Tag Archives: US EConomics

Joseph Stiglitz is calling for an honest and open debate on the debt ceiling and future expenditures and whether there is any relationship between the two. He states the expansion of the debt ceiling has no relationship between it and laws having future expenditures. The debt ceiling has no bearing on legal expenditures. It is about raising the debt ceiling to meet the expenditure congressional acts. Mostly a Stiglitz Opinion piece with some...

Housing update: sales have bottomed, prices in process  – by New Deal democrat No important economic news today. Yesterday existing home sales were released, but their economic impact isn’t all that important, except as it can confirm what has been happening with new houses under construction. And confirmation is what it gave us. First, *sales* of houses have bottomed, following the peak in mortgage rates over 7% at the end of last October....

Jobless claims: yellow caution flag persists  – by New Deal democrat In response to last week’s big jump in new jobless claims to 264,000, I wrote that it might be an outlier vs. the beginning of a rising trend. This morning claims fell back to their previous average range, at 242,000. The 4 week average declined -1,000 to 244,250, while continuing claims from the previous week declined -8,000 to 1.799 million: I’ve been paying particular...

This is an interesting commentary by David Zipper in his talk with Henry Grabar. Henry is the author of “How Parking Explains the World.” The AB title is from two questions. David was asking Henry to explain. If you have lived in or near a large city like Chicago, you are always on the hunt for a parking space unless there is a commercial garage around. If you are living in the suburbs and have to go into the city, parking is expensive. I now...

March total business sales strongly suggest that real total sales have entered a downturn  – by New Deal democrat Today’s final significant economic report was total business sales for March. This is a nominal figure; the “real” number won’t be updated until personal income and spending is reported for April in two weeks. And here, the report was a clear negative. Not only did total March sales decline -1.1%, but January was revised down by...

I believe the true complaint is people will not work for long for an employer who screws them over on wages. They will take a job. And then the first change they get, they will leave for another job offering higher wages and better benefits. Especially now, when Labor is “still” scarce. Unless of course, they lack education or experience. Even with experience, you may come out on the wrong end of an offer. Working in the fields I did in supply...

I do not believe there is anything shocking enough to get Americans to react to deluge of killings from bullet-spewing-weapons. No matter what happens, everything goes back to the way it was pre-mass murders. In this case we have had multiples of shootings of 4 or more which qualifies as a mass shooting. Our elected officials say their piece and quietly go back to the work of argument. US on track to set record in 2023 for mass killings after...

April industrial production looks great! – until you account for the March revisions  – by New Deal democrat The second of this morning’s three significant economic releases was April industrial production, and here the revisions were very important. In April total production increased 0.5% from March, but March itself was revised downward by -0.5%, so the net result was unchanged. Manufacturing production increased 0.9% from March, but...

Get busy winning, Digby’s Hullabaloo, Tom Sullivan Or get busy watching freedom die . . . Blue America‘s Howie Klein (Down With Tyranny) points to an old idea still current and still popular: FDR’s proposed Economic Bill of Rights (1944). Our political bill of rights, FDR saw, was inadequate for assuring “equality in the pursuit of happiness.” “I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. The test of our progress is...

Weekly Indicators for May 8 – 12 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. There was more slow deterioration in the coincident indicators, but interestingly a bounce in several of the short leading indicators, particularly in the weakness of the US$ (which paradoxically is a positive, because it helps exports and crimps imports). But the biggest news was in one of the twice a month...