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

Commenting and Commenters on Angry Bear

– For some reason (we are trying to find out why) Word Press and Askimet is deciding some commenters are new and need to be approved again. Both Joel and I are aware of this and are working with another group to fix the issue. The system was changed by input from somewhere else (WP?) […]

Household balance sheets are in good shape

– by New Deal democrat  One of my fundamentals-based systems for monitoring the economy is to look at the health of household balance sheets. Most recessions happen when consumers are under stress. If real wages are growing, if assets that can be leveraged or cashed in (mortgage payments, home equity, stocks) are increasing in value, if […]

Medicare Advantage Plan Members Will See Higher Prices and Less Service

While this is called Medicare, it is Medicare which has been commercialized. Medicare pays additional fees subsidizing the insurance plan companies (United Healthcare, WellCare, Script, etc. offering Medicare Advantage plans Not only have healthcare plans are cutting services, healthcare systems are also pulling out of Medicare Advantage Plans. Both Joel and I discussed twenty-something different […]

Executive summary for Renewables 2024

A year or two back, I had a conversation with the IEA about using their renewables data to present at Angry Bear. They asked that I keep true to the presentation. They also ask that I not use their oil reports as that is sold to customers of that report. It must be more detailed […]

2nd Look at Local Housing Markets in September

– by Bill McBride Calculated Risk NOTE: The tables for active listings, new listings and closed sales all include a comparison to September 2019 for each local market (some 2019 data is not available). This is the second look at several early reporting local markets in September. I’m tracking over 40 local housing markets in […]

“A Brave and Cunning Prince”

For Indigenous Persons Day: a review of “A Brave and Cunning Prince” by James Horn  – by New Deal democrat Recently I read the above entitled book, and found it fascinating. Below are excerpts from an online book review, to which I have added further detail in brackets. I highly recommend it: “In the mid-sixteenth […]

No, immigrants aren’t taking all the jobs

A common right-wing grievance is that undocumented (“illegal”) immigrants are taking all the jobs. In particular, that they’re stealing jobs from native-born Americans. What’s the evidence? If it were true that immigrants were stealing jobs from native born Americans, then if you plotted labor force participation by native- and foreign-born over time, they would have […]

Why are They Litigating This at All?

You have to go to court and just sit there and listen to the stuff being said. You sit there and go huh? Jack would understand what I am saying. Making sense is not necessarily a part of deciding law. Perfect example being rifles and pistols acquired or purchased shall have a serial number. In […]

“Senator Vance, I’m just gonna say that local officials, local officials, and FEMA officials say that is just flat wrong.”

The report does say ABC News. However, I saw this first on Crooks and Liars as reported by David Edwards. You have to wonder how Corporal Vance ever ended up in the position he is in today. What does he do after a day of story telling to convince people he is right. ABC News […]