Tag Archives: US EConomics

[unable to retrieve full-text content]– by New Deal democrat Now that we are well past the Holidays, seasonality has settled down and so have the comparisons for jobless claims. Initial claims declined -7,000 to 213,000 last week, and the four-week average declined -1,000 to 216,000. With the usual one week delay, continued claims declined -36,000 to 1.850 million: On […] The post Jobless claims: more of “steady as she goes” appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Is there a self-enforcing budget deal with Trump? In yesterday’s column, Yglesias makes a critical observation:  “there is genuinely no point in negotiating a bipartisan appropriation bill if the president is going to ignore its terms. . . . the entire premise of a bipartisan spending deal is precisely that money will be spent on […] The post Is there a self-enforcing budget deal with Trump? appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]People complain about the size of the Federal Government, its costs and taxes, and how the size of it infringes upon the nation’s economy. Complaining of the size of government, Grover Norquist once said, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into […] The post Worker Shortage in Washington D.C. appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]January CPI: a new paradigm, with the reappearance of some old suspects  – by New Deal democrat Needless to say, January’s increase of 0.5% in consumer prices was not welcome. And there was a changing of the guard somewhat, as several of the old suspects (food and energy) made new appearances. Some of the spike […] The post January’s CPI increase of 0.5% in consumer prices was not welcome and . . . appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]GDP Grows 2.3 Percent, Led by a Big Jump in Durable Good Sales, CEPR The economy grew at a 2.3 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, somewhat less than had generally been expected. However the reason for the miss was a sharp slowing in inventory growth, which subtracted 0.93 percentage points from GDP for […] The post GDP Grows 2.3 Percent appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content] – by New Deal democrat While we are waiting for new economic data tomorrow, let me pick up on an issue I closed with yesterday: while manufacturing has turned down, goods production in the US economy is being held up by construction, and in particular residential construction. Given the severe hike in mortgage rates as well […] The post An examination of the levitation in residential building employment appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Ten Days later and I am just catching up on this. Typing on a new computer now, I was hoping to transfer all of my old files on to this one. Hard drive on the old one is limping along. I still do not have an update. Anyway, some Claudia Sahm to peak your interest. […] The post Boring Fed January 30th appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]– by New Deal democrat There’s no new significant news until Wednesday, so let’s catch up graphically with a few important items from Friday’s employment report for January. As I wrote then, probably the most important developments weren’t in the monthly numbers, but rather the annual revisions to both the Establishment and Household Surveys.  For […] The post The Big Convergence: scenes from the January...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Real retail sales on the cusp of breaking out of their multi-year doldrums  – by New Deal democrat Consumption leads employment, and as I reiterated yesterday real per capita retail sales has a history as a long leading indicator. Which means that retail sales for November, which rose 0.7% nominally, continues its recent strong string […] The post Retail Real Sales appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Former Sen. Pat Toomey (R), represented the key state of Pennsylvania for 12 years in the Senate. He said he would not vote for former President Trump or Vice President Harris in the November 2024 election. (Psst, pre-November 2024 election commentary). I do not know if this person actually did not vote for either Trump or Kamala Harris. He […] The post Planned Tariffs, An Economy Argument with Political Implications appeared...