The Angry Bear

April report for real personal income and spending adds to the evidence that a cyclical peak might ultimately be dated to January  – by New Deal democrat As I’ve repeated for the past several months, at present the report on personal income and spending is co-equal to the employment report as the most important monthly data. And for the second month in a row, the results were very mixed. And also, like yesterday, revisions played a big role,...

Everyone already knows, Feinstein can retire or stay put. This is also one of our issues with government and the judiciary. The people in elected and appointed to positions make their decisions based upon what they want which leaves the constituency in a bad position. No matter how many good things done, they can all disappear over time. No, Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein Is Allowed to Resign, rsn.org, Jim Newell @ Slate The arguments...

Pretty good article on the environment and SCOTUS saying its ok to obliterate a wetland for a house. Except Alito suggests we should do more! Brett Kavanaugh: Supreme Court EPA Ruling Could Risk Water Quality, businessinsider, Kelsey Vlamis “the majority was ignoring precedent and jeopardizing water quality in the US.” Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday undercuts the EPA’s authority to regulate under the Clean Water Act. The Supreme Court...

Initial claims: revisions rear their ugly head again  – by New Deal democrat Revisions are a permanent hazard in reporting on economic data. That was very much in evidence in this week’s jobless claims report. Not only was last week’s number revised down by -17,000, but the initial report of 264,000 two weeks ago is now all the way down to 231,000! Big difference. Anyway, the current report indicates a weekly uptick of 4,000 to 229,000....

Mostly taken from “The expanding role of Medicaid in US health care: A research roundup, journalistsresource.org, Kerry Dooley Young. May 2023.” I have added commentary to this report. I do have another report on Medicaid which I have to deep dive to make shorter sense of it. This report includes information going back to Obama’s introduction of the PPACA and the impact of it on Medicaid. It offers information to a reader which they may not be...

Open Thread May 16, 2023, Angry Bear, angry bear blog Tags: open thread

Financial markets in past fiscal crises; the “gold standard” of employment reports shows big deceleration in Q4 of last year – by New Deal democrat I have a post up at Seeking Alpha on how stocks, bonds, and consumers behaved during the 3 fiscal crises of the last decade. Hint: recessions are always disinflationary. Also of interest: the “gold standard” of employment data is the Quarterly County Employment and Wages report, which is not a...

Cost-Free Preventive Care Under the ACA Faces Legal Challenge, JAMA | JAMA Network, Gregory Curfman, MD; Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo. The same federal Jackass judge in Texas who struck down the entire ACA (2018) has risen again. In this particular instance, he is taking aim at a core protection of the ACA or Cost-free preventive care. These services range from cancer screening to pregnancy care and have benefited more than 150 million US residents of...

A story . . . Supplier working relationships were always tough in automotive. A lot of politicking going there, lunches, dinners, etc. Kind of difficult to walk a straight line with them and maintain an ethical standard. Yet, I did and was known for doing what I said I would do. I worked for several Tier 1 companies making components for Ford and Chrysler mostly and a bit for GM. There are no good guys here. Whatever they want, they get it....

New home sales and prices: yet another confirmation of a bottom in sales, while prices continue to decline YoY  – by New Deal democrat The last of the monthly updates for new home construction, new home sales, was reported this morning. And it continued the theme from the other data (permits, starts, existing home sales); namely, the bottom in sales appears to be in, while prices are still declining. First, on sales: new home sales...