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

A New Year in 2022 and New Pharmaceutical pricing, a short Explanation

An early attempt as to explaining the drug market. It is a start and I have to program myself to understand what is said. Brief and down to earth with pictures too! Much of this is a C&P with some editing. Much credit to the authors for giving us this opportunity to understand. Welcoming a […]

Housing construction: the good news and the bad news

Housing construction: good news and bad news  – by New Deal democrat This morning’s report on housing construction contained both good news and bad news. First, the good news. Both permits (gold in the graph below) and starts (blue) increased, the former by 185,000 on an annualized rate, the latter by 129,000: It is very possible […]

Barney Frank Disagrees with Senator Elizabeth Warren on the weakening of financial rules

This is conversation between Summers and Frank are from March 13th. In this conversation, Barney could be right. He is refusing to agree that raising the limit for banks was a bad idea. If so, then how do you protect the public and the bank from bank managers doing stupid things? Gambling again with other […]

Medicare Plan Commissions May Steer Beneficiaries to Wrong Coverage

This article is easy reading exploring some the differences and why people may choose one plan over the other plan. Attached is also a Commonwealth Fund article with more detail. Medicare Plan Commissions May Steer Beneficiaries to Wrong Coverage, MedPage Today, Cheryl Clark. Agents and brokers selling Medicare plan coverage often steer their clients to […]

Jobless claims: nobody is (still!) getting laid off

Jobless claims: nobody is (still!) getting laid off  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims declined -20,000 this week, back below 200,000 to 192,000. The 4 week average declined -750 to 196,500. Continuing claims, delayed one week, declined -29,000 to 1.684 million: For all intents and purposes, it is still the case that “nobody” […]

Prescriptive View: Three Layers of a Fed Failure

In 2018. I made a similar argument without the detail Skanda Amarnath provides today. My points were not accepted. I went to a “we shall see” mode. And we did see banks taking risks because they could do so because Congress (which included Democrats) gave them the slack to do so too soon. In 2018, […]

Economic Insomnia? A Review of “The Guest Lecture”

Peter Dorman’s critical review of “The Guest Lecture.” His review was first posted at Econospeak. Economic Insomnia? A Review of “The Guest Lecture” by Martin Riker. It’s a rare day when an economist plays the key role in a novel, and even rarer when one of the supporting players is John Maynard Keynes himself.  So, […]

Accountability for Medicare Advantage Plans is long Overdue

A different viewpoint by the Physicians for a National Health Program. Mainly speaking as advocates for a universal national health program which would be as cost-effective as possible. They are proposing the plan could be constructed as an improved form of Traditional Medicare. They do too find similar issues as what Gilfillan and Berwick extensively […]

Forecast: real manufacturing and trade sales are likely to set a new record for January

Forecast: real manufacturing and trade sales are likely to set a new record for January  – by New Deal democrat One of the four monthly series of coincident indicators most relied upon by the NBER in determining whether the economy is in expansion or recession is Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales. A significant problem with it […]

Properly measured, consumer prices have been in deflation since last June

Properly measured, consumer prices have been in *deflation* since last June  – by New Deal democrat The majority wisdom is that the Fed is going to go ahead and raise interest rates again when it meets next week. I have been arguing for months that the data has not supported interest rate hikes. As of this […]