The Angry Bear

The October 30 issue of The New Yorker has a piece on Xi’s China called “China’s Age of Malaise.” While the mainstream media continues to promote the idea that China has become a wellspring of creativity and economic competition, the reality is that China is retreating into the rigid, sclerotic political dogmatism that characterized the Mao era and that brought down the Soviet Union. The money grafs:“Early this year, the Party launched a campaign to...

I rewrote portions of this article and added information from my own experiences in Automotive when new technology is introduced. My experience is not as great when compared to the introduction of EVs. However, it does come close enough to understand what is going on with the industry. Anyways, onwards. As taken from: GM Says EV Demand Is Shrinking. Data Shows a Complex Market, autoweek.com, Emmet White Generally speaking about the market . . ....

Upon hearing the Latin term caveat emptor, we likely think of the Uniform Commercial Code – of legal matters regarding commerce. These days – it turns out – ‘let the buyer beware’ is also very applicable to politics and the media. Fox News isn’t only hiding behind the First Amendment; it is also saying that one should know better than to believe the lies it is peddling. Facebook sells its consumers little-fettered access to a hotline to spread...

This commentary by Steve Early is about politics and war. The wars the US politically gets involved in, sends its young off to fight, and then leaves them pretty much stranded. It ain’t all John Wayne and scenes from the Alamo. Steve Early and I have been exchanging emails back and forth on VA healthcare. From what he tells me, he has picked up on our posting on healthcare. Just when you think no one is reading your work, a comment like this pops...

Prof. Heather giving a news report on the economy and what people are believing based on their politics. The economy has weathered a pandemic, inflation, supply chain events, a war in eastern Europe, dysfunctional Republicans, politics, trump, and it keeps on ticking. I expected more of a 2008 scenario with Congress and the Fed ravishing Labor as the troublemakers. October 27, 2023, Letters from an American, Prof. Heather Cox Richardson An...

Some BLS stats on High and Low Income consumers. The differences between the two, spending, what is bought, inflation, essentials, etc. Less is purchased and also more specific is bought by the lower end as compared to a variety of purchases at the upper end. Nice little and simple, readable report. Inflation Experiences for Lower and Higher Income Households, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov), Joshua Klick and Anya Stockburger...

From time to time I argue that the optimal strategy for Democrats is good old egalitarian populism: soak the rich and spread it out thin. I note the polls which have, for 3 decades now, shown that a majority of US adults think that upper income people and corporations pay less than their fair share in taxes and the fact that Bill Clinton, Obama, and Biden were elected promising to raise taxes on the rich and cut taxes on everyone else. I suppose...

Weekly Indicators for October 23 – 27 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. With half of reports in, Q3 profits for corporations have made a new all-time high. Meanwhile the stock market has made repeated new 3 month lows. The former is a long leading indicator, the latter a short leading indicator, so we shall see which one proves more accurate. And in case you haven’t noticed at the...

Vaccination is one of the great triumphs of humanity over infectious disease. Smallpox was such a plague that George Washington mandated inoculation for all Continental soldiers in 1777. Prior to the polio vaccine, most Americans knew a friend or relative who contracted polio; today, it’s virtually unheard of, just like mumps and whooping cough. The COVID vaccines, particularly the mRNA vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer, are a triumph of genetic...

Just some history . . . An October 15, 2008, article in The Washington Post analyzing the origins of the economic crisis claims Greenspan vehemently opposed any regulation of derivatives, and actively sought to undermine the office of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. If you recall, Brooksley Born was the head of the CFTC. A litany od experts and political figures mounted an attack on her in Congress. “The messenger wore a skirt,”...