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

It’s harder to find work and that is unacceptable

by Claudia Sahm Stay at Home Macro Companies aren’t so worried that they’re letting a lot of people go, but they’re also not so confident that they’re hiring a lot of people. This post, an excerpt from my (Sahm) new Bloomberg Opinion piece, is very important to me. I worry most about the drop in the hiring […]

Biden administration’s recovery package got back these jobs in less than a year and a half

I very much agree with these findings. With Trump, the nation and labor would have floundered. WE are lucky he had the wherewithal to act quickly with the right stimulus to support job growth. Two months after Dean’s post the nation is still going strong. Christmas maybe good for many. U.S. Workers are Far Better […]

Jobless claims: not so good as the headline, but not so bad either

– by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims will be up against some very challenging comparisons for the next 6 months or so, due to some unresolved post-COVID seasonality. Which means that the headline numbers this week, which look very benign at the surface, are not quite so good as they have been for the […]

Briefly, All the Toilet Paper has Been Sold and Dockworkers Went Back to Work

Somewhere, there is a correlation between the two . . . The Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico dockworker strikes are over. The strike by tens of thousands of dockworkers on the East and Gulf coasts has been called off, after the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, representing ocean carriers and port […]

New Georgia Law Spurs Bogus Challenges to Voter Eligibility

In addition to what you will hopefully read below. Repubs and Dems went to court and presented their reasoning for and against new laws allowing for a “reasonable inquiry” to be conducted before election certification and gives election workers the ability to “to examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections.”  You […]

The real nowcast for the economy as of the end of Q3

– by New Deal democrat On Friday I highlighted the sharp positive revision to the personal saving rate.  That was a byproduct of a similar sharply higher revision to real personal income over the past two years. Here is what those revisions, to real personal disposable income, look like: Instead of being up 6.8% since […]

Rebalancing of the Housing Market Continues, as New Home Sales and Existing Home Prices are Consistent with the “Soft landing”

 – by New Deal democrat With this morning’s release of new home sales, we have all of the important housing data releases for the month. So let’s integrate that into the overall housing outlook. Let’s begin with my usual  overview that new home sales are the single most leading metric for the entire sector, but […]

“An Aging Salesman Trying to Close One Last Deal”

September 23, 2024 Prof. Heather Cox-Richardson Letters from an American That is how they are describing a desperate Trump . “There’s nothing sadder than an aging salesman trying to close one last deal,” MSNBC’s Ryan Teague Beckwith wrote on September 21. Beckwith went on to list seven of Trump’s most recent campaign promises, most delivered […]

Out in the Open Election Officials Strategizing to Undermine 2024 Results

More issues with the upcoming 2024 election. Again in Georgia which had election counting issues in 2020. Now, election deniers are openly planning. Network of Georgia election officials strategizing to undermine 2024 result, US elections 2024, The Guardian. Emails obtained by the Guardian reveal a behind-the-scenes network of county election officials throughout Georgia coordinating on policy and […]

Economically weighted ISM indexes show an economy on the very cusp of – but not in – contraction

 – by New Deal democrat Recently I have paid much more attention to the ISM services index. That’s because, since the turn of the Millennium, manufacturing’s share of the economy has contracted to the point where even a significant decline in that index has not translated into an economy-wide recession, as for example in 2015-16.  When […]