The Angry Bear

Gee, whata surprise. Did this even make sense in the beginning? NBC empties the trash can before it starts to smell. Robert Reich: Ronna McDaniel’s tenure at NBC lasted four days. It ended last night, after network anchors and reporters blasted NBC’s decision to hire her last Friday. They argued that hiring her gave a green light for election deniers to spread lies as paid contributors. The New York Times said the episode underscored the...

 – by New Deal democrat As I wrote on Monday, the big question for this year is whether the recessionary effects of the Fed rate hikes have just been delayed. Or whether, because the rate hikes have stopped, so has the headwind they normally produce. Watching manufacturing and construction, especially housing construction, is what I expect to supply the answer. On Monday I focused on housing construction and sales. Since there’s no big economic...

Suddenly everyone is an expert on Shipping and Supply Chain. Considering we had issues in Long Beach and Los Angeles, management did not resolve the issue, I understand they are unionized. You pay them and solve the issues. Instead, Biden has to step-in and schedules overtime. You get the product to the customer. Los Angeles is the busiest port and then New York/New Jersey. One ship crashes into a Baltimore bridge and we have expectations of more...

Whenever Elon Musk says a thing, I reflexively mistrust it. So when I saw a video clip of Musk making this assertion, I wanted to think I learned something about the auto industry, but then I considered the source:“Large incumbent carmakers sell their cars at low to zero true margin. Most of their profit is selling replacement parts to their fleet, of which 70% to 80% are past warranty. Like razors & blades.”What say you, Bears? Is he correct?...

 – by New Deal democrat As I noted again yesterday, house prices lag home sales, which in turn lag mortgage rates. Yesterday we got the final February reading on sales. This morning we got the final January read on prices, for repeat sales of existing homes. Last week’s report on existing home sales showed a sharp increase in February, a repeat of the seasonally adjusted sharp increase last February, which was almost completely taken back over...

There are issues with Medicare which are easily fixed. Maggie Mahar was writing on healthcare at Angry Bear. I did the editing. I picked up on the issues with her on healthcare and have portrayed writers such as Merrill, Kip Sullivan, Charles Gaba, Steve Early, Susan Gordon, Andrew Sprung, etc. There are issues with healthcare such as cost. Then there are make believe issues such as Medicare being in trouble. The same is true of Social...

This is the easiest one. No possibility of changes. It’s Biden/Harris v. Trump/Sycophant. For Biden, the alternative is clear: the race would be between Kamala Harris and DJT.

 – by New Deal democrat Let’s begin this post by putting why I am watching new home sales in context. The economy was kept out of recession last year, despite aggressive Fed rate hikes, in large part by commodity price deflation, much or most of which was triggered by the un-kinking of supply chains after the pandemic. That gale force economic tailwind is gone, but the Fed rate hikes remain. So, the big question for this year is whether the...

Liking your present situation right now? Your job, your house, your car, you can keep it and you may have to do so. Buying a new car, house, or getting a different job may be more costly and not pay off. Even if you are not so satisfied, chances maybe you having to manage your pennies and stay put. Making a major economic change today involving costly upgrades, may not be advantageous, right now. Getting far out on a limb in a new job or with...

Ran across am Americans for Tax Fairness article last night. Corporation tax dodging and executive pay has both is far out of control. A significant number of major U.S. corporations are paying their top executives more than they’re paying federal income taxes.  Matters have worsened with trump taking office in 2016 and the TCJA Making the Tax System, and the Tax Season More Burdensome. There is roughly a $2.1 trillion deficit resulting from this...