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

Student Loan Debt, AI, and the Extinction of the American Middle Class

As American Jews, at what point do we stop to assess the collateral damage that the coalescence of crippling student loan debt and the advancement of AI in all facets of the economy will have on America’s working and middle class? Student Loan Debt, AI and the Extinction of the American Middle Class, jewishjournal.com, Lisa […]

Silent Spring’s Legacy Continues 60+ Years Later

Image of tractor and workers spraying is used courtesy of Getty Images. Originally published June 30, 1962, the book Silent Spring was banned initially. It was met with great resistance by many. Carson was advocating a more careful use of the pesticide. Instead, DDT was banned from any use. Globally, other countries followed suit. And […]

New Deal democrat’s Weekly Indicators June 12 – 16

Weekly Indicators for June 12 – 16 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. Stocks are really buying the “soft landing” scenario, rising to repeated 12 month+ highs, apparently anticipating that corporate profits will be off to the races again. Meanwhile, when we look at consumer […]

Standing May Be Critical to How SCOTUS Rules on Student Loan Relief

Some of Insider’s reporting, Justice Barrett and the courts wording, and my comments intermingled in this post. Amy Coney Barrett Might Have Undermined Student-Debt-Relief Lawsuit, businessinsider, Ayelet Sheffey On Thursday, Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered the opinion in Haaland v. Brackeen, which challenged the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 allowing Native American children to remain with […]

Real retail sales continue to suggest recession, decelerating employment gains

Real retail sales continue to suggest recession, decelerating employment gains  – by New Deal democrat The second of the three important datapoints this morning was retail sales for May. This is one of my favorite indicators, because it has several leading relationships, and is also an important component of one of the main data series […]

School Shootings and the Impact on Students Studied

I am XMilitary and my interpretation may not fit the scenarios described in these studies. If you know better, please explain your interpretation. This is not an easy topic to read. I was interested in the results of the studies and have read all of them. You have to wonder for them what happens a […]

45 and Now 46 million strong Owning Student Loans 2023

I was just done with updating student loan data information and checked in at the Student Loan Justice Org site on Facebook to catch up on issues. One new development being Lisa Ansdell. Associate Director @ Casden Institute, USC has joined with Alan at Student Loan Justice Org. promoting Student Loan Debt Relief. Lisa Ansell […]

Industrial production continues to falter in May

Industrial production continues to falter in May  – by New Deal democrat My final update this morning is for industrial production, the King of Coincident Indicators, which has most frequently corresponded with peaks and troughs in economic activity as determined by the NBER. The news for total production was not good, as it declined -0.2% […]

CMS and CBO consistently overestimated the growth in health care spending

National Health Expenditure Projections, 2022–31: Growth To Stabilize Once The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Ends, Health Affairs, National health expenditures are projected to have grown 4.3 percent in 2022, slower than nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 9.2 percent, leading to a decrease in the projected health spending share of GDP from 18.3 percent in 2021 to […]