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

August jobs report: deceleration shows up in spades

August jobs report: deceleration shows up in spades  – by New Deal democrat My focus remains on whether jobs growth continues to decelerate, particularly manufacturing and residential construction jobs, but also total construction and goods production jobs as a whole; as well as watching for the increase in jobless claims to translate into a higher […]

Building a Mixed City Use Concept from Scratch

To pull off the project, the company will almost certainly have to use the state’s initiative system to get Solano County residents to vote on it. The hope is voters will be enticed by promises of thousands of local jobs, increased tax revenue and investments in infrastructure like parks, a performing arts center, shopping, dining […]

YoY initial claims restart the yellow caution flag, suggest unemployment will rise towards 4.0%

YoY initial claims restart the yellow caution flag, suggest unemployment will rise towards 4.0%  – by New Deal democrat I’ll post on personal income and spending a little later. But first, initial jobless claims declined -4,000 to 228,000 last week. The more important 4 week average increased 250 to 237,500. With a one week delay, […]

Open Thread August 31, 2023 Mixed News Topics

Not Everything We Call Cancer Should Be Called Cancer, rsn.org. The NYPD Denied Our Request for Body Camera Footage of a “Friendly Fire” Killing. Here’s How We Got It Anyway, ProPublica, Mike Hayes. Clarence Thomas officially discloses private jet trips on GOP donor Harlan Crow’s plane, CNN Politics, Ariane de Vogue and Devan Cole. Stay […]

China’s Economy in Need of Rescue?

In the last post “Trump, Biden Policies Shifted Trade from China, Study Shows,” voanews.com, (read again if needed) we were talking about China sneaking its parts into the US through Mexico and Vietnam. The VOA article is the same as shown on Bloomberg. As you read that post, I think you will see I had […]

July JOLTS report: is the game of reverse musical chairs in employment ending?

July JOLTS report: is the game of reverse musical chairs in employment ending?  – by New Deal democrat For the past 18 months, I’ve likened the job market to a game of reverse musical chairs, where there are more chairs put out by potential employers than there are job applicants willing to fill them. Also […]

Frozen homeowners means record low inventory, meaning existing home prices have stopped declining

Frozen homeowners mean record low inventory, meaning existing home prices have stopped declining  – by New Deal democrat Before discussing this morning’s reports on existing home prices, let’s start with a look at new listings and total active listings of housing inventory, which are very instructive: This information is not seasonally adjusted, and obviously follows a […]

California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act sets in motion a single-payer healthcare coverage

More detail on California’s Single Payer Bill AB1690. 0223 CA Legal Fact Sheet AB1690 CalCare.pdf, nationalnursesunited.org. Summary Today’s U.S. health care system is a complex, fragmented multi-payer system that still leaves wide gaps of coverage and poses significant issues of affordability. Despite health care spending in the United States far exceeding other high-income, industrialized countries […]

Fed rate hikes in the face of declining commodity prices: an analysis of 4 precedents

Fed rate hikes in the face of declining commodity prices: an analysis of 4 precedents  – by New Deal democrat We live in interesting commodity times. Over the weekend, my latest piece at Seeking Alpha highlighted the strong contrary pulls of higher interest rates and lower commodity prices. While not unique, as we’ll see below, the […]

Louis DeJoy Closing the Topeka Post Office, the First to be Closed

I was asked by commenter Fred if I would give an update on the US Postal Service. It had been a month so it makes sense to do so. With the centralization of mail pickup by carriers it was said post offices would close as the sorting and bundling would be elsewhere. The Topeka Post […]