as Alabama Democrat Representative Terri Sewell pointed out, Tommy Tuberville voted against the bill ($550. million) that provided the money. President Joe Biden’s Department of Transportation allocated the funding. If trump Wins the Election . . . July 12, 2024 by Prof. Heather Cox Richardson Letters from an American AB: Politicians are too busy […]
Real average nonsupervisory wages near, real aggregate nonsupervisory payrolls at, all-time highs – by New Deal democrat Now that we have the CPI reading for June, we can calculate how average wage earners are doing in “real” terms. First, real average hourly nonsupervisory wages increased 0.4% for the second straight month. On a YoY basis, […]