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

What Happened to America’s Shopping Experience?

The American Shopping Experience has changed over the years with people abandoning in person shopping to internet shopping. What has evolved with the use of the internet is major malls and stores closing their doors and increases in warehouse shopping via the internet. Some History An Austrian-born émigré and architect in 1948, Victor Gruen was […]

Tiny Homes Improve the Economy and Are More Than Just Backyard Gimmicks (Edited)

Downsizing was the way to go as we got older and are kid free. Doing so had nothing to do with maintaining our larger house (2600 sq. feet) sitting on over 1/2 acre. I kind of liked maintaining it. It got me outside. In the new community, we are on a city-sized lot and ~1500 […]

Open Thread August 8, 2023-Are Electric Vehicles Green?

I saw this the other day while looking for commentary to bring to AB. You can read the rest at the NYT. An easy read. Starter topic. Maybe EVs are not so environmentally friendly the way we are manufacturing them, the materials and the amounts used, and how we mine them. Raw materials can be […]

Scenes from the July employment report

Scenes from the July employment report  – by New Deal democrat On Friday I noted that the July employment report was a perfectly good, solid one in absolute terms, but that almost all the leading components were soft and weakening, as I would expect to see near the final stages of an expansion. Let’s take a […]

Railroad unions are winning paid sick leave for workers

From December 2022, Angry Bear has been covering parts of the railroad workers efforts to achieve better conditions for conductors’ engineers and labor in general. It appears all of the work by the union is coming to pass. Railroad unions are winning paid sick leave for workers, The Stand, July 11, 2023 WASHINGTON, D.C. (July […]

Gasoline Standards Cuts For Gas Guzzlers Start in 2027

Typically, what happens with these types of regulations is delay for another 2 to five years before becoming active. This may occur. The other likelihood being the automakers going to court suing for a delay or a ruling on constitutionality. SCOTUS could again decide Congress can only make regulations and this capability was not delegated […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indictors for July 31-Aug 4

Weekly Indicators for July 31 – August 4, and long term forecast through H1 2024 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. No big changes in the data, but note that mortgage and other interest rates are up close to their peaks. This will operate to slow […]

July jobs report: almost across the board deterioration in leading sectors

July jobs report: almost across the board deterioration in leading sectors  – by New Deal democrat My focus remains on whether jobs growth continues to decelerate, and whether the leading indicators, particularly manufacturing and construction jobs, as well as the unemployment rate (which leads going into recessions) have meaningfully deteriorated. Almost all of these items […]

GDP: Soaring Structure Investment Makes Up for Slowing Consumption, as GDP Grows at 2.4 Percent in Q2

Some Points . . . Healthcare services slight increases as a share of total consumer spending in the quarter, rising from 15.9 percent to 16.0 percent of total consumption and down from 17+ percent. Hopes are healthcare stays at that rate. Structure investment increases at a 9.7 percent annual rate after growing at a 15.8 […]

Jobless claims: a good example of why my forecasting discipline demands a confirmed trend

Jobless claims: a good example of why my forecasting discipline demands a confirmed trend  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims for the last week of July rose 6,000 to 227,000. The 4 week average decreased -5,500 to 228,250. Continuing claims, with a one week lag, rose 21,000 to 1.7 million: The YoY% change […]