The Angry Bear

by New Deal democrat Four measures of wage growth: prospects for further meaningful wage growth are dimming In the last several years, I have written a number of posts documenting the stagnation in average and median wages, followed by their improvement due to the steep decline in gas prices, for example here and here.  Since bottoming a year ago, gas prices have turned positive YoY, most recently up about 25%. Q4 2016 data on wages has been released, giving...

by New Deal democrat A thought for Sunday: of heartlessness, confidence and conviction First of all, let me join in full in the following from Calculated Risk: These are not normal times, and I can’t just post economic data and remain silent on other issues. Mr. Trump’s executive order is un-American, not Christian, and hopefully unconstitutional. This is a shameful act and no good person can remain silent. I believe that the sheer heartlessness of Trump’s...

(Dan here)n There are all sorts of ideas about what is going on right now in the US, and many proposed opinions. Yves offers an opinion on the Women’s March itself, but I am watching both locally and state wide (MA) where the follow up is actually happening, what forms it takes, and who is involved. Perhaps others can add knowledge and experiences to date. Certainly Democratic party leaders at the national level are searching for responses. I am going to...

From the New York Times comes this information on the nature of immigration in California. Mr. Trump’s immigration policies could transform California’s Central Valley, a stretch of lowlands that extends from Sacramento to Bakersfield. Approximately 70 percent of all farm workers here are living in the United States illegally, according to researchers at University of California, Davis. The impact could reverberate throughout the valley’s precarious...

- by New Deal democrat Gas prices and likely January inflation to continue the stall in real wage growth A big relatively unnoticed concern over the last year has been the end of deflation due to the end of the decline in gas prices.  Coupled with really tepid wage growth, this is going to affect consumers, who are 70% of the US economy. Gas prices aren’t a headwind yet.  They have increased about 25% YoY.  In the past, it has taken a 40% or more spike YoY to...

by Linda Beale Trump Administration Plays Havoc with Education–and your tax dollars Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education in a Senate vote that had every Democratic Senator voting against her, along with two brave Republican Senators (Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; and Susan Collins, Maine).  Thanks to those no-voters who showed integrity.  Regrettably, the vote created a tie, broken in DeVos’s favor by Trump’s Veep, Mike Pence.  Note that the result...

by New Deal democrat In case you thought Trump was imploding . . . For those of you who may be cocooned in the liberal blogosphere, I’m afraid I must administer a cold slap in the face. Here is the graph of Gallup’s Economic Confidence Survey from its inception nearly 10 years ago.  Notice that spike to new highs right at the end? Let’s zoom in for a closer look, as in the last 3 months: The first surge of +10% in confidence happened right after the...

From the Wallet Hub a beginning look at the impact on US: With President Donald Trump’s plans for financing the soon-to-be-constructed border wall with Mexico sparking concerns about a possible trade battle between our two nations, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2017′s States Most Affected by Trade War with Mexico. In order to gauge the impact of the economic fallout with Mexico on individual states, WalletHub’s...

by Linda Beale GOP Senators fight facts: won’t hear Coretta Scott King’s views of Attorney General nominee Sessions GOP obstructionism is back again in full form.  This time, instead of voting over and over again to eliminate affordable health care (Obamacare) for the 20 million Americans now covered by the health reform act or declaring that they will not perform their duty to even hold a committee meeting on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, they are...