The Angry Bear

As told to us by Joyce Vance at Civil Discourse. This afternoon, the Supreme Court told us that it will hear Trump’s presidential immunity appeal. After sitting on it for two and a half weeks, they’ve issued a brief grant of certiorari, scheduling argument for the week of April 22. It’s a major disappointment for people who believe justice can be done and presidents are not above the law. And understand, this is not about politics. This is not...

The state of freight  – by New Deal democrat There’s no significant economic news today. Yesterday we did get durable goods orders, which are an official leading indicator. I don’t pay too much attention to them, because they are so volatile. Thus yesterday’s big -6.1% decline (blue in the graph below) is more likely than not just noise, particularly because “core” capital goods orders (red) increased 0.1%, and have been generally tending...

Michigan has always been in the hunt for new model manufacturing in Michigan. This one pitched by Michigan to GM is nothing new. Just another state buying a company by funding its stay. I can find my records on this, Michigan owes $billions to corporate Michigan. This all started with Governor Engler. Companies are used to it, so now they expect to get it. Read on . . . Automakers’ history of taking fat subsidies and overpromising job growth make...

Repeat sales house price indexes continue to increases on par with past expansions  – by New Deal democrat House prices lag home sales, which in turn lag mortgage rates. Yesterday we got the final January reading on sales. This morning, we got the final monthly (for December) read on prices, for repeat sales of existing homes. The FHFA purchase only price index rose 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis, and is up 6.6% YoY. Meanwhile the Case...

This merger would only make groceries higher in cost. The economies of scale would not be passed along to consumers. Kroger and Albertsons sell hundreds of stores in a bid to clear merger of the 2 largest US groceries, QUARTZ The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block the $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons by rival grocer Kroger, alleging the deal would harm American consumers already facing high grocery bills. The FTC says the deal...

The Postal Service is the only carrier with a legal obligation to provide all the various aspects of universal service. The disruption at the USPS started about a year ago when DeJoy decided first class mail would not be moved by air to the western part of the nation from the east or vice versa. This in itself was a designed in slowdown of delivery meant to cut costs. Except it did not. If you have been reading along and picked up on Steve...

Over at jabberwocking.com, Kevin Drum takes on Paul Krugman over his assertion that small-town America is aggrieved because the working-age men are more likely to be unemployed than their metropolitan counterparts. As usual, Kevin brings the charts and numbers to show that while Krugman isn’t wrong, the differences are small and don’t explain “white rural rage.” Kevin notes that while pay is less in rural areas, the difference is mostly compensated...

The Trump administration and the ACA marketplace: An assessment (Part 1), xpostfactoid, Andrew Sprung. In the wake of Trump’s vow to repeal the ACA if elected, Larry Levitt, EVP of health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, outlines the former president’s past and purported future healthcare agenda. One of Trump’s biggest political failures as president was his inability to persuade Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA)....

Renewables 2023, Analysis and forecast to 2028. IEA, Paris Executive Summary I did this before with the IEA. Sent the IEA a few emails establishing what Angry Bear could and could not use. Attributing the analysis I have posted here was one of the requirements. With their permission, I can bring to Angry Bear much of what is going on in the globally in the area of energy. They asked that I do not report on oil as companies pay for the reports....

New home sales and YoY prices change little; expect sideways trend to follow similar recent trend in mortgage rates  – by New Deal democrat This week we conclude January’s housing market data with repeat sales prices tomorrow, and new single family home sales, which were reported this morning. Per my usual caveat, while new home sales is that they are the most leading of the housing metrics, they are noisy and heavily revised. Which was the...