The Angry Bear

Housing construction continues to support subdued expansion  – by New Deal democrat Yesterday I wrote of how manufacturing has faded somewhat as a leading indicator, at least in the sense that it takes a steeper downturn than it used to in order to forecast a wider downturn in the economy. Which makes the other big goods-producing sector, construction, even more important. And residential housing is the single most component of that.  And...

The biggest near-term threat to human civilization from global warming is loss of fresh water and arable land for crops. It turns out that nature has confronted the challenges of increased temperature, increased salinity, disease resistance and violent weather. Recently, as strain of maize called “Jimmy Red corn” has been resurrected from a population bottleneck in which only two ears remained. Why should we care about Jimmy Red?“Jimmy Red dwindled...

October industrial and manufacturing production tank – but it’s all about the UAW strike  – by New Deal democrat Industrial production historically has been the King of Coincident Indicators, turning up and down coincident with the onset and end of recessions in the past. But there are signs that has changed in the past 20+ years since China was admitted to normal trade relationships with the US. Because manufacturing is a much smaller share of...

A rewrite by me combining several articles . . . “Go woke, go broke,” cited by one billionaire.” The implication? The ongoing culture war and economic policies of northeastern states had facilitated the migration of wealth and economic power to the South. California has the highest marginal tax rate in the nation. California also has had the second lowest out-migration rate among households earning $200,000 or more during roughly the past...

Bidenomics, a campaign slogan and a new approach. “Policy-making with the North Star rebalancing power in the economy fostering the industries we need, supporting workers’ demands for higher wages, and more economic security.”  Open Thread November 13 2023 – What happens to employment when the minimum wage is increased? Angry Bear Tags: Bidenomics...

Cleaning out my In-Box of articles. Tried this a while back. There are a lot of daily topics I receive in my in-box. I do not get a chance to post about the topics after I quickly read them. Rather than just delete them, I thought I would post some of them at Angry Bear which may interest readers. ~~~~~~~~ Where and how do ACA marketplace enrollments happen? xpostfactoid, Andrew Sprung. Most enrollments on HealthCare.gov…aren’t on...

Initial claims rise, but remain below the caution threshold  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose 13,000 to 231,000 in the past week. The 4 week moving average increased 7,750 to 220,250. With a one week lag, continued claims rose 32,000 to 1.865 million: I had speculated that the big decline in claims through September may have been affected by some unresolved post-pandemic seasonality, and the last several weeks have...

When I start to get comments and questions from some of the more expert authorities on healthcare such as Merrill Gooz, Andrew Sprung, Steve Early (Suzanne Gordon), and Kip Sullivan; I start to feel pretty good about some of my commentaries or comments. This last go around on Gooz News in the comments section, we were talking about “Fee For Service” Medicare and “Medicare Advantage” plans. The one issue I am experiencing is a 67% increase in the...

November 15, 2023 . . . Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) scolding his colleagues: “One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing. One. That I can go campaign on and say we did. One! Anybody sitting in the complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me, one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides, ‘Well, I guess it’s not as bad as the Democrats.’”  In contrast,...

If you have been following NDd, you will note one of the biggest issues with the economy is supply chain. Most notably shortages of raw material, components, and finished products. Similar occurred in 2008 and my own belief is this is a recurrence of similar. I believe much of this could have been prevented. Beyongd that remark, I will let NDd tell you how falling costs impacts the economy. Real retail sales consistent with continued slow growth,...