The Angry Bear

Last week the Michigan Supreme Court rejected a tied Michigan Board of State Canvassers inability to approve an abortion rights initiative placement on the November ballot. MSC directed the Michigan Board of State Canvassers to place the abortion initiative on the ballot. The issue over the tie was the amendment’s spacing and formatting potentially causing confusion amongst voters. Republicans were given an excuse rejecting the initiative....

I’m not talking about the current military situation or the ongoing destruction of the Russian armed forces; to be clear I hope Russia suffers a crushing defeat at the hands of the Ukrainians.  I’m referring to the damage that the Ukraine war is doing to Russian society.  This damage is immeasurable:  extreme levels of political repression, the mass emigration of talented young people, loss of trade and direct foreign investment, the list goes on and...

“Will The Iran Nuclear Deal Ever Get Reestablished?,” Econospeak  It (Iran Nuclear Deal) keeps looking like it might, but then no obstacles have appeared yet. President Biden promised to undo what I have long argued was the worst foreign policy mistake made by Donald Trump. He should have just done it right after he took office, but he made a bunch of extra demands and the negotiations went nowhere. Then the moderate Rouhani government was...

A bit of an introduction; Welcome to: “Annie Asks You:”  Seeking Dialogue to Inform, Enlighten, and/or Amuse You and Me. My interests are diverse: just about every aspect of what is sometimes called “current events,” with a frequent political emphasis (interrupted by breaks when I find matters have become unbearable); health and wellness; the environment; animal behavior and the human/animal bond; and other topics I come across that pique...

An update on oil and gas prices  – by New Deal democrat After stabilizing in the $87-$94 range for a little over a month, oil prices have declined further in the past several days. As of this morning they were in the $82/barrel range. The YTD graph via CNBC below shows that they have now completely reversed the Ukraine invasion increase that began in February (perhaps linked to Ukraine’s counteroffensive of the past week?): Gas prices follow...

The spending transition from goods to services  – by New Deal democrat Today is the last day for a very light economic week of news. One item worth addressing is the relative state of consumer purchases of goods vs. services in this pandemic recovery, because it appears to be unique. Let’s start with the ISM non-manufacturing report, which was released on Tuesday. Unlike the manufacturing report, which bounced back slightly into expansion...

Introduction: Before I get started on the main text of Kip’s expert article, I wish to point out something which is happening nationally. There is a plan afoot of forcing people into Value-Based Payment plans from traditional Medicare. The players include Iora Health (subsidiary of One Medical), Privia, General Catalyst, agilon health, Caravan Health, Signify (CVS owned), Village MD (Walgreens owned), Premier, etc. This is being done in...

Another week of good news on jobless claims  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims had been in an almost relentless uptrend from the end of March through early August. Since then, they have completely reversed. This week initial claims declined another -6,000 to 222,000, and the 4 week average declined -7,500 to 233,000. Continuing claims, which lag somewhat, increased another 36,000 to 1,473,000, a 5 month high: There was a...

Another moment in History. “Remembering Queen Elizabeth II, Who Died at 96″ | The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead. Informational . . . Queen Elizabeth II, died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, at the age of ninety-six. She became monarch in the early hours of February 6, 1952. Famously, she remained unaware of her transmutation for several hours until told. King George VI died in his sleep at the Sandringham estate, in Norfolk, as Elizabeth,...