Tag Archives: US EConomics

June house price indexes show no peak yet; no respite likely in the “official” consumer housing measure Yesterday the Case Shiller and FHFA house price indexes were updated through June (technically, the average of April through June. Because the Case Shiller index is not seasonally adjusted, the best way to show them is YoY. Here are YoY% changes for the last 2 years of each (although the FHFA *is* seasonally adjusted, and increased only +0.1%...

Some pretty interesting articles this week. I like the one about Alito. With trump, I can not figure out what was in his mind when he walked off with boxes of classifies documents. You are I would be in jail right now. Usual stuff about student loans. The $10,000 on many of these loans will go to pay fee, interest, penalties and consolidation fees. What will me left is more of the same and few dollars will get to relieve the original loan amounts. No...

I have been writing since early this year that, because of the pandemic, there have been several million fewer persons looking for work, leaving a huge number of unfilled job vacancies, particularly in the face of a roughly 10% higher jump in demand. This gives employees the upper hand, as there are almost always higher paying jobs on offer for which they can apply. I‘ve also posited that the dynamic would only slow down once some employers...

In chemistry, and in physics, a positive feedback loop usually yields an explosion. In biology, it is a population explosion. In electronics, it might be an unpleasant screech. In economics, both housing bubbles and inflation are products of a positive feedback loop. In re Global Warming: The melting of permafrost due to Global Warming releases methane a greenhouse gas which increases Global Warming, …, …. The melting of Arctic Ice reduces...

Continued good news for consumers on gas prices There’ll be lots of economic news starting tomorrow, but for today let’s pause and take a look at the energy situation. Here’s a look at oil prices in the past year up through yesterday from CNBC: And here’s a look over the same time period from Gas Buddy: Here’s a close-up of gas prices for the past month: Gas prices follow oil prices with typically a delay of several weeks. Oil prices...

The republicans are indignant as hell that the Inflation Reduction Act, née Climate and Healthcare Bill, would increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Since Reagan, republicans had been defunding it for them that brought them; them being the very rich who don’t like paying taxes. After the 2010 cuts, it had gotten to the point that the rich hardly pay any taxes at all. Why bother; the IRS didn’t have the money nor the personnel to...

I wanted to find a post/article which could details the differences between 2011 and 2022. I could not find exactly what I wanted. Infidel’s post comes close. I am looking at the years after 2008 when the nation was struggling to get back on an even keel. What is difference between 2011 and 2022? For one thing, actions not taken in 2011, were taken in 2022 due to the pandemic. The extension of funds to help families with children, increased ACA...

America is the land of equal opportunity. Well, yeah, truth be, your odds are little bit better if your parents can afford to send you to a good university. Other that, it’s even stephen. What if those who weren’t born to means could borrow the money? That would almost be as good, no.? Before 1965, if they went to their friendly banker, he asked them if they or their family had an account at the bank. If the answer was that their parents did have...

Weekly Indicators for August 22 – 26 at Seeking Alpha  My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. In the past couple of weeks, the decline in gas prices has slowed considerably. Once they stabilize, the underlying economic fundamentals should reassert themselves. In the meantime, there are cross currents of interest rates and manufacturing orders, among other things. As usual, clicking over and reading should be educational for you...

[embedded content] April 10, 2008, at Economist’s View former Angry Bear writer Noni Mausa had this to say . . . Take the time. Watch this, I just did. It explains exactly why the middle class is in trouble and where the money has gone. Over on Angry Bear we were discussing who can afford children, in this post: “Who Should Have Children? Or, If You Have To Ask, You Can’t Afford Them“ Me again: Our Middle Class is still in trouble. The...