Tag Archives: Hot Topics

I came across this article on Steve Hutkins’ “Save the Post Office.” There has been a political effort to redefine the USPS into more of a business model and something it was never meant to be. Right now, the USPS is beginning to reimage its model and existence as led by Postmaster Louis Dejoy. There is much wrong with this effort. Both Mark Jamison and Steve Hutkins have been defining the issues with Dejoy’s plan in their articles at Save the Post...

Our daughter only applied to two colleges, Washington University in St. Louis and Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. Tuition wasn’t an issue, since her mom was an employee of Wash U, and the university pays full tuition at Wash U or half of Wash U’s tuition at any other college or university for all its employees. Half of Wash U’s tuition would cover most or all out-of-state tuition at any state university. Some of our St. Louis friends asked...

Prices for new single family homes down YoY,, while sales fluctuate; apartment rent changes YoY are zero  – by New Deal democrat June’s new home sales, and Apartment List’s Rent Report, this morning rounded out our view of this important leading sector through June. New single family home sales are the most leading of all the government housing reports, but they are very noisy and heavily revised. That was on full display this morning, as...

My parents died as paupers, so there wasn’t anything for me and my four siblings to “inherit” upon their deaths. No matter. I figure I got my inheritance on the front end, because my folks paid for my college education: tuition, room and board. Even correcting for inflation, tuition* at the University of Tennessee was cheap: ca. $160/quarter for a full load. I was fortunate that my parents had the money; even though I also carried a work-study job...

House prices stabilize (or even increase!) for existing homes, while prices have been slashed for new homes. What’s going on?  – by New Deal democrat Both the Case Shiller and FHFA housing price indexes were reported this morning through May. To quote each in turn: “The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a -0.5% annual decrease in May, down from a loss of...

We are again discussing people on Medicaid who may not know they have to reenroll. The largest unknowing segment of that population are those over 65 years of age. This is a combination of several different articles on the Medicaid Disenrollment occurring today. Private business again taking advantage of the lack of knowledge of people and the situation. The Company Salivating Over The Medicaid Disaster (levernews.com), Matthew Cunningham-Cook...

A “Big Picture” summary of why a recession still looks likely, even if it hasn’t occurred yet  – by New Deal democrat The below started out as a comment somewhere else, but it is too good a “big picture” summary of where the economy is today and not to post it here. I still intend also to take a more detailed look at the housing market, but since the below lays the groundwork for that, I’ll post it later (maybe later today, maybe not). What...

Weekly Indicators for July 17 – 21 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha.  At least when it comes to weekly measures of consumer spending, the “waiting for godot” recession seems to have finally arrived. Meanwhile other metrics have been picking up steam as to the near future. This suggests a period of wobbling ahead. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual...

How long until the historically tight jobs market reverts to trend?  – by New Deal democrat There are some very unusual cross-currents going on in the housing sector, revealed by yesterday’s existing home sales report. But it will take some time-intensive organization to present it to you, so I’m saving it for (hopefully) Monday. In the meantime, let’s take another look at the job market and how it compares with consumer spending. One of...

How long until the historically tight jobs market reverts to trend?  – by New Deal democrat There are some very unusual cross-currents going on in the housing sector, revealed by yesterday’s existing home sales report. But it will take some time-intensive organization to present it to you, so I’m saving it for (hopefully) Monday. In the meantime, let’s take another look at the job market and how it compares with consumer spending. One of...