The Angry Bear

We are into the fourth year of Biden’s first term as President and some are finally beginning to realize that maybe, just maybe what Joe did was mostly correct. Yeah sure, there were some things he got wrong. However, he did lead us through one of the worst economic calamities the nation has survived, a pandemic. Democrats in Congress did help. In 2008, Obama had two years of Democrat support which went away in 2010. Recognized Biden’s efforts...

Continuing claims near 2+ year high; likely the effect of Silicon Valley layoffs  – by New Deal democrat Initial claims rose by 9,000 to a three month high of 224,000 last week. The four-week moving average also rose 5,350 to 207,750. With the usual one-week lag, however, continuing claims rose sharply, by 70,000, to 1.898 million, close to a 2+ year high: On the more important YoY% change basis, initial claims were up 12.6%, while the...

A comment on median vs. mean, and job-stratified wage growth  – by New Deal democrat Before today’s avalanche of data, I wanted to comment briefly on the Employment Cost Index for Q4 that was reported yesterday. This index has the advantage of weighting for type of employment. If low wage workers gain a disproportionate number of jobs, that will tend to hold down *average* wages. But the ECI hold the weighting of low, medium, and high wage...

Don’t you hate it when you have a great title and no post to go with it. Here is a link

I know Joel had Solar Panels on his home in St. Louis. He was pretty happy with them. If I remember correctly, he had them for a number of years. Since I am in AZ, it makes sense to install them. Maybe when we sit down and consider the return we will consider such. They are not low in cost. Japan’s new solar panel technology (perovskite solar panel) might forever alter the renewables market, The Week, Devika Rao For a long time, the solar...

Disadvantaging the VA: How VA Staff View Agency Privatization and Other Detrimental Policies I use the VA as I am eligible for it. I need to apply for my two+ years in and out of Camp Lejeune. Just have not done. My disorder comes and goes and Rituxan seems to put it into remission. There are others there who have far more serious issues than I. The VA does offer good care in spite of what you hear. These reports as shown here are not made up. If...

December JOLTS report: while hiring has weakened, firing (and quitting) continue to show a strong labor market  – by New Deal democrat Yesterday’s JOLTS report for December showed a labor market that, while decelerating, remains relatively strong. Let me start with layoffs and discharges, which increased by 85,000 to 1.616 million (blue in the graph below). This is nevertheless about average for the past year, and as usual mirrors the...

The same as David, I have heard good things about this book. I am also old enough to remember some of the news of the turmoil in Zimbabwe. Book Review: When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, The one-handed economist, David Zetland A white woman in South Africa suggested that I read this 2006 book by Peter Godwin, and I am glad that she did. I mention the color of her skin because skin matters in this memoir of how Zimbabwe fell apart in the...

I am attempting to present a simple way to portray the costs of healthcare in the US. Using pie charts, a bar chart, and a graph gets the measures of cost across and at the same time presents different discussion points. Merrill Goozner presents the same data as did Peterson and draws a different conclusion. Healthcare costs do not appear to be outstripping economic growth. The issue still remains that we can manage our healthcare costs in a more...

(Not) Thinking About Money, Wealth Economics, Steve Roth (substack.com) It’s tempting to abolish the word entirely. Reprint from Wealth Economics. J.W. Mason offers a bang-up post on economists’ thinking about “money,” how economists have thought and talked about it over decades and centuries. There’s even a class syllabus and reading list from his class for his John Jay MA econ students. It’s a very deep dive. (“Thirteen Ways of Looking at...