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Tag Archives: Hot Topics

Immigration and the housing market freeze are making the “last mile” of disinflation harder, not the Phillips Curve

If you look at Part 1 and Part 2 of The Demographic Outlook: 2024 to 2054 CBO projections. The estimation of Net Immigration varies anywhere from 2.7 to 3.3 million to the US in 2024. In Part 1, of CBO’s current estimates, net immigration is larger than the agency estimated last year, by 0.7 million people in 2021, 1.4 million people in 2022, 1.9 million people in 2023, 2.1 million people in 2024, 1.5 million people in 2025, and 0.7 million people in...

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Initial jobless claims now in a clear uptrend – but is it unresolved post-pandemic seasonality?

 – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose significantly last week, up 13,000 to 242,000, the highest level since last August. The four-week moving average rose 4,750 to 227,000, the highest level since last September. And with the usual one-week delay, continuing claims rose 30,000 to 1.820 million, the highest since this January: There is no doubt at this point that jobless claims are in a significant uptrend. But note from the...

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May CPI continued to be all about shelter

May CPI continued to be all about shelter  – by New Deal democrat Consumer prices in May showed no inflation at all, as a decline in gas prices helped the headline number come in unchanged. YoY inflation decelerated -0.1% to 3.3% – continuing in the narrow 3.0%-3.4% range it has been in for the last year. The bottom line remains that almost the entire inflation “problem” is with shelter, which increased 0.4% again, while the YoY rate...

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The costs of stalemate in Ukraine

Apparently the administration is letting Ukraine hit military targets in Russia, though still with some restrictions.  This is way overdue.  It seems clear that Russia under Putin is an expansionist power.  Only a decisive defeat will prevent brutal ethnic cleansing in Ukraine.  Defeat may also lead Putin to refrain from further aggression against his neighbors, and even get him to accept a vision of Russia as an ordinary European country that...

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US Oil Dealing Adds to Energy Dept. Coffers

[embedded content] WSJ. President Biden’s unprecedented release of oil from the U.S. petroleum reserves in 2022 turned the White House into an unusually active player in the volatile crude market. The flood of emergency supplies helped arrest surging oil prices after Russia invaded Ukraine and pulled billions of dollars into the Energy Department’s coffers in the process. Oil prices have sputtered since and allowed officials who sold high to...

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Baltimore Bridge Reopens

It appears the wreckage from the bridge has been cleared away. This will allow container ships, etc. to use the channel in greater capacity to the port. However, getting across the bay will still take time as other routes will need to be taken by cars and trucks. I am sure there are a few angry comments being made as a result of the Dali taking down a major throughfare. Container ship reaching the Baltimore hrbor will resume. ~~~~~~~~ As taken...

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Is your Big SUV Really Safe?

If you are driving a big behemoth SUV thinking you are safer, maybe you should think about another vehicle. Here are some results. Logan Carter at Jalopnik gives us the break down. It is picked up in Quartz Business News. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) just released new crash test results for three full-size, three-row SUVs. The Ford Expedition, Chevrolet Tahoe, and Jeep Wagoneer were reviewed. These family haulers had...

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The recessionary Household Jobs Survey is not confirmed by other comprehensive hard data

 – by New Deal democrat As per usual, the Monday after jobs report Friday does not update any significant data. So let me return to the deep divergence between the Household and Establishment Surveys in the jobs report. With Friday’s data for May, the two have now diverged 1.9% over the past year, adjusted for the size of the prime working age population: This big a divergence has only happened previously twice in the 1960s, and one month...

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Immigration or invasion?

Russ Vought is a Trump loyalist who believes we live in a “post-Constitutional” nation:““We are living in a post-Constitutional time,” Vought wrote in a seminal 2022 essay, which argued that the left has corrupted the nation’s laws and institutions. Last week, after a jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records, Vought tweeted: “Do not tell me that we are living under the Constitution.”‘Post-Constitutional’ sounds suspiciously similar to...

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Cooling? Or Red-Hot? Psst Labor Market

I am not going to put Preston Mui’s entire Labor Market Recap May 2024: Still Cool report from Employ America up on Angry Bear. Most of all, I wanted his summation of what he was seeing. He gives up his reasoning as to why the two surveys differ. It is an easy read if you wish to indulge. He would probably appreciate the reading of his commentary like we at Angry Bear enjoy your reading it and comments. No place for comments. In entirety, it is a...

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