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

Services are Roughly 3/4’s of the Economy

ISM non-manufacturing shows that services continue to power the economy forward. Are they inflationary?  – by New Deal democrat Because services are roughly 3/4’s of the economy, I now pay a lot of attention to the economically weighted average of the ISM manufacturing and services indexes. Since the accession of China to normal trading status […]

The Government And The Economy

A well constructed government, at a minimum, provides its citizens FDR’s four freedoms:  A good well constructed government would want what is best for the society or nation as a whole; understand that a healthy, well fed, well housed, well educated society or nation with a stable quality government is best.   A well constructed, healthy […]

86% of Private-Sector Employees Worked for Establishments Offering Health Insurance

Just a snapshot of US firms offering healthcare insurance by size, cost, and amount od cost. As you can see, cost has increased from 2010-2023. It has become one of the largest costs impacting both emploers and employees in the US. Overall, it impacts the competitiveness of employers globally and smaller employers ability to attract […]

JOLTS report for October: continuing trend of deceleration has begun to pose a problem

 – by New Deal democrat The JOLTS survey parses the jobs market on a monthly basis more thoroughly than the headline employment numbers in the jobs report. It also is a slight leading indicators for both initial jobless claims and unemployment; and for forecasting wage growth as well.  Like many other statistics concerning jobs, the […]

Global Health and Climate Change

“9 local story ideas from the 2024 Lancet Countdown report on climate change and health” – by Naseem S. Miller The Journal’s Resource Health threats from climate change are reaching record-breaking levels, affecting people in every country, according to the eighth annual Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report, which provides an up-to-date assessment of […]

Roberts court silver lining

The antiregulation bias of the Supreme Court was loudly signaled with the overturn of Chevron deference. Now, the SCOTUS has arrogated to itself the interpretation of technical details for regulation of things they are all incompetent to assess: ““Since Chevron has fallen, agencies are much more cautious in putting forward rules and regulations,” Ramachandran said. […]

Trust in the Justice System is Indeed Damaged

But not in the way Mikie Johnson believes. “House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday slammed President Biden for his decision to pardon his son Hunter, calling the move an abuse of the justice system.   Johnson rips Hunter Biden pardon, saying trust in justice system damaged, The Hill ‘President Biden insisted many times he would never pardon his […]

The Hegseth dysfunction

It seems that Hegseth may be forced to end his bid for Secretary of Defense due to his alcoholism and history of sexual abuse and mismanagement of nonprofits.  On one level this is as it should be.  I could probably live with Hegseth if he was well qualified for the job but got quietly soused […]