Tag Archives: US EConomics

New Year, same old labor market deceleration  – by New Deal democrat This morning’s JOLTS report for November continued the same trend of labor market deceleration that we have seen since the blazing hot boom of 2021. Job openings declined -62,000 to 8.790 million, the lowest level since March 2021. Actual hires fell sharply, by -363,000 to 5.465 million, the lowest since the pandemic lockdown month of April 2020. Quits declined by -157,000...

Introduction: Nice piece on how Americans are so tied to their gasoline powered cars, pickup trucks, etc. and the impact on cities and environment. What is key to this article and the author’s thought is this statement: “The obvious solution … lies only in a radical revision of our conception of what a city street is for.”  Where I live, the smaller city is 30 minutes away at 65 MPH (if they are doing such). If you drive faster, maybe you...

Construction spending continued to increase in November  – by New Deal democrat I’m feeling a little under the weather today, so I am going to keep this brief. Total construction spending rose 0.4% in November, while residential construction rose 1.1%: Keep in mind that these are nominal numbers, affected by the cost of construction materials. Typically residential construction moves in tandem with building units under construction....

The economic graph of the year for 2023  – by New Deal democrat I’ll put up the final Coronavirus update of the year later today, but before we leave 2023, let me put up the graph that I think explains about 90% of the economic data this past year. And here it is: This was a graph I created, and included in a piece called “Why the Index of Leading Indicators failed” over at Seeking Alpha. Here’s the explanation: the situation just...

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. 2023 has been a year of improvement, and that improvements continued in the final installment, as ever so slowly more and more indicators flip neutral or positive. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual moment, and reward me a little bit for my efforts throughout the year. Next week, as we begin a new year, I anticipate adding a...

NPR Nails It: Highlights Two Programs That Make a Difference to Millions, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Dean Baker. Dean Baker: I’ve complained a lot about how the major media outlets seem to highlight every piece of bad news about the economy, while downplaying or ignoring altogether the positives. Given my complaints, I want to offer a word of praise to NPR. Last night, NPR ran two pieces highlighting programs that make a big...

Been looking around for a few, new, and good writers to add to Angry Bear. I know we have Robert, New Deal democrat, and Joel amongst us now. I ran into Steve Roth since he posted to Tom Walker’s post. He is allowing me to poach from his new substack Wealth Economics and an older blog site Asymptosis. Happy about this as it allows me to write more freely too. Anyway, this commentary of Steves’ I like. Do We Wildly Underestimate GDP? Wealth...

Jobless claims end the year on a solidly positive note  – by New Deal democrat For our last data of 2023, initial jobless claims remained at a very low level, up 12,000 from one week ago to 218,000. The four week average declined 250 to 212,000. With the usual one week delay, continuing claims rose 14,000 to 1.875 million: On a YoY% basis, initial claims are up only 2.3%, while the more important four week average is up a mere 0.1%....

I promised a second entry in the series, Soft Landing this time it’s monetary. The question is why didn’t the FED’s monetary tightening cause a recession. There certainly was tightening, the Federal Funds rate rose from 0.07% to 5.33% There certainly were people who predicted a recession in 2023 (hey they still have 4 days so I am giving a hostage to fortune). Indeed some forecasters put the probability at 100%. Why ? First...

I pay to be able to talk to Merrill. What is fun is when Andrew Sprung shows up. And I am recognized for the words I write on healthcare. Been in enough hospitals to be treated for a blood disorder, I know the routine. The first hospital put me on death row. A woman stopped by and asked me if I knew where I was in the hospital. Of course, I said no. She told me, I was on death-row and they did not expect me to live. My platelets were very low and...