The Angry Bear

From a comment thread over at jabberwocking.com:“The walls are more a sign of desperation than power. A better way is to fix Central America so there is a larger buffer between the US and the problems in South America. Fixing includes making conditions in the continent prosperous enough for all that we don’t have hordes desperately attempting dangerous journeys.”Exactly. Walls don’t work. But the GOP would rather spend billions on futility than spend...

Catlin Clark. It is amazing to watch this young woman play. And then there is me! Small m. I played street ball, YMCA ball, league ball, high school, and a bit of college before the Marine Corps snatched me up. At 6 feet and just shy of 6’1″. I was a thunker. I could get my hand over the rim but not the ball. The ball would hit the rim and you could hear the thunk-sound in the gym. Hence, a thunker. It was fun though. Catlin is putting up an...

I guess the US is not the only place having issues with the rising costs of healthcare. Swiss healthcare is rising at a faster rate also. However, I suspect Switzerland has greater control over those costs than the US does. However, the industry is attempting to pass along higher costs. The cost of compulsory health insurance in Switzerland rose by 4.6% in 2023 compared to the previous year, raising the bill per insured person to CHF4,513. ...

Scenes from the January jobs report: revisions changed the picture in the Establishment Survey  – by New Deal democrat Last Friday’s jobs report contained a number of annual revisions which change what the trend line for the last year looks like. Particularly the extent to which there has been continued deceleration, or even a downturn, in a number of significant statistics in the Establishment Survey. In the below graphs, the original...

Job and Wage Growth Surge in January Center for Economic and Policy Research, Dean Baker I believe this report by Dean Baker to be a bit premature. If you are keeping up with New Deal democrat, he cites reasons why this still can go either way at this point. One reason is the Fed’s foot still on the brake. Another is manufacturing workweek is practically screaming “recession.” And U6 underemployment rate increased again. We could be near the...

McDonald’s wants to win back low-income consumers, Laura Bratton @ QUARTZ US customers making less than $45,000 stayed away in 2023. That could continue this year, executive says . . . McDonald’s chief financial officer Ian Borden told investors Monday (Feb. 5) that he’s looking for ways to win back the low-income customers the company lost last year. US consumers whose incomes fall below $45,000 are really important to the fast food...

The Senior Loan Officer Survey makes an important turn   – by New Deal democrat The Senior Loan Officer Survey is a long leading indicator, telling us about credit conditions that typically turn worse a year or more before the economy turns down, and improve just at the economy is ready to turn up. The one downside is that the information is only reported Quarterly, and with a one a one month lag. Which is a way of saying that data for Q4 of...

Employers’ hiring rate fell sharply in 2023, Zhao said. And workers are quitting less. Fewer people are changing jobs. Business Insider. And Jobs are hard to find even with low Unemployment. Open Thread February 2 2024 federal judge tosses disinformation superspreader Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lawsuit, Angry Bear ...

This is a good recital by the GAO on Food Prices, its trends, factors affecting it, and how the government plays a role in it. It covers quite a bit of territory on costs and prices pre-2021 and 2021 to 2022. It was those two years when Covid was having an impact on the nation and globally. The impact came in getting food to market, processing it, and making it available. If have some time to review this report, I believe you will come away with...

The Republican Party has demonstrated it’s subservience to Donald Trump and rejection of policy making as such. In a sane country, this would doom the party to a very long period in opposition, but I am a citizen of the country I have not the country I want. I think the issues are well known, but I will attempt a brief review. First, while most Republicans in Congress agree that the US should aid Ukraine, some side with Putin. More importantly,...