– by New Deal democrat This week’s look at initial jobless claims includes seasonal revisions made to the data for the last five years. Fortunately, they appear to be very minor. So let’s take our typical look. On a weekly basis, initial claims declined -1,000 to 224,000, and the four week moving average declined -4,750 to […]

Well it is not the Wings. A failed attempt by the Trump’s administration to get a Greenland resident to host a visit by J. D. The real reason Trump’s Vance visit to Greenland did not occur. No resident of Greenland would host the visit. I think the ship was already sailing when they were going […]

Pete Hegseth was a DEI hire. GOP affirmative action to insure that incompetent alcoholics aren’t discriminated against. Here’s Mike Brock (paywalled, so no link) on the colossal blunder that is Pete Hegseth: “The core argument against DEI initiatives has always been straightforward: institutions should hire based on merit alone, without regard for demographic considerations. That […]

Lauren Egan writes . . . How Democrats faced a Joe Biden litmus test. But now could they also face a Chuck Schumer litmus test? In an interview with Politico . . . Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (who is widely expected to announce a bid next week to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Gary Peters) said the Democratic party […]

 More of a detailed explanation on the “Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers’ Research” now before SCOTUS. It appears two justices could join the three justices who are in the minority much of the time. The topic before the court is “nondelegation.” and the limitational of authority by Congress to delegate power to federal agencies. “Kavanaugh […]

 – by New Deal democrat Last week I explored how past episodes of sharp increases in politic uncertainty, and decreases in consumer confidence, had played out in the hard data as to both production and consumption. The upshot was that consumers tended to react first, with about a one quarter delay, and producers tended to […]

“Donald Trump Ignoring Court Order Is ‘Doomsday Scenario,’” (Newsweek) SUMMARY: President Donald Trump’s deportation of Venezuelan migrants may have violated a direct court order, leading to what the FBI’s former general counsel, Andrew Weissmann, has called a potential “doomsday scenario.” Speaking on MSNBC, Weissman said: “The doomsday scenario for this country is the idea that you […]

The housing market continues its slow rebalancing: new and existing home sales rangebound, price pressures including Case Shiller and FHFA steady  – by New Deal democrat Since new home sales as well as the repeat sales price indexes were both reported this morning, let’s update the entire housing market all at once, including existing home sales, […]

Why Social Security is in the worst crisis since its founding in 1935, and what you can do about it, Robert Reich Financial services executive Frank Bisignano, Trump’s pick to become permanent commissioner of Social Security, faced lawmakers this morning in a Senate confirmation hearing. He “guaranteed” senators that he would not seek to privatize […]

Contributor: Capitulation to Trump spells inordinate danger, Los Angeles Times Guest Writer at LA Times Erwin Chemerinsky, an acquaintance of mine too. We all learned long ago, perhaps on the playground, that giving in to a bully only makes things worse. That is why it is shocking to see capitulation on the part of those […]