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The Angry Bear

Empty Promises, Big Paydays: Kroger and Albertsons CEOs Fail to Justify Largest Supermarket Merger in History

by American Economic Liberties Project Looks like tgings are being said that are no legally enforceable. Let me see . . . Deleted emails, Albertson’s CEO can walk away with a $40-something million bonus if he can close the deal, a special dividend to private equity investors worth $4 billion and paid with borrowed money, the $4 billion came after Albertsons swore to both a judge and to Congress that it was in “excellent financial condition.”...

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Hey, It is a Long Rant on People Driven Large Vehicles

It is an accurate rant and depicts what I see on the highway. I see much of this in Arizona where we live today. An explosion of oversized vehicles which typically do not carry anything but people. As one planning commissioner said to the builders, sixty percent of the vehicles being driven in southern Arizona are pickups. The implication here was driveways must be long enough to accommodate them so they do not block a sidewalk. And then, do the...

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Frontloading Interest Rate Cuts

This report by Employ America was written the day before the Unemployment report was released on the 6th. There is another link to a report on Indeed at the end of this report. It too makes for an interesting tead. The good news from the August jobs report is the labor market is not weakening as quickly as July’s shaky report would have you believe. The bad news is the labor market’s strength is slowly fading. Time is a-wasting for the Fed to take...

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Volkswagen’s Bumpy Road to New Technology

Just like American companies, Volkswagen made the jump to EVs the technology of which is still being developed and just before the pandemic. Of course, the pandemic created an economic desert where people cut buying anything other than essentials. Fewer vehicles sold leads to an abundance of uncovered costs and debt. Can’t reduce the costs of a fixed asset such as a plant producing the vehicles. The next place to look for cost reduction is Labor. And...

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More on the ACA Insurance Fraud Scheme

Been lucky to have Andrew Sprung of xpostfactoid writing on the topic of perpetrators conceiving, executing, and expanding their carefully planned scheme of large-scale unauthorized plan-switching amongst ACA healthcare insurance subscribers. In the end, people switched over to other plans get lesser healthcare insurance than what they had signed up for initially with a different plan. The plan switch generates a bonus for the person selling a plan...

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FTC and grocery giants debate who real competitors are

More on the FTC investigating Albertsons and Kroger as to whether they are truly competitors. The issue being how much of the market-controlled now by each and what would result after Kroger acquires Albertsons. Both the FTC and Unions argue “FTC argues different stores have different use cases. FTC lead attorney Susan Musser noted “you can’t just get a single avocado at a Costco, while the union pointed out that many stores, unlike Kroger and...

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Labor Market Conditions – Sahm

Yes, I get occasional commentaries from this substack. No, I am not going to post it all here. Follow the link after you read what I did post of Claudia Sahm’s here. Labor market conditions. – by Claudia Sahm Tomorrow (9/6) is the jobs report for August 2024. There is intense attention for any clues on the direction of the U.S. labor market, particularly with the Fed set to begin cutting rates in a few weeks and concerns about a possible...

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August jobs report: for the first time, including revisions, more consistent with a hard landing

 – by New Deal democrat My focus continues to be on whether jobs gains are most consistent with a “soft landing,” i.e., no further deterioration, or whether there is further decline towards a recession.  For a change, this month the Establishment report was the weakest in several years, if still positive. Meanwhile the Household report rebounded for the month, but now shows an absolute decline in job holders YoY. Below is my in-depth...

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Exploring Voter Turnout by Income

A brief introduction by an Econofact News Letter exploring the impact of income on voting turnout. I did not include the explanation link information in this commentary as it would be too lengthy. However, the links are there if you wish to read further into this explanation. This is short enough to provoke a discussion as to why percentages of poorer voters do not turnout for elections. They have much to win in economic progress if the vote for the...

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Strikes start at top hotel chains as housekeepers seek higher wages and daily room cleaning work

CNBC The plight of hotel workers in cleaning up after residents who stay for a few days and leave the room in a wreck. The pay id the minimum that can be made. The hazards are such a worker can become readily sick. from exposure. I am sure the pandemic caused issues. Plus, people do not tip the housekeeping staff. A couple of $dollars left on a night stand goes a long way. Another story on the plight of housekeepers which are mostly women....

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