The Angry Bear

Initial claims still very positive, especially YoY  – by New Deal democrat Before I get to this morning’s personal income and spending report, let’s get the latest weekly update to jobless claims out of the way. New jobless claims rose 13,000 to 215,000, while the four-week moving average declined -3,000 to 212,500. Continuing claims, contrarily, rose 45,000 to 1.905 million, their second highest reading in over 2 years (but remains...

When we moved to Missouri in 1982, it was a purple state. In the last decade, it has become progressively more extreme right-wing. Now, in Missouri and more than 30 other states, each citizen is their own well regulated militia with the powers of judge, jury and executioner. Law-abiding citizens become collateral damage with no consequences. Sad.“The man accused of firing the first shots at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally told authorities he...

February 28, 2024, Letters from an American, Prof. Heather Cox Richardson Past Open Thread February 21 2024 Is Late Economic Reporting the Cause of Bad Perceptions as New Deal democrat says? Angry Bear. Tags: Leap Year

As told to us by Joyce Vance at Civil Discourse. This afternoon, the Supreme Court told us that it will hear Trump’s presidential immunity appeal. After sitting on it for two and a half weeks, they’ve issued a brief grant of certiorari, scheduling argument for the week of April 22. It’s a major disappointment for people who believe justice can be done and presidents are not above the law. And understand, this is not about politics. This is not...

The state of freight  – by New Deal democrat There’s no significant economic news today. Yesterday we did get durable goods orders, which are an official leading indicator. I don’t pay too much attention to them, because they are so volatile. Thus yesterday’s big -6.1% decline (blue in the graph below) is more likely than not just noise, particularly because “core” capital goods orders (red) increased 0.1%, and have been generally tending...

Michigan has always been in the hunt for new model manufacturing in Michigan. This one pitched by Michigan to GM is nothing new. Just another state buying a company by funding its stay. I can find my records on this, Michigan owes $billions to corporate Michigan. This all started with Governor Engler. Companies are used to it, so now they expect to get it. Read on . . . Automakers’ history of taking fat subsidies and overpromising job growth make...

Repeat sales house price indexes continue to increases on par with past expansions  – by New Deal democrat House prices lag home sales, which in turn lag mortgage rates. Yesterday we got the final January reading on sales. This morning, we got the final monthly (for December) read on prices, for repeat sales of existing homes. The FHFA purchase only price index rose 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis, and is up 6.6% YoY. Meanwhile the Case...

This merger would only make groceries higher in cost. The economies of scale would not be passed along to consumers. Kroger and Albertsons sell hundreds of stores in a bid to clear merger of the 2 largest US groceries, QUARTZ The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block the $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons by rival grocer Kroger, alleging the deal would harm American consumers already facing high grocery bills. The FTC says the deal...

The Postal Service is the only carrier with a legal obligation to provide all the various aspects of universal service. The disruption at the USPS started about a year ago when DeJoy decided first class mail would not be moved by air to the western part of the nation from the east or vice versa. This in itself was a designed in slowdown of delivery meant to cut costs. Except it did not. If you have been reading along and picked up on Steve...

Over at jabberwocking.com, Kevin Drum takes on Paul Krugman over his assertion that small-town America is aggrieved because the working-age men are more likely to be unemployed than their metropolitan counterparts. As usual, Kevin brings the charts and numbers to show that while Krugman isn’t wrong, the differences are small and don’t explain “white rural rage.” Kevin notes that while pay is less in rural areas, the difference is mostly compensated...