The Angry Bear

October jobs report: late cycle deceleration and deterioration  – by New Deal democrat With the sharp increases in interest rates, and the complete stalling of real consumer spending measured YoY, since early this year I have expected employment to follow suit, decelerating over time to a stall. And the three month average in employment gains since February decelerated from over 500,000 to 372,000 through September. Because jobless claims,...

Are You Sure About that? Not sure why a man with an orange face and orangish thin hair holds such sway over so many people. He has done so little for the people who follow him. They believe his every word. In Arizona, the poll watchers are out at each of the polling boxes. Not sure what they are going to see as each person deposits the enveloped ballots. My wife and I took ours to the Post Office. Armed and masked men taking pictures of people...

Just finished “Africa, A Biography of a Continent”” by John Reader. I don’t recall how this book came into my possession. It may have been on my mom’s bookshelf when we stopped by after they moved to take whatever we wanted. Whatever its provenance, I had only read a little African history: “King Leopold’s Ghost” and a book on the Boer War are the only ones I can recall. I also read Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” which is a thinly veiled account of...

The Fed appears determined to cause a Volcker-like recession  – by New Deal democrat Yesterday the Fed raised rates another 0.75%. In the past 8 months, the Fed has raised rates a total of 3.75%. This is one of the steepest increases in interest rates ever, only exceeded by the pace of the two 1970s oil shocks (1974 and 1979) and Volcker’s inflation jihad of 1981, as shown in the below graph of the YoY% change in the Fed funds rate. Note...

“Major student-loan company (MOHELA) just undermined the GOP-led lawsuit halting Biden’s debt cancellation,” (msn.com), Ayelet Sheffey. Oct 12, 2022, Biden’s Student-Debt Relief Goes to Court Today. Here’s the GOP Argument, (businessinsider.com), Ayelet Sheffey. Republicans representing Arkansas, South Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri all said the states could suffer revenue loss from student-loan forgiveness, even as Biden’s...

 Jobless claims: steady as she goes by New Deal democrat [ Special programming note: yesterday’s Fed action, and more important the statements made afterward, merit special attention. I will put up a special post on that later today.] Initial jobless claims remained at their recent low level, down -1,000 from one week ago to 217,000. The 4 week average declined -500 to 218,750. Continuing claims, which lag slightly, rose 47,500 to a 7 month...

endometriosis is a pain. Tissue like the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere, so that menstruation is not just unpleasant but extremely painful. As a reckless pretend expert on everything, I speculated that it happens because during menstruation some of the tissue (which is not just blood) doesn’t exit the vagina as it should but floats somewhere and starts over. I think every menstruation implies a small risk of development of endometriosis...

Joe Ciricione joined Briahna Joy Gray on her podcast to discuss the war in Ukraine and the Congressional Progressive Caucus letter calling for negotiations between the United States and Russia.  The podcast is subscribers only, but a clip and follow up talk by BJG are available on line.  BJG is a talented debater, but her arguments against support for Ukraine are an absurd, moralistic mess.  My rough transcript from the clip above: There are...

Commentary by Left Jabber @ “Left Jabs.” I had the fortune to run across this commentary at Mike’s Blog Roundup as presented by DriftGlass. Left Jabber is taking a different approach than I did in my earlier post. He is saying the same thing about Biden’s fiscal policy the last two years, It made for a better economy. ~~~~~~~~ Editorial Board of The Washington Post. The headline reads: “Congress and Biden have to help the Fed fight...