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

Still on a Medicare Kick and How Republicans Should Cut It’s Cost

Before you go bouncing off the walls and take a fighting stance, read what Andrew Sprung of xposfactoid has to say. Republicans Should Cut Medicare . . . Rather than Medicaid. Oh, but they are the ones making the political contributions. As soon as House Republicans’ budget resolution was published, it was clear that almost […]

JOLTS report shows that the “soft landing” was intact – through March

I am not sure if people know what the Jolts Report is. So, I will offer up a descriptive definition; The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces monthly and annual estimates of job openings, hires, and separations for the nation. The JOLTS program also produces monthly state estimates for […]

Powell Howl

Late and brief thoughts on Trump’s assault on the independence of the Fed. It’s old news.now, but one way in which Trump assaulted norms, shocked investors, then flinched when asset prices moved was his discussion of firing the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. To orthodox macroeconomists and also me this is an extreme heresy. […]

Call sales and marketing stat!

“Behind closed doors, some Republicans are irked that their leaders are not doing enough explaining: One Republican with direct knowledge of the matter told POLITICO “there’s frustration for not laying out the rationale behind Medicaid cuts.” Not to worry. Here’s Duncan Black: “ . . . the rich want more money and they want you […]

Economics facts are political and hostile to the Trump Administration

Look, tariffs are just consumption taxes. American consumers pay for tariffs on Chinese goods, not the Chinese government, businesses or people. Trump pretends that exporting countries pay our tariffs. If he really believed that, he’d be happy to see Amazon post how much China is paying to get their goods into our market. But when […]

Repeat home sales confirm deceleration of prices for existing homes

 – by New Deal democrat Last week I noted that the deceleration in YoY prices in the existing home sales report was indicative of the ongoing rebalancing of the housing market, and I would be looking for confirmation in the repeat home sales reports this week. This morning, we got it. On a seasonally adjusted […]

Talking Climate Week

Robert Reich askes where are our past presidents and vice president? When it comes to the necessity of speaking out against this dangerous and detestable regime, where are Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and where are their vice presidents, Al Gore and Dick Cheney? Well, one did show up in San Francisco for Climate […]

Republicans Kicking Americans Off of Medicaid

Yesterday (28th) I introduced the 1st half of Charles Gaba commentary. In case you forgot what it was, you can find it here: Twenty-one Million Americans to Lose Healthcare – Angry Bear for reread. Charles does a thorough job of discussing what Repubs are planning to do to a sizeable number of citizens. To the […]

Regional Fed manufacturing indexes average in April is recessionary, services on the cusp

 – by New Deal democrat This month the economic surveys by the five regional Feds which conduct them – New York, Philly, Richmond, Kansas City, and Dallas – have assumed additional importance as among the likely first warnings of impacts from T—-p’s trade wars.  This morning the last manufacturing survey for the month, from Dallas, was […]

Supply Chain and Manufacturing in the US

I will simplify this to a manner in which I have worked in for almost 50 years. The big issues around manufacturing are the Infrastructure (bldg., machinery, etc.), Overhead, and Labor. All of which is a part of the cost of manufacturing. Typically, you will find the infrastructure to be a onetime price. Overhead has […]