The Angry Bear

Ways Of Dying  The Economist in each issue has an obituary on its final page. The one for May 21 was of Saotome Katsumoto of Tokyo, Japan, whom I had never heard of who just died at age 90. Apparently, he had been the main person documenting details of the event that involved more people dying at a single time in a single place in world history, although the obit did not specifically point that out.  It did note that the event did involve more...

Let’s take a look at the new month’s first data, on manufacturing and construction. The ISM manufacturing index, and especially its new orders subindex, is an important short leading indicator for the production sector. In May both increased, by 0.7 to 56.1, and by 1.6 to 55.1, respectively. The breakeven point between expansion and contraction is 50, so these both remain solidly positive, if not white hot like they were during last year’s...

Student Loan Debt Forgiveness for half a million students from Corinthian Colleges (cnbc.com) An approximate 560,000 Corinthian College Inc. former students will have their loan balances forgiven as announced by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “As of today, every student deceived, defrauded, and driven into debt by Corinthian Colleges can rest assured that the Biden-Harris administration has their back and will discharge their...

House prices: signs and portents of an approaching peak? House price increases were still going strong through March, as reported this morning in both the Case Shiller and FHFA house price indexes. The Case Shiller national index rose 2.1% for the month and 20.5% YoY, the biggest YoY% gain ever, while the FHFA purchase-only index rose 1.5% for the month, and 19.0% YoY. In the first graph below I also include the quarterly YoY% gain in the...

It’s good politics, and right on the merits. He should frame the war as a fight against fascism, a fight against looming genocide, a fight to preserve freedom in Europe and democracy in America.  He should make it clear that the Ukrainians need to do the fighting, but that we will support them with weapons and sanctions.  He should acknowledge that it will require a modest sacrifice from Americans, but that we have never shied away when justice is...

5/29/2022, on Fox News, Mo Brooks explains to the nation that the Second Amendment was intended to protect the citizenry from a tyrannical government. Course it wasn’t, but then Mo, being Mo, believes that it was. Mo, no doubt believes in ‘The Lost Cause’, too; and, until it became too obnoxious to say out loud, that the South would rise again. Mo, was one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus. Mo explained to the Fox host that, “The Second...

They should reconsider. In my prior post, I noted that some progressives seem to be blaming their fellow Democrats for not doing more to protect abortion rights.  This “blame the Democrats” strategy may generate clicks, but it’s hard to see what else it will accomplish, other than demotivating Democratic voters. Unfortunately, the “blame the Democrats” strategy is very popular in some quarters of the progressive left.  It recently reached its...

May 24, 2022, Uvalde Texas Authorities stood by and allowed one individual to slaughter the children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The Uvalde police, Texas State Police, etc. who are to serve and protect all, stood by and disallowed others to go and rescue children. The calls kept coming in to 911 for help. How can you ignore the calls? Not the first-time schools have been under attack. Shouldn’t we by now be on the ready for such...

The USDA Planted Progress report has just been released today and the progress report now puts 2022 plantings at around the five year averages. Sugar beets are continuing to plant behind average time-frames as Minnesota and North Dakota struggle with weather delays. Per the USDA report, corn, soybeans and other silage are looking about in target. Wheat condition continues to be an issues year over year for the winter crop, but the headings are...