Tag Archives: Hot Topics

Not to put too fine a point on it, the recent chaos in the GOP-controlled House isn’t a bug, it’s a feature for the modern GOP. There isn’t any daylight between Gym Jordan and Mike Johnson, politically, but policy no longer matters to the GOP. It’s just optics, and Jordan has (so far) mastered the avuncular optics necessary to win the speakership. But since the point is chaos, Johnson will preside over chaos, with the hope that voters will decide to...

Jobless claims continue near expansion lows  – by New Deal democrat Jobless claims continued very low last week, justifying taking down the “yellow caution flag” that had been in place for a number of months. Specifically, weekly new claims rose 10,000 to 210,000 – still a very low historical number. The more important four week moving average increased 1,250 to 207,500. Contrarily with a one-week lag, continuing claims rose sharply, up...

Initially reported as 22 dead and maybe 50 wounded by a single white US terrorist in Lewiston, Maine. No reasoning for it. Maybe mental illness. When does reality come to America? Bullet spewing weapons are getting into the hands of people who should never have them. Time to grow up America. Lewiston is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County.  Edited: “Robert Card, 40, as a...

Just got done exchanging a couple of emails with Steve about Suzanne’s and his latest commentary about the growing privatization of the VA. Looks like the VA is farming out more of the veteran’s care to contractors which will come at a much higher cost. Outsourcing to for-profit entities is not a good practice. We can see how Medicare Advantage plans are costing far more than Medicare and depleting Medicare funding. Similar is happening with the VA...

The bifurcation in the new vs. existing home market continues  – by New Deal democrat Last week we saw that sales of existing homes plummeted to a 28 year low, save for one month in 2010; but prices for the very limited number of such homes on the market rose 2.8% YoY. This morning we saw the exact converse happen with new home sales, which rose to a 12 month high of 759,000 annualized, up 83,000 from one month ago; while prices declined...

This story almost seems like it should be in one of lower grade newspapers or magazines. Is this true or not? At Frys grocery they now have automated gates to enter the store and not let you out. To go out, you must pass a checkout register or someone near the self-checkouts. If accused, you are always guilty till you prove otherwise and the economics favors business. Lawyer explains why you should avoid using self-checkouts in stores, msn.com,...

The USPS is an entity on to itself and is called out in the U.S. Constitution. For years it has functioned quite while even with Congress (Senator Collins) placing requirements upon it to fully fund parts of no commercial business in the US is required to do. The USPS is not a commercial business. It is an entity serving the population of the United States with the delivery of mail anywhere in the US regardless of cost. Somewhere along the way,...

Stock prices and bond yields during disinflationary, deflationary, and reflationary periods  – by New Deal democrat This is an update of a post I wrote almost exactly 10 years ago. I’m doing this because of an important secular change I noticed that appears to have happened in the financial markets. Back when I first started delving into financial markets and economy 30 years ago, I noticed that, dating all the way back to the Great...

The useful content of this post on a topic where I have no expertise is this link to a Twitter thread by Gen Mark Hertling (retired) who has a whole lot of expertise and is also very smart and reasonable. The thread is brief. I suggest reading it. I also quote one tweet here: “There will be an IDF incursion. Hamas will prove better than many expect in repelling the IDF advance. Unfortunately, I also believe the fight will last a long time, will...

This is an excellent review of what has helped the economy stay stable during the pandemic and some of the issues mostly centered around demand and supply chain. Spend a few minutes here and read NDd’s reasoning. A further examination of the state of the economic tailwind  – by New Deal democrat With no big economic news today, I thought I would pick up where I left off Friday, when I identified three major reasons for the economic tailwind...