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

March total business sales strongly suggest that real total sales have entered a downturn

March total business sales strongly suggest that real total sales have entered a downturn  – by New Deal democrat Today’s final significant economic report was total business sales for March. This is a nominal figure; the “real” number won’t be updated until personal income and spending is reported for April in two weeks. And here, […]

Will No Company Offer a Fair Wage?

I believe the true complaint is people will not work for long for an employer who screws them over on wages. They will take a job. And then the first change they get, they will leave for another job offering higher wages and better benefits. Especially now, when Labor is “still” scarce. Unless of course, […]

US on track to set record in 2023 for mass killings

I do not believe there is anything shocking enough to get Americans to react to deluge of killings from bullet-spewing-weapons. No matter what happens, everything goes back to the way it was pre-mass murders. In this case we have had multiples of shootings of 4 or more which qualifies as a mass shooting. Our elected […]

April industrial production looks great! – until you account for the March revisions

April industrial production looks great! – until you account for the March revisions  – by New Deal democrat The second of this morning’s three significant economic releases was April industrial production, and here the revisions were very important. In April total production increased 0.5% from March, but March itself was revised downward by -0.5%, so […]

Get busy winning

Get busy winning, Digby’s Hullabaloo, Tom Sullivan Or get busy watching freedom die . . . Blue America‘s Howie Klein (Down With Tyranny) points to an old idea still current and still popular: FDR’s proposed Economic Bill of Rights (1944). Our political bill of rights, FDR saw, was inadequate for assuring “equality in the pursuit […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators May 8 – 12

Weekly Indicators for May 8 – 12 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. There was more slow deterioration in the coincident indicators, but interestingly a bounce in several of the short leading indicators, particularly in the weakness of the US$ (which paradoxically is a positive, […]

Why Biden’s Domestic Content Incentives Matter

This is a pretty good take on what the administration is attempting to do in the US with regard to manufacturing. With some help from Republicans, this could be a change in the US for labor. Labor’s input in manufacturing raw materials and finished product would result in increased income. Much pf Labor could be […]

Economics, not geology

I’ve had a lifelong fascination with New York City in general and with Manhattan in particular. My dad grew up in Brooklyn, and my paternal grandparents lived on Long Island (Hempstead) when I was growing up. I went to the 1964 Worlds Fair in Flushing Meadows, and once ate at an automat in Manhattan. When […]

Real hourly and aggregate wages update; plus further comments on consumer and producer inflation

Real hourly and aggregate wages update; plus further comments on consumer and producer inflation  – by New Deal democrat Let’s update some inflation-related information. First of all, real hourly wages for non-managerial personnel increased less than 0.1% in April. They are up about 3% from just before the pandemic, and also up a little over 1% […]

Yellow flag from initial jobless claims turns a little more orangey

Yellow flag from initial jobless claims turns a little more orangey  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose 22,000 to 264,000 last week, while the 4 week average rose 6,000 to 245,250. Continuing claims, with a one week lag, rose 12,000 to 1.813 million: Note that both measures of initial claims are at […]