– by New Deal democrat In addition to the jobs report, because this is Thursday we also got the latest jobless claims numbers. To wit, initial claims declined -4,000 to 233,000, and the four week moving average declined -3,750 to 241,500. With the typical one week delay, continuing claims were unchanged at 1.964 million: The more […]

 – by New Deal democrat Even before the new Administration took office in Washington, my focus had been on whether the economy would have a “soft” or “hard” landing, i.e., recession. That has only intensified by the utter chaos of this Administration, particularly about tariffs. So my focus now is looking for “hard” vs.”soft” data indicating […]

Remember the drug Ivermectin during the Covid epidemic? The animal-deworming medication was used so avidly as an off-label COVID treatment during the pandemic that some feed stores ended up going out of stock. To prevent stockouts one store posted this: “MUST SHOW A PIC OF YOU AND YOUR HORSE.” A sign that demanded proof from would-be […]

David Zetland doing a review of Thomas Sowell’s book, “Basic Economics.” I had written Mr. Sowell once, maybe a decade ago. I was the recipient of his book. I was a third of the way through it when I was called away for a business trip which lasted a month. I found the book and […]

The Trump GOP has its knickers in a twist over Zohran Mamdani. He’s a Muslim, he’s young, he’s a Democratic Socialist (like Bernie) and he might be the next mayor of NYC. So the GOP hate machine is on blast: “Since the MAGA hordes first learned about the existence of NYC Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran […]

– by New Deal democrat As promised, let me parse the JOLTS survey for May, which was reported yesterday.  As a quick refresher, this survey decomposes the employment market into openings, hires, quits, and layoffs. In 2024 the data were most consistent with a “soft landing,” but the actions of the new Administration, especially on trade, […]

Noem is busy protecting Americans against self-eating cannibals: “Speaking at a press conference in Florida with Donald Trump, Noem claimed that the president’s deportation push, which she is overseeing, is about “upholding freedom…the freedom to live safely in this country and to do things legally and to have justice.” The administration, she said, is “going […]

Is there not one person in Congress who will be our leader who will tell Tr__P to shut up? Is it up to the constituency to do the dirty work every 4 years? I can only imagine where we would be it Tr__p succeeds. Trump attacks Fed again in open letter to Powell calling for […]

Yesterday, we were discussing Round Abouts (AZ) or what they call Traffic Circles (New Jersey) in this article. My first experience at navigating one such creature was in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I was temporality stationed (as a Marine) at Fort Monmouth going to Crypto-Tech training for six months. I was able to borrow a […]

RFK Jr. has appointed a clown car to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). And it shows: “If observers were waiting for a moment when the newly anointed members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) made a clear case against U.S. vaccine science, it didn’t happen during the group’s 2-day […]