The Angry Bear

According to U.S. Department of Education data, total enrollment in teacher preparation programs in Michigan has also been steadily dropping. More than 23,000 prospective teachers were in the pipeline in 2008. That figure eventually dipped below 7,000 in 2016 before increasing slightly to around 12,000 in 2019. “New program launching to address Michigan’s teacher shortage,” (wxyz.com), Brett Kast, Jordan Nagel. So rather than sit back and wait...

The moral and strategic importance of a Ukrainian victory seems hard to overstate.  A protracted, frozen conflict would be a humanitarian disaster for Ukrainian civilians in Russian occupied areas and war zones, it would lead to continued slaughter of troops on both sides, it would strip Ukraine of critical ports, it would embolden further adventurism by Russia and by China against Taiwan.  An extended war might cause or contribute to a worldwide...

US to purchase more oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). DOE Announces Repurchase of Oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Department of Energy, DOE. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Petroleum Reserves, December 16 announced that it will start repurchasing crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). This repurchase is an opportunity to secure a good deal for American taxpayers by repurchasing oil...

Job growth beginning in Q2 looks to be substantially revised downward  – by New Deal democrat Last week the Philadelphia Fed published a working paper suggesting that in the second quarter of this year only 10,500 jobs were actually added, rather than the 1,047,000 as indicated by the monthly Establishment survey.  Here’s their graph: Here’s what you need to know about the QCEW (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages):  The late...

I have no idea what is going on in Musk’s head, but hoo-boy.  Overpaying, firing essential employees, scaring off advertisers, implementing half-baked policies then quickly reversing himself, provoking regulators.  Now there are indications/rumors he is getting ready to bail.  And the problem for Musk goes way beyond Twitter.  Tesla’s valuation is insane.  It’s been based on nothing more than Musk’s showmanship for some time.  Despite declining...

Nature recently published a paper on “degrowth”.  Libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux immediately attacked the paper with his usual collection of pro-market, anti-government arguments.  Fine.  But then Boudreaux published a letter he got from Daniele Struppa, president of Chapman University.  Here is a brief excerpt: It is just a manifesto for a deindustrialization of the west, filled with naïve and simplistic comments. For example “it is...

I have not C & Ped enough of these recitals of present-day history in the making for AB readers to keep up with the House Committee meeting as recited by Prof. Heather. An in-committee vote will be taken to confirm whether a recommendation to prosecute former president trump will be made to the DOJ. My guess is the vote to do so will be unanimous. The committee has gone through great lengths to examine the detail leading up to the attack on...

Commenter Arne asked how we would transition from today’s healthcare system to a Single Payer format. I do not have the answer immediately at hand. I have to look for it. I do want to review what we have learned to date and stated on Angry Bear already. I do have a number of posts of the costs of healthcare. This one I like as it is simple and gets the point across on Drug Costs. I recently did a post of Pharma pricing which I will conclude with...

Weekly Indicators for December 12 – 16 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. The coincident indicators, especially employment, are hanging on by the proverbial skin of their teeth. I don’t think they roll over until gas prices stop declining. In any event, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the moment on the status of the carnage, and bring me a little reward for the...

ACA Signups blog and healthcare author, Charles Gaba does a rewrite of an earlier commentary at his site. If you missed it, Angry Bear blog featured “33 Months of COVID In One Image” also. Recently, this writeup’s stats was used by Prof. Paul Krugman in his recent NYT article, “Will 2024 Be a Vaccine Election?” In it, Prof. Krug explains the political partisanship impact on becoming vaccinated or not and the resulting impact as detailed by Charles...