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

DOGE layoffs hit, but still no significant change in initial or continuing jobless claims

– by New Deal democrat We continue our exercise in flying blind (into terrain?) as the government shutdown prevented the release of housing permits, starts, and construction this morning; and the Fed did not have the data necessary to update industrial production and capacity utilization. The only current information we have on the housing sector is […]

Millions of People Have Been Unfairly Declared as Dead Beats

The result of the governmental cuts to employees in the Department of Education has resulted in many students having loans unable to contact the department in a timely basis. The action of the DE is to place them in a delinquent status. Few can afford to pay for a college or technical school education. What […]

Massachusetts housing market and home inspections

When we visited Rhode Island in April 2022 on a house-hunting trip, the housing market was red hot. We made offers on three houses, all in Providence. For the first, we made a cash offer but conditioned on inspection. That offer was immediately rejected. Our other two offers didn’t stipulate inspection, but we were out-bid. […]

Extraordinary rise in Premiums they are about to face

“Staggering Premium Spikes Due to GOP Subsidy Cuts,” Common Dreams More than 20 million Americans are expected to see their health insurance premiums more than double next year after Republicans refused to extend a tax credit for those who purchase health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. And as the GOP remains firm in its stance […]

Just Like Colleges, Local School Districts are Having to Adjust to Shrinking Populations

The same as colleges adjusting to less students so it goes in some school districts. It is not like population is shrinking overall. The US population is still growing in spite of today’s politics. People are not coming to these communities. “Kansas’ Smallest School District Prepares to Close in Warning Sign for Rural Communities,” The […]

Social dissatisfaction and right wing revanchism:  comment

Paul Campos has a post up asking:  “What are the main sources of the immense amounts of social dissatisfaction that have fueled among other things the political ascent of the worst person in the history of American politics to the presidency?”  He lists several factors: Campos’ discussion of these factors is worth reading. Obviously, there […]

Significant positive news in the goods producing sector

– by New Deal democrat Under normal circumstances, this would be the morning I would slice and dice the first important consumer data for the month: retail sales. With the government shutdown continuing with no end in sight, all we have are several dart-throws. The Chicago Fed’s final Advanced Retail Trade report for September indicated +0.5% […]

Designed to Fail

The appointments of Hegseth, Noem, Kennedy, Patel, et al weren’t mistakes; they were part of a plan to destroy America so that ‘they’ can rebuild it in their image under their god and the Heritage Foundation in memory of Joseph Coors, Paul Weyrich, and Lewis Powell in the interest of wealth almighty.   Something the […]