Tag Archives: 2023

Weekly Indicators for October 16 – 20 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. Obviously, the big story of the week was the surge in interest rates. The 10 year Treasury yield closed above 5% for the first time since 2007, and mortgage rates went above 8% for the first time since 2000! Hard to see how the economy can withstand that for very long (if it persists!). But meanwhile the...

It amazes me how far some people, errrrr politicians will extend themselves for opportunity, power, influence in Congress. Maybe I should not be calling them people? Maybe that is not amazing? Most of start off with their bad manners and aggressions, then do not have to live with and by their own decisions, and expect people to forgive and forget. They are definitely not like us. I wish the charade would end. Rep. Tom Cole Nominates Jim Jordan as...

Timeline of Harvard Backlash Over Student Israel-Hamas Statement, businessinsider.com UPenn Donor Revolt Over Israel-Hamas War Is Getting Worse, businessinsider.com Tags: 2023, colleges and universities

Like retail sales, motor vehicles lead the way in industrial production  – by New Deal democrat As with retail sales earlier this morning, motor vehicle production is playing an outsized role in expansion this year. Industrial production as a whole rose 0.3% in September. But August was revised down by -0.2%, so on net it increased only 0.1%. Similarly, manufacturing production rose 0.4%, but with a -0.3% revision to August, was also only up...

Weekly Indicators for October 9 – 13 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. The recent improvement in the short leading indicators has made its way through to the coincident indicators. But, given the importance of gas prices, whether the turmoil in the Middle East spreads out to affect oil producing countries is a major issue. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the...

The situation at the Rafah crossing from the Gaza strip to Egypt is crazy beyond belief. Crazy things are happing. Sane things are not happening, basically because it is closed even though there are US citizens desperate to cross it to get out of the Gaza strip and a desperate need to get food and medicine and fuel for generators into the Gaza strip. The Rafah crossing is closed partly because, although Israel can not order it closed, their...

This post will be long and confused. It is on a topic on which I am unusually especially ignorant as I decided that the case was hopeless 20 years ago and stopped following it. The current war makes me think that, at least things could be less horrible than they are, and I can’t help trying to think of how the horror could be reduced. First, I think that the current Israeli military action is a strategic mistake. I also think that the civilian...

If you get a chance, wander over to Seeking Alpha and read New Deal democrat’s very thorough take on the economy. You can set up a fee, limited account there. AB Weekly Indicators for October 2 – 6 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. While interest rates have continued to rise to multi-decade highs, shorter term indicators continue to chug right along, both on the producer and the...

No that is not the real story here today. It does give a perspective on why so many too big, too fast, and too often vehicles are eating up limited supplies of gasoline and oil. However, what is being missed is we are not buying more oil for the Strategic Oil Reserve. Although, I am recalling our younger days when for Christmas the boys (meaning my brothers and I) would get “metal” Tonka pickup trucks and other versions of the same brand. Not a...

Wednesday (October 4, 2023) found more than 75,000 union employees of Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health providers, walked off the job, marking the largest health care worker strike in US history. Kaiser Permanente unionized health care workers go on strike across dozens of locations, cnn.com, Samantha Delouya. Open Thread – NPs and PAs are Handling Primary Care Visits, Angry Bear...