Tag Archives: US/Global Economics

November manufacturing and October construction both decline, the former almost at recessionary levels  – by New Deal democrat As usual, we begin the new month’s data with the ISM manufacturing index. This index has a very long and reliable history. Going back almost 75 years, the new orders index has always fallen below 50 within 6 months before a recession. Recessions have typically started once the overall index falls below 50, and usually...

So Much For The Iran Nuclear Deal – by Barkley Rosser @ Econospeak  Sorry you have not seen me here for a while. My laptop on which I am able to post here was out of commission, but now has been fixed. Well, it was not the US beating Iran in the World Cup. It is that the Europeans, especially the British, French, and Germans, have had it with Iran over the combination of their bloody attempts to suppress the ongoing demonstrations over the...

Inflation is defined as a significant increase in the price of most goods and services in an economy over a short period of time. No controversy. Or, is there? And, … since inflation is likely but an effect, a symptom; the real question might should be, “What are the causes of inflation?” It is always better to address the cause rather than the symptom, is it not? Sometimes, in hard times when there isn’t enough money to go around, in an effort to...

October JOLTS report shows continued deceleration in jobs market, with continuing gap in job openings filled  – by New Deal democrat For the past year, I have likened the jobs market to a game of reverse musical chairs, where there are more chairs than players. Some chairs are always left empty. The chairs are jobs, and the players are job seekers. Since the lowest paying jobs have always been left empty, there is tremendous pressure to raise...

by Joseph Joyce The Struggle for Hegemony The restrictions by the Biden administration on the sale of semiconductor chips and the equipment to manufacture them represent a new stage in the division between China and the U.S. The belief that increased trade would lead to a convergence of Chinese and U.S. interests faded years ago. The history of globalization shows clearly that the chances of Chinese as well as Russian acceptance of a liberal...

Book Review: “Slouching Towards Utopia,” J. Bradford DeLong, (foreignaffairs.com), Liaquat Ahamed I am not going to put all of the review of Brad’s book Slouching Towards Utopia here. I thought I would alert AB readers to it and point to the freebie (for me at least and I believe you too) review at Foreign Affairs. Brad DeLong’s highly anticipated economic history of the twentieth century, Slouching Towards Utopia, begins with the reminder that...

“The Bell: When Economic Distress Becomes Terrorism,” thebell.blogspot.com, “Tom Dinger” What has changed since February 24, 2010? Have things gotten any better since then or 911? Are we still looking at an economic sinkhole for many people? In the last two years, programs were put in place to rescue people in spite of politics. What do you see? Tom’s point, I believe, is people can be driven to do irrational things. The anger coming when they...

(Dan here…lifted from One handed Economist by David Zetland’s Interesting Stuff) Read: “…because of how people actually use Twitter, the lines between “comedy club” and “town square” and “room full of monetizable user data that drive advertising revenue” aren’t always apparent.” Related: “From being asked to review every product you buy to believing that every tweet or Instagram image warrants likes or comments or follows, social media produced a...

Before you start chattering at me about this and that detail, let’s get an understanding. I am supply chain and manufacturing or manufacturing and supply chain. If there was a job opening in either and with appropriate pay, I was more than likely in. Companies hiring me usually did so because they had a problem. When I solved it in a couple of years, I was also expendable after 2 more years. Usually a recession would roll around, the company was...

October retail sales: consumers: “We’re not dead yet!”  – by New Deal democrat Retail sales, my favorite consumer indicator, was reported this morning for October. And it was a good number, up +1.3% nominally, and up +0.5% after adjusting for inflation: On the bright side, this was the highest absolute number since April. On the down side, retail sales have still gone essentially nowhere for the last 18 months.  As a result, YoY retail...