Tag Archives: Hot Topics

The bottoming process in existing home sales continues, as YoY price comparisons increase  – by New Deal democrat The bifurcation of the housing market between new and existing home components continues, as existing home sales continue near their bottom, but with a little improvement. Specifically, in January sales increased 120,000 on an annualized basis from an upwardly revised (by 80,000) 3.88 million to 4.00 million. This is the seventh...

The good news on jobless claims continues  – by New Deal democrat The good news on jobless claims continued this week, as initial claims declined -12,000 to 201,000. The four-week moving average also declined, by -3,500 to 215,250. Continuing claims, with the usual one-week delay, declined -27,000 to 1.862 million: Needless to say, this also helped the YoY comparisons, which are more important for forecasting purposes. Initial claims are...

Apparently, US PMG Louis DeJoy is taking a lot of heat about the continuing failure of the post office in reaching his detailed goals. Having not evolved from the Post Office, Louis is having a tough time implementing processes and procedures that may have worked to some extent in the public sector. Except the USPO is a completely different beast tasked with goals without regard for profitability. In other words, you still have to serve the areas...

Is Late Economic Reporting the Cause of bad perceptions by the population? Open Thread February 13 2024 Inflation cooled again in January . . . Angry Bear Tags: Open Thread Feb 21 2024

I believe Angry Bear has touched upon Right to Work several times now; here, here, and now today. This brief touches upon RTW laws damaging state economies. Data show anti-union ‘right-to-work’ laws damage state economies: As Michigan’s repeal takes effect, New Hampshire should continue to reject ‘right-to-work’ legislation, Economic Policy Institute, Jennifer Sherer and Elise Gould, February 20, 2025 Key findings: Data show that...

Other than among Jehovah’s Witnesses, vaccination rightly gained widespread trust and acceptance in America. Innoculation against smallpox was around for hundreds of years before Jenner described the eponymous vaccine. Polio was a scourge in the US through the 1950s until it was virtually eliminated by vaccination. Many deadly diseases like whooping cough and measles were all but elimated in my lifetime through vaccination.Now, thanks to rank...

Weekly Indicators for February 12 – 16 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat I am back from my travels, so it’s time to catch up. There’s no significant economic news until tomorrow, but in the meantime I neglected to link to my weekly high frequency indicator wrap-up, which was posted at Seeking Alpha. As usual, if you haven’t already done so, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual minute on the economic data and...

What’s Medicare’s secret sauce for controlling costs? The agency sets provider prices. It’s still the prices, stupid, GoozNews, Merrill Goozner, Sept. 7, 2023 AB: What is fun is my being able to talk to these guys and exchange thoughts. Then I bring them to Angry Bear. Kind of under the weather yesterday and today. Got the chills and a headache. The Times’ Upshot columnists weighed in on Labor Day on a subject I’ve written about extensively...

In January, the governor of Utah signed the “Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act.” The law sets up a process for the state to overrule or otherwise ignore federal rules and decisions.For now, the law is just performative right-wing Republican bafflegab. While it appears to set up a challenge to the US Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause,” Governor Sandall denies this:“Our attorneys have indicated to me that the process that’s in place is...

One of the corollaries to the “life begins at conception” view is that all zygotes created by in vitro fertilization are fully human, so their deliberate destruction is ipso facto murder. This would effectively end IVF, since most zygotes will never be implanted. So sayeth the Alabama Supreme Court:“An embryo created through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is a child protected by Alabama’s wrongful death act and the Alabama Constitution, the Alabama...