Tag Archives: US/Global Economics

Who “Got” Iraqi Oil? Not the US. Dick Cheney collaborated with US major oil companies in a plot to at least take over operating the oil production in Iraq, OPEC’s second largest producer and exporter, if not get to own the oil itself outright (which has not happened as oil in the ground was and remains owned by the Iraqi government, which is the way it is in pretty much all OPEC members).  Of all people, Juan Cole and many other progressives agreed that...

Production, transportation, and sales show a stalled economy Below is a graph I put together in a discussion of transportation that I’ll probably post next week at Seeking Alpha. The idea behind the graph is that (1) everything that is produced needs to be transported to market; i.e., the two metrics should move essentially in tandem (this is known as the “Dow theory” in financial markets); and (2) sales also ought to reflect – and slightly lead – what is...

Housing analysis at Seeking Alpha; updated jobless claims I have a more detailed analysis of yesterday’s very positive housing permits and starts data, and what it means for the economy for the rest of this year, over at Seeking Alpha.  As usual, clicking over and reading helps reward me a little bit for my efforts. This morning’s weekly jobless claims report continues the recent string of very positive numbers. Here’s the updated graph of the monthly...

The Debate within Unions over Health Care is about the Nature of Unionism Itself Casual observers of the political scene got an insight into union politics when a small storm erupted over a flyer distributed by Nevada’s Culinary Union attacking Bernie Sanders and his Medicare for All proposal. Politico has a piece surveying similar disputes in other states and nationwide.  Some unions, like the building trades and the Teamsters, want to keep the...

Housing continues to surge Low interest rates continue to fuel a strong upsurge in new housing construction. I’ll put up a more detailed post later, but for now simply note that housing permits, both overall and for the less volatile single family housing component, made new expansion highs, at levels not seen since 2007. Housing starts backed off from December – but to only the second highest numbers of the entire expansion. Here’s the graph from the...

What Is “Democratic Socialism”? Probably the best answer is whatever Bernie Sanders says it is as he is by far the most famous person ever to adopt this term as a label for his beliefs.  There is a group  in the US bearing that name, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has been in existence since 1983.  But while its membership has since then generally fluctuated between 4,000 and a bit over 6,000 through 2016, its membership had surged to...

Bloomberg’s Plan for Reskilling America: The Quid without the Pro Quo The Intercept usefully preports Michael Bloomberg’s proposals for higher education, focusing on plans to upgrade workforce skills along the lines desired by employers.  Here’s the selection they excerpted that covers this, worth reading carefully: There’s a lot here that would be useful to businesses located in the US if they want to take advantage of it: money for vocational degrees...

by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for February 10 – 14 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha.Several of the coincident indicators that turned positive one week ago turned right back to negative this week. The bifurcation between the producer and consumer sides of the economy continues. As usual, clicking over and reading should be educational for you, and ever so slightly enumerative for me....

by David Zetland (One handed economist) Mark Miodownik’s 2014 book is another in the most-welcome genre of “pop science” — a genre of books that explains scientific ideas in clear and comprehensible prose. Miodownik’s insights into the abundant materials surrounding us (glass, steel, plastic, etc.) really help you grasp the miracles that scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and geeks have brought to our lives. The paradox is that “stuff” costs us so...

Standing on the shoulders of cranks I use the term “crank” affectionately. The figure below is a valiant effort by Arthur O. Dahlberg to depict the “socio-economic process” as a network of troughs, pipes and valves. Even this elaborate contraption is confined to “the movement of the major social variables.” Dahlberg believed that his chart technique communicated his analysis more effectively than words could. What the chart communicates to me, besides...