The Angry Bear

How Famine and Starvation Could Affect Gazans for Generations to Come by Neroli Price, Salman Ahad Khan and Gabrielle Berbey Reveal News Research on World War II’s Dutch “Hunger Winter” has terrifying implications for Gaza’s malnourished children – and then for their children. Famine is already happening in parts of Gaza, a top U.S. humanitarian official  publicly acknowledged last week for the first time. After six months of Israeli war...

by Steve Roth Wealth Economics This post is prompted by Matthew Klein’s (very wonky) post about recent changes in QE/QT, and the Fed’s balance sheet. It prompted me to do a quick calculation that I’ve been meaning to get to: when household wealth increases (due to stock-market price runups or really anything else), what effect does that have on household spending in the next year? I’m going to start with a bald two-part claim. A. The...

 – by New Deal democrat There’s no economic news of significance until Wednesday’s report on existing home sales. But in the meantime I’ve read a number of takes slicing and dicing last week’s inflation report that I thought missed the mark, so let me take the opportunity today and tomorrow to discuss the essence of the US’s consumer inflation situation. Basically it is almost *all* about shelter.  Take almost any of the graphs, charts, and...

OK, not really.  But this is real (politico, via Political Wire): The expectations game … Trump also returned to another golden oldie last night: proposing a drug test for his debate opponent. He used this tactic in 2016 against Clinton. The gist is that if his opponent looks good at a debate, it’s only the result of illegal substances. “I don’t want him coming in like the State of the Union,” Trump said. “He was high as a kite. I said, ‘Is...

 by Elise Gould EPI Average hourly wage growth has exceeded inflation for 12 straight months, according to new Bureau of Labor Statistics data released this morning. This real (or inflation-adjusted) wage growth is a key indicator of how well the average worker’s wage can improve their standard of living. As inflation continues to normalize, I’m optimistic more workers will experience real gains in their purchasing power. The dark blue line...

Dale Coberly presents another methodology to save Social Security without cutting benefits to the elderly. Any of these will work and does not involve taxing the rich which could result in a reversal with each new administration. It is incremental and small portions of a dollar or two on a weekly basis. And it still keeps SS as the third rail. Starting in 2026 with . . . Raising the payroll tax one half percent each for people and companies...

ACASignups Charles Gaba: Among 10 states with the highest share of farmers, Wyoming uses the federal health insurance marketplace the most. This according to a new analysis by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That marketplace is a virtual space for comparing plans and finding insurance often more affordable than elsewhere thanks to federal subsidies.  There are touches of me in this post, so don’t wonder why some of it make be different. I read...

Here’s Jerome Adams, MD, former Surgeon General, now outraged at the absurdity that is the American “healthcare” system:“Numerous Americans have found themselves ensnared in analogous predicaments while seeking medical attention, as evidenced by the myriad stories shared in response to my tweet. The opacity surrounding healthcare pricing makes it difficult for patients to ascertain the cost of their care upfront, engendering bewilderment, frustration,...

This report dropped into my email box a day or so ago. It hits upon a topic which has plagued big cities since before I was a child. Early-on in Chicago, urban renewal was the thought to be the right idea and the wrong concept. Public housing development in Chicago, Illinois. Cabrini-Green was a model of successful public housing. Poor planning, physical deterioration, and managerial neglect, coupled with gang violence, drugs, and chronic...

 – by New Deal democrat With this week’s inflation report for April, we can update several measures of the real economic status of average American workers, as well as their forecast for further job and economic gains. First, here is real average hourly wages for nonsupervisory workers. In April, nominal average wages increased 0.2%. Since consumer inflation increased 0.3%, real nonsupervisory wages declined -0.1%, the third monthly decline in...