3 graphic signs of financial stress – by New Deal democrat The theme of my weekly “high frequency” economic indicators update over the weekend was the sudden deterioration in some measurements of financial stress. Tomorrow we’ll find out that house prices as measured by both the FHFA and Case Shiller have decline further, and that increases are substantially lower than as measured by the CPI, and on Friday we’ll find out what two of the...
Read More »Two Banks in Trouble, Some History, and Four Opinions
I have read enough on the bailing out of two banks (Silicon Valley Bank and the smaller Signature bank). in 2018, I had argued against increasing the $50 or $100 (?) billion limit to $250 billion. These were commercial banks which were allowed in 2008 to join with Wall Street banks to dabble in securities, Banks writing home mortgages had skipped the practice of registering them with the counties. Not a safe practice. Here we are in a situation where...
Read More »Millions Strike and Protest in France
“France Is Furious”: Anger Grows at Macron for Raising Retirement Age as Millions Strike and Protest (rsn.org), Democracy Now. This is what happens when you let “the government” (“rich” taxpayers of a “progressive” tax) pay for your Social Security. American Social Security was created “worker paid” by FDR exactly to avoid this (“so no damn politician can take it away from them”). And for more than 80 years that has worked. but lately the...
Read More »GOP Social Security – the Phasing Out
Katie Porter on Social Security. Can you spare a bit more than three minutes? [embedded content] Three of the many Republicans who are absolutely not for the People. Social Security & the Debt Limit, Angry Bear, Bruce Webb. Tags: debt, Katie Porter ...
Read More »New Deal democrat’s Weekly Indicators March 20 – 24
Weekly Indicators for March 20 – 24 at Seeking Alpha – by New Deal democrat I’ve neglected to put this up for the past several weeks, but by now you know where to find my latest Weekly Indicator post at Seeking Alpha. Probably unsurprisingly, in the week after the Silicon Valley Bank failure, just about every financial stress indicators suddenly spiked. In other words, credit conditions, which had already tightened by the end of last year,...
Read More »Everything you didn’t know you need to know about the Postal Service’s new commercial
Everything you didn’t know you need to know about the Postal Service’s new commercial, Save the Post Office, Steve Hutkins. Last week the USPS Link had an article — titled “Get a ‘Move’ on” — announcing the Postal Service’s new TV commercial. The commercial is called “Orchestrated Delivery,” and its theme is “We’re reinventing our network” — a reference to the way thousands of letter carriers across the country will soon be relocated from post...
Read More »Living with Histories That We Do Not Know
Via Diane Ravitch’s blog comes this note and bio to watch Dr. Fenwick livestream presentation. I am pointing to her work as somebody worth a look. Living with Histories That We Do Not Know with Leslie Fenwick Tuesday, April 11, 4 p.m. ET Dr. Fenwick will draw on her sustained contribution to education policy research and groundbreaking findings from her recently published award-winning and bestselling book, Jim Crow’s Pink Slip. Dr....
Read More »Child labor laws are under attack in states across the country
This is a mixture of my comments and comments pulled from multiple sources (BLS, Cosmopolitan, , Why do Child Labor Laws Matter? Federal laws provide a minimum of protections for child labor. The laws were enacted nearly a century ago in reaction to children being exposed to dangerous activities. Edwin Markham “Child at the Loom.” Cosmopolitan There was a time in this country when young children routinely worked legally. As industry grew in the...
Read More »There is now only one significant manufacturing datapoint that is not flat or down – but it’s the one the NBER relies upon
There is now only one significant manufacturing datapoint that is not flat or down – but it’s the one the NBER relies upon – by New Deal democrat I am increasingly of the opinion that at the moment, the only two economic data series that are important are nonfarm payrolls and the personal consumption expenditure deflator. That’s because almost every other important metric of the economy is either flat or declining. But payrolls keep chugging...
Read More »What 8th Grade Schooler’s Can Figure Out and Congress Can’t
This is a story or at least I tried to make it into more like one. The longer version can be found at the Propublica link. I took parts of it linking them together using mostly their wording and blending it with mine. Money and Corporate influence still wins . . . The U.S. Never Banned Asbestos. These Workers Are Paying the Price, ProPublica, Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi A few miles up from Niagara Falls was the OxyChem’ facility. The plant’s...
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