The Angry Bear

“‘Love everyone and forgive everyone, including yourself.’ Jim Henson touched us all. Whether it was Sesame Street, The Muppets, or some of his later work, Jim Henson had a place in almost everyone’s childhood. Yet he influenced an entire generation of creators too. That’s why, in 1990, after Henson met his end, Disney honored Jim Henson with this cartoon. It was sent directly to his former company.'” Credit Walt Disney Enterprises. Mickey...

RJS, MarketPlace 666, US Trade Deficit Rose 1.8% in December and up 27% in 2021 Our trade deficit rose 1.8% in December as the value of both our exports and our imports increased, but our imports increased by more….the Census report on our international trade in goods and services for December indicated that our seasonally adjusted goods and services trade deficit increased by $1.8 billion to $80.7 billion in December, from a revised November...

by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for February 7 – 11 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha.  Last year my task was easy, because the issue was whether to describe the economic Boom as “red hot” or “white hot.” With interest rates having risen between 1/2% or 1%, depending on which type being measured, and inflation having eaten up wage increases, the task this year is more challenging. But the end of a...

Jump in January consumer prices seals the deal on Fed interest rate hikes, New Deal democrat Consumer prices increased 0.6% in January, the third time in four months that it has come in over 0.5%. Energy increased 0.9%, which isn’t a horrible monthly rate, but YoY energy prices for consumers are up 27%, just below their YoY peaks in 1974, 1979, 2005, and 2008 – not coincidentally 3 out of 4 of which coincided with deep recessions: ...

I just finished Reaching Beyond Race by Paul Sniderman and Edward Carmines.  They argued – in 1997 –  that people concerned with racial equality should focus on enacting policies that increase opportunities for the disadvantaged generally, using arguments that, as the title suggests, reach beyond race.  This is a common enough viewpoint, but they make a number of interesting points about public opinion on racial justice, including the following:...

Jobless claims bounce along near their bottom New jobless claims declined 16,000 to 223,000 last week. This is still 35,000 higher than the low of 188,000 set on December 4; but on the other hand is remains among the lowest weekly figures for the past 50 years. The 4 week average declined 2,000 to 253,250, which is 53,500 above its 199,750 low set on December 25: Continuing claims were unchanged at 1,621,000, 66,000 above their low of 1,555,000...

RJS: Oil supplies at a 10 year low; SPR at a 19 year low; total oil & products supplies at 7 1/2 year low after across-the-board draw  The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending February 4th indicated that after a drop in our oil imports, a jump in our oil exports, and an increase in our refining, we again had to pull oil out of our stored...

Gas prices sound a consumer warning I got a note yesterday from a fellow forecaster pointing out that crude oil prices have once again made new 7 year highs. This is something I also highlighted in my “Weekly Indicators” column on Saturday. As I write this on Wednesday morning, West Texas Intermediate Crude trades at slightly under $90/barrel, yet another new 7+ year high.  How much trouble does this portend for the economy? Potentially, a...

I find myself disagreeing completely with Ezra Klein. This is very unusual and I feel compelled to blog about it (note you should not feel at all compelled to read this post which is self therapy). I am commenting on a twitter thread here. I am going to cut and paste a lot (because I hate Twitter and don’t want you to go there (as I do many times a day)). It began with Larry Summers who wrote “There are things MMT says that are true and...