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

Trump’s Stock Market’s Bump Appears to be Over

The threats of tariffs and trade wars by Trump appears to have had an impact on the US economy. Moreso than the countries he has been threatening. If they call his bluff, the US population will pay for his malfeasance. Maybe this is what Trump wanted? As reported at Quartz “The stock market’s Trump bump […]

Important changes in trend in the bond and stock markets, and a note on GDP estimates as well

– by New Deal democrat There’s no important economic data today, so this is a good time to write about several important developments in the stock and bond markets. First of all, as many of you may already know, a portion of the US Treasury yield curve, between the 10 year and 3 month Treasuries, re-inverted […]

Immigrants and the Makeup of the US Workforce

In 2023, approximately one-fifth of the workforce was foreign-born. Of the 160.2 million people in the US workforce, and again about 29.7 million were immigrants. This is an increase from 2010 when the immigrant portions was an approximate 15.6% of the workforce. Immigrants can be employed across different industries. However, there is concentrations of immigrants […]

ISM manufacturing index and construction spending report of a goods producing sector that is no longer expanding

– by New Deal democrat Although manufacturing is of diminishing importance to the economy, (it was in deep contraction both in 2015-16 and again in 2022 without any recession), the ISM manufacturing index remains an important indicator with a 75+ year history of accurately describing that sector and forecasting it over the short term.  Any […]

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators for February 24 – 28

– by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. Last week I wrote that exogenous factors – like political decisions – could have nearly simultaneous effects across all timeframes of indicators. In other words, the long and short leading indicators as well as the coincident indicators, could all react at the […]

Rust Belt Cities reborn?

Rust Belt cities reborn? – The one-handed economist Guest Post by Student Sara Pittsburgh and Detroit, known as Rust Belt cities because of their proximity to areas of heavy manufacturing, were two of the wealthiest American cities in the 20th century (Warda, 2016). Yet today, while one city is said to be a model for […]

What Will Result from Not Having a CFPB

The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passage in 2010 was a legislative response to the financial crisis of 2007–08 and the subsequent Great Recession. The CFPB in creation was an independent bureau within the Federal Reserve. Its creation was meant to write and enforces rules for financial institutions, examine both bank and non-bank […]

Economic Projections is not living up to its promises

Here we are EOM February, have economic projections improved under Trump? I do not believe, this administration gives a damn about economic projections. It is open to questions though. 🙂 Stay-At-Home Macro (SAHM), “The Fed’s Summary of Economic Projections isn’t living up to its promises,” Claudia Sahm On December 18th, the Fed officials voted to […]