The Angry Bear

 Bonddad Blog – by New Deal democrat This morning brought us both good and bad economic news. The good news was that initial jobless claims continue very low, at 209,000, down -1,000 from last week, while the four week average declined -500 to 208,000. Even better, after major downward revisions, continuing claims rose 17,000 to 1.811 million: Recall that continuing claims had been reported over 1.900 million, so as I said above, this...

I thought this might make a fun follow-up on my post on 8th grade algebra. Over at jabberwocking.com, Kevin Drum discusses a proposal to make a semester of financial literacy a high school graduation requirement. He feels that this would fill a much-needed gap:“There are no long-term tests of financial literacy that I can locate, and overall financial indicators aren’t flashing any red lights. Over the past few decades, both mortgage delinquency and...

The Atlantic, Alan Taylor The United Nations is warning that famine in Gaza is “almost inevitable.” Palestinians living in Gaza are struggling with extreme shortages of food, clean water, and medicine. Several countries, including Jordan, France, Egypt, the U.S., the United Arab Emirates, and now Germany, are coordinating airdrops of humanitarian aid to help alleviate the crisis, and the U.S. military is working to a build a temporary port on...

According to legend, King Canute tried to order the tide not to come in. Needless to say, he failed, divine rights of kings nonwithstanding.Back when we lived in North Carolina, we visited the Outer Banks a few times. There were many expensive homes on the shoreline. These were often casualties of hurricanes that would push ocean water up over the islands. Then, as the hurricanes moved up the coast, water that had been pushed into Pamlico Sound would...

The actions of the state leaders is a blight on the rest of the state. Florida is swamped by disease outbreaks as quackery replaces science, The Guardian. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Guardian Summary: Shortly before Joseph Ladapo became Florida’s surgeon general in 2022, the New Yorker ran a short column welcoming the vaccine-skeptic doctor to his new role, and highlighting his advocacy for the use of leeches in public health. It was satire of...

The Bonddad Blog  – by New Deal democrat On Monday I examined some series from last Friday’s Household survey in the jobs report, highlighting that they more frequently than not indicated a recession was near or underway. But I concluded by noting that this survey has historically been noisy, and I thought it would be resolved away this time. Specifically, there was strong contrary data from the Establishment survey, backed up by yesterday’s...

For once and rather than say, Dems blew it again with Republicans; Dems demonstrated they can be crafty too! House Democrats and Joe Biden turned the tables on Republicans and Robert Hur. Professor Heather writes Letters from an American and gives us the rundown on what took place. New York Times, Washington Post, live news casts, etc. all gave their views prior to the 12th. Hear crickets today. I do not believe Robert Hur will walk away from...

Not rewriting anything on this commentary or adding to it. Shahon Firth covers a lot of territory in his brief commentary. Probe Into Private Equity in Healthcare Launched, MedPage Today, Shannon Firth Government officials announced a joint investigation into the role of private equity and “corporate profiteering” in healthcare during an online workshop hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday. The goal of the public...

Going back to 2006 and one of the founders of Angry Bear below. Immigration being a positive thing and the reasons why. Also, the us population is not replacing itself. We have not yet experienced a decreasing population. It is not that far on the horizon. Replacement rate in the US is ~1.6 as discussed here. Legal versus Illegal Immigration 2006 Angry Bear By Kash Some of you have wondered why I haven’t yet made much of an effort to...

February consumer inflation: the tug of war between gasoline and shelter continues The Bonddad Blog  – by New Deal democrat Last month I described the trend in consumer inflation as an ongoing “tug of war” between energy and housing. Energy (mainly gasoline) peaked in June 2022 and made its low in June 2023, while housing, which peaked in early 2023, has been gradually disinflating since. That tug of war continued in February. Energy...