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

Fall asleep in public areas? Go to Jail in Louisiana

Louisiana Court proposed Homeless Program, “Streets to Success Act“ AB: I do not believe this is a “failure to communicate” law as much as a failure to provide a place for people to go, sleep, and make a living. What do you do at that point? The state and county put you to work in […]

March retail spending: including or excluding gasoline makes all the difference

 – by New Deal democrat Consumer spending is about 70% of the economy, and retail sales is our first wide measure of that spending. This morning’s update for March (still after all these months delayed about a week compared with the schedule before last autumn’s government shutdown) was unsurprisingly dominated by what happened at gas stations.  […]

Have Things in Manufacturing Improved Since Trump’s Trade Barriers

A year later, here’s where things stand on Trump’s manufacturing revival . . . What happened when Trump put a stack of tariffs into play? Not much good is happening for Labor, In the first place the amount of Labor in manufacturing has been declining for years due to manual machining going to multi-functional NC […]

Mortgage Payments and the Vibecession

Mortgage Payments and the Vibecession: Homeowners’ “Cost of Living” Mortgage payments are most owner-occupiers’ biggest monthly cash outlay. And they’re way up. Steve Roth — Wealth Economics I came across a pretty eye-popping economic fact recently: The typical payment on a new mortgage for an average American residence has ~doubled since 2019.1 It was $913 in Dec. 2019; […]

Updating the long leading indicators: per capita real retail spending and real spending on goods

– by New Deal democrat So much of the changes to the economy has been dictated by the whims of the White House that it has not made much sense to throughly update the suite of long leading indicators in many months. After all, why chart their incipient effects when they are consistently being overtaken by […]

Immigration Enforcement Harms all Labor

Unemployment has increased for U.S.-born workers in the face of mass deportations: Trump’s draconian immigration enforcement is harming all workers. Economic Policy Institute, April 3, 2026 During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance promised that mass deportations and a crack-down on immigration would open up jobs for unemployed U.S. citizens. The theory was […]

Gasoline Prices, Trump Says . . .

As Americans Struggle With Soaring Prices, Trump Says $4 Gas Is ‘Not Very High,’ Common Dreams President Donald Trump on Thursday brushed off Americans’ concerns about paying $4 per gallon of gas, telling a group of reporters that this price is “not very high.” While speaking with journalists on the White House lawn, Trump was asked by a reported […]

Less Dire Household Survey Labor Market Recap

Household Survey Labor Market Recap February 2026. All in all, still a soft report as told by Preston Mui at Enploy America. As he suggests, methodological quirks explain some of the weakness but it only go so far. The Fed will not see this as a reason to cut imminently, but they’ll be on guard. […]