The Angry Bear

Why would I write of this event on an economics blog. Fourteen years of age and five years away from being in the service. I was very aware then and a freshman at Lane Tech an all boy’s high school in Chicago. It is economics in the rawest of forms. The suppression of an entire population in the South and in the North. Economic slavery . . . September 15, 2023 (Friday), Letters from an American, Prof. Heather Cox Richardson At 10:22 in...

Has industrial production, the King of Coincident Indicators, been dethroned?  – by New Deal democrat Industrial production in the post-WW2 era was the King of Coincident Indicators. In the past 20 years, it may have been dethroned. To wit, in August production increased 0.4% to a new post-pandemic high, but only 0.1% above its previous high last September. Meanwhile manufacturing production also increased, by 0.1%, but is still -0.9% below...

Too Big, too Loud, and Too fast appears to be the thing these days. Either they are jacked up squatting, large tired, multiple rear tires, altered mufflered, adjusted emission control to emit soot from acceleration, etc. Anything to gain attention for those who probably never received such while growing up. As children, we all had our favorite displays of machoism and then we grew up. Other things became more important than the vehicle we drove....

Real retail sales continue to be weak; continue to forecast weakening jobs reports  – by New Deal democrat As usual, retail sales is one of my favorite metrics because it tells us so much about the consumer and, indirectly, the labor market and the total economy. Nominally, retail sales rose 0.6% in August. So did consumer inflation, and the difference rounded to -0.1% for the month. Here’s what the past 2.5 years since the 2021 stimulus...

This just blows me away every time I read one of these articles about what people are thinking about Covid vaccines. And then there is some pseudo-authority who is reinforcing the false paradigm on whether the vaccines works. “Sick, sick, sick,” Digby’s Hullabaloo, digbysblog.net Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo calls the mRNA vaccines “an unsafe medication”. This is incorrect and irresponsible. Someone should ask Ron DeSantis if he would...

The action by the United Auto Workers is part of a burst of labor activism attempting to reverse a decades-long trend. The trend as noted in the following graph. How the Latest Labor Strikes Are Attempting to Reverse Decades-Long Trends, The New York Times, David Leonhardt. (If you are having issues linking to this article to read the rest of it, you can subscribe to NYT and can read a few articles for free.) Some of the story (you can...

The economic tailwind from falling commodity prices has likely ended  – by New Deal democrat [Note: I’ll post on the August retail sales report later today.] Two days ago in my PPI and CPI overview, I wrote; “I am most interested in whether the producer price report tells us that the big decline in commodity prices is over. There have only been two increases in commodity prices in the past 12 months [ ] I suspect we’ll get #3 [on...

I am seeing issues with commenting. I want to touch on the topic a bit. Being off topic. Attacks on the poster rather than discussing the article. Long copy and pastes to specific articles. Too many of them also. Open threads can be “reasonably” used for such. Be polite in your comments. Joel and I are open to comments. We do not critique how you write something, its wording, etc. We may agree or disagree. When a comment goes awry, off...

The United States Constitution is the world’s longest surviving written charter of government. It was ratified in 1788. Probably will not see the 250-year celebration in 15 years? Maybe I will? I find as you age, people become ruder towards age. They also treat you as being less on the mark. They do not like when you reply back with an intelligent answer. But, should we update the Constitution? Another post, I think. However, there is a...

The deep roots of the UAW’s current dissatisfaction share much with those taking labor actions to fight back after decades of rising inequality: The pay of typical workers has lagged far behind more-privileged actors in our economy, and the reason for this growing inequality is an erosion of workers’ leverage and bargaining power in labor markets. Open Thread September 9, 2023 Where do Americans mingle the most? Angry Bear....