Lack of inflation in September consistent with weak demand; real wages increase, but will the pandemic derail the gains?   Consumer prices were unchanged in October, both on a seasonally adjusted and unadjusted basis:     But while the lack of inflation is good news in isolation, the last two months can also be viewed […]

Friday, November 20, 2020 3:00 PM (EST) Student Loan Debt Crisis Panelists include: PAUL GRONDAHL – Director New York State Writers Institute (host) MATT TAIBBI – Author, Rolling Stone Magazine, Reporter (moderator) Michael J. Camoin – Videos For Change Productions, SCARED TO DEBT (filmmaker) ALAN COLLINGE – Founder of StudentLoanJustice.Org (activist) CATHERINE AUSTIN FITT – […]

These days, the nation, the world, is faced with the problem of how to distribute wealth, wealth that is being created using less and less labor input? How to distribute the profits from highly capitalized, highly automated, production? Unions, that had been much a part of the solution to the distribution problem in the early […]

Steve Hutkins at Save The Post Office, October 31, 2020 This post was written in 2016 and slightly updated on Oct. 31, 2018, exactly two years ago today. The update started like this: According to this AP report today, alarms are already being raised about the rejection of many mail-in ballots in next week’s elections. […]

by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for October 26 – 30 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. Neither of the two constraints determining where the economy will go in the next few quarters are economic themselves. Rather, they are (1) the course of the pandemic, which will in turn be […]

Mark Jamison, Retired NC Postmaster at Save the Post Office, October 29, 2020 In forestry the practice of tree girdling is well known. Although there are some circumstances where this can be a useful practice, in most cases the technique is used for nefarious ends. Girdling involves removing the bark and layers below the bark, […]

Economic Policy Institute offers context for wage increases for farmworkers: How much would it cost consumers to give farmworkers a significant raise? A 40% increase in pay would cost just $25 per household The increased media coverage of the plight of the more than 2 million farmworkers who pick and help produce our food—and whom the […]

Jobless claims: a very positive reversal This week’s new jobless claims report not only reversed last week’s increase but declined below 800,000 for the first time on an *un*revised basis. I say that because revisions from two weeks ago now have that week as the lowest since the pandemic struck.  [NOTE: California has restarted reporting […]

Mark Jamison’s commentary on USPO matters have been featured at Angry Bear Blog a number of times. A retired postmaster, Mark Jamison serves as an advisor, resident guru, and a regular contributor to Save the Post Office. Mark’s previous posts concerning the USPO can be found here at “Save The Post Office” or by doing […]

Latest on the relief negotiations is here.  Short version, Pelosi and Mnuchin are still negotiating over a $1.9 trillion bill; McConnell is floating the idea of a $500 billion dollar bill, but it is far from clear he can or even wants to pass anything. If Pelosi can get to a deal with Mnuchin, that’s […]