The Angry Bear

The tide has now turned as to house prices Last month I wrote that the FHFA showed evidence that house prices had peaked, and that “since the FHFA has a tendency to turn slightly ahead of the Case Shiller index, this strongly suggests that a sharp deceleration in the Case Shiller index YoY will start within a month or two.”  That was borne out in this morning’s reports for August house prices. The FHFA purchase only index, which is...

October 25, 2022, Heather Cox Richardson, (substack.com). There are quotes, and then there are quotes. Tonight, in the debate between Democratic candidate John Fetterman and Republican candidate Mehmet Oz as part of their campaigns to replace Republican Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey, who is retiring, Oz said he wanted abortion decisions to be made by “women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our...

Quite a few varying articles in healthcare and other topics this week. Pfizer is hoping to make a killing on it mRNA vaccine, shots are approved for 6 months to five-years of age, Medicare Advantage plans, and Novartis is back again with a cancer drug. A COA has blocked student loan relief, lots of talk about housing being blown-up, etc. Is business struggling over the last two years? Read about GM’s spectacular 3rd qtr, 2022. The bottom 50% of...

Thinking about the election is depressing and anxiety provoking, so let’s focus on situation in Ukraine. Progressive Democrats ask Biden to negotiate with Putin This letter to Biden from some members of the progressive caucus is a big mistake, assuming the progressives want to save lives and prevent a genocidal Russian takeover of Ukraine.  Putin is losing his war and may lose his grip on power and his life; his strategy is to drag the war out...

November 1st is the start of the official 2023 ACA Open Enrollment Period (OEP) for anyone who needs quality, affordable healthcare coverage. Charles Gaba at ACA Signups has a very detailed rundown on what is happening this year. Because of President Biden, there have been improvements to the ACA. What I have done below is a brief rundown of Charles Gaba’s Open Enrollment post. It is not as detailed as his post. If you are serious about using the...

How can this be?  September 28, 2022, we have Senator Bernie Sanders tweeting (I don’t, guess I need to eat some bird seed). The obscene level of income and wealth inequality in America is a profoundly moral issue that we cannot continue to ignore or sweep under the rug. A society cannot sustain itself when so few have so much while so many have so little. Here is Bernie’s findings as supplied by the Congressional Budget Office. Note the dark...

When will housing construction turn down? A fuller consideration  – by New Deal democrat No important economic news today. Also I am traveling this week, so there might be some light posting, as in, I might skip a day or two. But I very much want to see what is happening with house prices, which will be updated tomorrow in the FHFA and Case Shiller indexes, and Wednesday as part of the new home sales release. In the meantime, after I posted...

This article by Charles Gaba is a long one. I did some editing on it to shorten it somewhat. The article covers the ACA “family glitch.” What has been occurring over the last 12 years is an IRS interpretation of the ACA language content. Family was not included in ACA’s premium subsidy coverage if an employee could pay for him or herself less than 9.78% of household income in 2020. In which case, the cost of dependents together or as individuals...

Much of this post is from “Among Seniors, a Declining Interest in Boosters,” (dnyuz.com). This article first appeared in the New York Times as authored by Paula Span, October 22, 2022. I think what is important here is the growing indifference to Covid. They have been inoculated against Covid with the original series of shots. Most went ahead with the two boosters to strengthen the original. Now with the third booster, they are displaying hesitance....