– by New Deal democrat My detailed “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. There were two noteworthy events this past week. First, the 10-year minus 2-year Treasury spread briefly normalized during the week, on Wednesday, and ended the week only inverted by 1 basis point (.01%). Second, almost *all* of the coincident indicators are now positive. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual moment as to the...
Read More »The truth about immigration
The big lie about immigration, promoted by the GOP and its right-wing propaganda outlets, is that under Biden the US has had “open borders.” LOL! Nowhere close. And the US hasn’t had open borders at least since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years. The law remained in force until the passage of the Magnuson Act in 1943.So is immigration good or bad for America? In his new book, “The truth...
Read More »Inflation Data Gives a ‘Bright Green Light’ for a Fed Rate Cut
We have been playing brinksmanship the last 30 days as to when it is a good time to reduce the Fed Rate taking your foot off the bake so to speak. If you read New Deal democrat’s latest report . . . “The monthly personal income and spending report is now the most important report of all, except for jobs. That’s because it tells us so much about the state of the consumer economy. In short, this was an excellent report (July personal income and...
Read More »July personal income and spending: an excellent report, with only one fly in the ointment
– by New Deal democrat The monthly personal income and spending report is now the most important report of all, except for jobs. That’s becuase it tells us so much about the state of the consumer economy. It is the raw material for several important coincident indicators that the NBER looks at, as well as several leading indicators on the spending side. To the numbers: in July nominal personal income rose 0.3%, and spending rose 0.5%. Since...
Read More »Jobless claims: almost all good
– by New Deal democrat The news about initial and continuing jobless claims was almost all good this week. Initial claims declined -2,000 to 231,000, and the four-week moving average declined -4,750 to 231,500, the lowest since early June. Continuing claims increased by 13,000 to 1.868 million: As usual, more important for forecasting purposes are the YoY% changes. In that regard, initial claims were down -1.3%, and the four-week moving...
Read More »Trump and the Economy
As usual Trump is bleating about the upcoming election and how he will be cheated through fraudulent actions if he loses. Another point being made in this commentary is the pricing of goods which went up 14% while corporate profits when up five times as much. A Kroger Director admits such for some food products. My argument over the years has been prices can increase unduly and not due to increases in cost. Companies can increase prices because...
Read More »Catching Up on Climate Risk Research
Two excellent short and very readable mini articles (to be redundant). Both pieces are pointing to a direction the Fed should take in the next year or sooner with regard to Climate Change. It is doubtful they will do so until catastrophe hits. What is a few $billion more in spending, right??? This aspect of our economy and how it can impact the economy should be taken into consideration in decision making and costs. This is partially why, these...
Read More »How will the Trump and Harris budgets affect the national debt?
Here’s the Penn Wharton Budget Model breakdown for how much each candidate’s economic proposals will affect the national debt:“We estimate that the Trump Campaign tax and spending proposals would increase primary deficits by $5.8 trillion over the next 10 years on a conventional basis and by $4.1 trillion on a dynamic basis that includes economic feedback effects. Households across all income groups benefit on a conventional basis.”“We estimate that...
Read More »Mortgage Lock-In is Coming to an End
QUARTZ The ‘Lock-in Effect’ is Easing. Here is What It means for the Housing Market Homeowners are beginning to give up on waiting for lower mortgage rates. That could be good news for potential homebuyers. In the first quarter of this year, six of every seven homeowners, or 86%, have a mortgage rate below 6%, according to a Redfin analysis of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s National Mortgage Database published Tuesday. That’s down from a...
Read More »Why people stay after local economies collapse
Why people stay after local economies collapse − a story of home among the ghosts of shuttered steel mills by Tracy Walsh The Conversation It was midday on a Saturday, and Simonetta led me from the open front door of her home in southeast Chicago to her sitting room and settled next to her husband, Christopher, on the couch. In the 1980s, Christopher had worked a few blocks away at U.S. Steel South Works, earning three times the minimum...
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