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

Presidents’ Day week jobless claims pose a quandary

– by New Deal democrat Later this morning I’ll discuss yesterday’s positive durable goods orders release, and in that context, I’ll also have more to say about the likely reason why industrial production also improved so much. Tomorrow we’ll get personal income and spending, and new home sales, both from December, as well as the […]

An Interview with Talarico

I can not find much in written text to play here. However, you can listen to the Colbert interview of James Talarico. If I find more information on this candidate, I will, of course post it. Many important issues in this interview. Stephen Colbert hosts Texas State Rep. James Talarico for an online-exclusive interview that […]

Trump’s Fix for Healthcare is to Make It More Difficult to Obtain

You shouldn’t have to pay $thousands for healthcare. You should be able to obtain healthcare at a reasonable cost. Millions of citizens have been pushed out of healthcare programs as they were disqualified. There was a time in the past when healthcare costs were better. It has become more of a profit center for corporations. […]

Worried About AI?

J.P. McJefferson talking Artificial Intelligence. “’We’ve been here before.’ Every generation has its technological scare story.” Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash Why Should I Be Worried About AI? J.P. McJefferson Thoughts For many people, the current anxiety about artificial intelligence feels overblown. They say, “We’ve been here before.” Every generation has its technological scare story. In the […]

Global Economy and the United States

Our fearless leader (who never had much to fear in his lifetime) is recasting the economics of this nation more to his liking. There may(?) have been a time year (decades?) ago when doing so would not be much of an issue. This due to the United States economic size and power globally after WWII. […]

George Washington, the self-made icon

Josh Marshall has an interesting piece in TPM on George Washington. It’s the second of two commentaries on Presidents Day. Presidents Day was originally celebrated as George Washington’s Birthday. When the effort to declare Abraham Lincoln’s birthday a national holiday failed, due to opposition from white Southern politicians, Presidents Day replaced Washington’s birthday. In the […]

Housing short term indicators say “recession;” longer term indicators suggest “recovery” is close

 – by New Deal democrat When I updated this information in September, I wrote that “a puzzling relationship this year has been that the housing data has been classically recessionary for a number of months, and yet the economy has not rolled over.” I concluded that update by noting that while the report was “very much […]

US Healthcare? Paying More for Less

Beating a constant drum here of the Quality and Expense for United Staes healthcare. This short piece by CEPR’s John Schmitt offers excellent and simple graphs presenting the detail of healthcare in the United States versus other countries. Simplistic graphs and numbers for the United States and measured along with other countries. The issue is […]

Celebration of Self

Two points to this Dan Rather piece (subscriber). President in office should not have things named after them. Gerald Ford declined such. The sitting President Ford vetoed a bill branding things with his name because he believed federal buildings should not be named while he was in office, Neither should Presidents in office add their […]

Short and medium term inflation, interest rates, and the overstretched consumer

The deluge of data resumes tomorrow with housing permits and starts, industrial production, and durable goods orders. In the meantime, let me make a few “big picture” observations of the economy, and in particular, the short and longer term trends in inflation and interest rates. – by New Deal democrat 1. Short term inflation A very […]