The Angry Bear

Pelosi’s Visit To Taiwan, Econospeak by Barkley Rosser  I wish to present a view of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan that is different from what I have seen from others. Most commentary I have seen is either very for or very against her visiting there.  On the favorable side has been wide praise from across the political spectrum, with many Republicans joining in who almost never praise her for anything.  Many people support providing a positive...

Retreating to the political side of Angry Bear. Atrios, had “You Could Fire Him” up on Friday. This concerns Justice Kavanaugh and how he was pushed into the position on SCOTUS by upper management. There are some overlooked issues with his application “references” for the position. It appears the boss did not read them. Atrios is citing an Esquire article which I am going to do similar. There are certain issues Biden could improve upon. However,...

Weekly Indicators for August 1 – 5 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. Several important metrics have reversed course in the past month. Interest rates, especially mortgage rates, have declined (in the case of mortgages, by 1 full % from their peak. As many have pointed out, gas prices have fallen by about $1/gallon from their peak as well. That is putting more money into consumers’...

I subscribe to Prof. Heather Cox’s site. I pick the posts I believe might be interesting to AB readers. This one fits the spirit of the day. August 5, 2022, Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson On this day in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a new tax law to help fund the United States government during the Civil War. Far more than writing a traditional revenue act to address the catastrophic war that had demonstrated...

Joe Manchin’s Daughter Helped Shutter a Union Drug Plant, theintercept.com, Daniel Boguslaw Also taken from “Can You Patent the Sun?” – Angry Bear, What About Drug Costs? The story of EpiPen is a good example of out-of-control pricing. In 2007 Mylan acquired the EpiPen brand from Pfizer. The acquisition did not include the Pfizer subsidiary manufacturing EpiPen. However, Mylan controlled the distribution. There is no story about out of...

July jobs report: in which an absolute positive blowout make me happily wrong; all pandemic job losses now recovered  –  by New Deal democrat As I wrote earlier this week, the short leading indicators for both jobs (real retail sales) and the unemployment rate (initial jobless claims) have each signaled that we should expect weaker monthly employment reports, with both fewer new jobs and a higher unemployment rate. I have been noting this ever...

Tags: Open Thread Aug 5. 2022

One person (Sinema) appears to want to hold the latest attempt to pass some form of the America Rescue bill hostage. A spokesperson for Sinema did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Without her support, Senate Democrats can’t advance the package in the 50-50 Senate over GOP resistance. The party is employing a tactic known as budget reconciliation to avoid a GOP filibuster and pass the bill along party lines.Eliminating carried...

Jobless claims continue their relentless climb  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose 6,000 to 260,000 last week. More importantly, the 4 week average, which has been rising relentlessly, rose another 6,000 as well to 254,750, an 8 month high.  Continuing claims also rose 48,000 to 1,417,000, the highest since April: Initial claims have usually risen by 15% or more over its low, and turned higher YoY before a recession has...

Post written by Infidel753 as copied from his blog of the same name. The topic? Munchkin blue Kansas. Ding, dong….. Infidel753 Traditionally, Kansas has been as ruby-red as the slippers sported by its most iconic fictional inhabitant — but the state is looking a little more Munchkin-blue right now, with its voters dropping a house on an effort to facilitate banning abortion. At issue, ultimately, was a 2019 ruling by the state supreme...