Tag Archives: US EConomics

by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for January 17 – 21 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. A few months ago, in the midst of the Boom, virtually every indicator across all time spectrums was positive. In the past months, we have begun to see the deterioration in that situation, as every week one or two more indicators in one or another part of the time spectrum have shifted to neutral or negative....

It’s Called Stealing – What Big Retailers and Meat Packers are Doing to Cattlemen Kind of surprised by the shock and awe of the media over monopolistic power exerted on and by Supply Chains. They can be monopolistic and abusive because they are efficient. Just a rambling conversation “Protests have always been a part of America and this one at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge appears to be no different. Although the exhibited...

RJS, MarketWatch 666 CPI Rose 0.5% in December on Higher Prices for Food, Shelter, Clothing, Vehicles, & Furniture; Annual Inflation at a 39 Year High The consumer price index rose 0.5% in December, as higher prices for food, clothing, shelter, new and used vehicles, airline fares, furniture, and laundry appliances and were partly offset by lower prices for energy, recreational goods, car and truck rentals, and for vehicle insurance . . ....

“I Quit” Micheal Smith, The Ethics and Economics of Farmers Markets It is early, frosty mornings such as these where I would love to sleep past 6am, enjoy a cup of tea, watch the news and think about what is on the ‘has to get done list’.  These days I think about fence work, discing in compost and turning over weeds and then hitching up the kuelevator to hill up and top off planting rows for February planting. But alas, the market...

This podcast came to me by way of Kip Sullivan, the expert on Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage. We have had a running dialogue for about a year now. Most recently, Angry Bear featured Kip’s PNHP Single Payer Healthcare Financing Series detailing why healthcare is expensive in the US. I have put up numerous posts on healthcare, Medicare, Medicare Advantage. This podcast by Kip and Ralph Nader gets into the take over of Traditional...

Is The Downward Sloping Phillips Curve Back?  Maybe. We have gotten so used to the idea that to the extent it is even meaningful it is flat at an inflation rate of 2%, nobody talks about the old textbook Phillips Curve that slopes down.  But there is some evidence that out of all these pandemic upheavals it may be back, at least for a while. If this is the case then indeed there may be a tradeoff, and the higher inflation the US is experiencing...

RJS Reports: Producer Prices Rose 0.2% in December; Record 6.9% Annual Increase in Core PPI; Record 7.9% YoY Increase for Final Demand Services The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand rose 0.2% in December, as average prices for finished wholesale goods fell 0.4%, while margins of final services providers were 0.5% higher . . . that increase followed a revised 1.0% increase in November, when prices for finished...

Weekly Indicators for January 10 – 14 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. In addition to Omicron, commodity prices and interest rates are having an impact across the board on the long and short term forecasts and the nowcast. (Just for spite, two weeks ago some RW nut jobs had a fit about my including a meteor as the image for the article, so this week I including an even more graphic...

December real retail sales tank; industrial production also declines; consumer slowdown seems nearly certain   – by New Deal democrat Two days ago, in connection with consumer inflation, I reiterated that: “we certainly are at a point where a sharp deceleration beginning with the consumer sector of the economy is more likely than not.” I didn’t expect to have it show up so soon! Retail sales, one of my favorite “real” economic indicators,...

Continuing unemployment claims make new 45+ year low – by New Deal democrat New claims increased 23,000 last week to 230,000. The 4 week average of new claims increased 6,250 to 210,750: The big increase is likely affected by seasonality. It’ll be another week or two before we can tell if there is any real change in trend. If there is, it is likely to be a flattening in new claims rather than any significant increase.  Continuing claims...