Follow up to; “Section 2 of the 14th Amendment” – Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com) No Republican fears Democrats or the use of Section 2 of the 14th Amendment either. Gaetz is still prancing around, McCarthy lies to the public, Eastman writes a memo to VP Pence to nullify state electoral votes, Cawthorn again caught with a pistol at TSA checkpoint, Cruz and Hawley makes stuff up as usual, etc. And marjorie green suffered a loss of memory in...
Read More »Dry, Dusty, Rain. Humid, Windy, Dry. Chaos and The Grip of La Niña
Just how dry have the ground conditions been? Dire. Fire sweeping towns from Austin to Los Angeles, dire. Rain? Forecast yes, but closer to the Powell Line. The Powell Line, as stated previously is where the dry plains and the wet prairie meet. An abundance and a desert. Too much and not enough. Floods and fire. We finally got rain today. Much needed as we have pumped 20,000 gallons and then some per month out of the aquifer supplying Dallas,...
Read More »March Industrial Production Rose 0.9% to Highest on Record
RJS; MarketWatch 666 Summary: March industrial production: G17 release on Industrial production and Capacity Utilization for March indicates industrial production rose 0.9% in March after rising by a revised 0,9% in February and a revised 1.0% in January, which left production 5.5% higher than a year ago. Industrial Production Rose 0.9% to Highest on Record in March The Fed’s G17 release on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for...
Read More »Open thread April 26, 2022
Healthcare Sector Indicators and Insights
This is mostly a C&P with editing involved. Taken from Altarum Health Sector Economic Indicators, and “Insights from Monthly National Health Spending Data through December 2021.” I have added the link Altarum to return to the original article. Without the additional government spending covering Covid costs and a recession during 2020 -2021, overall healthcare spending would have been higher. The nation is also having one Covid issue which...
Read More »Reflections on the Evolution in France
Yesterday Emmanuel Macron was re-elected president of France solidly defeating Marine LePen by about 16%. This is a relief. I think a striking aspect of the election was the absence of Gaullist or Socialist candidate in the runoff. Instead there is a centrist vs a far rightist. This pattern is not confined to France and also not universal. One important point is that LePen made the runoff by defeating leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon by 1.5% in the...
Read More »Weekly Indicators for April 18 – 22 at Seeking Alpha
by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for April 18 – 22 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. While I was writing about mortgage rates during the week, the yield curve did some re-tightening, enough to make a difference in the long term forecast. As usual, clicking over and reading should help bring you up to the virtual minute as to the nowcast and forecast for the economy, and help me pay for some nice...
Read More »SPR and Oil Supplies Low, same with Distillates and Products
RJS, Focus on Fracking Summary: Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a 20 year low, US oil supplies at a 14 year low after record jump in exports; distillates supplies at a 14 year low, total oil + products inventories at an 8 year low; a total oil + products exports at a record high The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending April 15th indicated that...
Read More »Mortgage rates continue to rise
Mortgage rates continue to rise; once the backlog in construction is cleared, this will likely kill housing No important economic news today (April 22), but an important negative trend in interest rates is continuing. Mortgage rates are now at 12 year highs. The weekly data from Freddy Mac’s weekly survey shows rates increased to 5.11% as of April 21: This is 2.46% above the low of 2.65% that was set at the end of 2020, and the...
Read More »Masking Up to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission
SARS-CoV-2 transmission on planes – Katelyn Jetelina (substack.com) This substack article came to me by way of a commenter asking if I was interested in it. Of course, I am. It is a part of healthcare and covers a topic I believe is important to all of us. Stopping the transmission of Covid. Introduction On Monday, a Florida judge voided the U.S. mandate for public transit, which includes planes, trains, and buses. Several airlines...
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