Residential housing construction gives *very* mixed signals in December; recessionary red flag continues  – by New Deal democrat The most lading components of the long leading housing sector rose in this morning’s report for December, while the most important “hard” economic datapoint continued its decline into recession territory. First let’s compare the most leading datapoint, […]

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Here in Southern New England, morning temps have mostly been in the 20s. We have a natural gas furnace and forced air keeping the house at 68°F. We had a heat pump in our house when I was growing up in East Tennessee. My dad, an MIT-trained engineer, was proud of the money he was […]

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Typically, when I post New Deal Democrat; I will have the link to the post at the end of his economic commentaries. I also include a link to a previous commentary of his of the same topic. New Deal democrat follows the ups, downs, and stagnation of his topics. It is more work. However. I […]

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January 16, 2025 In his final address to the nation last night, President Joe Biden issued a warning that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.” It is not […]

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From storms in the Southeast to fires in California; there has to be a growing financial stress on the companies insuring the people and businesses there. A report from The American Prospect. Increasing damage from fires, hurricanes, and floods will destabilize a lightly regulated industry—and spill over into broader financial markets. The Next Financial Crisis: […]

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Immigrant Deportations: Trends and Impacts – by Tara Watson Econofact The Issue: Deportations have long been a part of immigration enforcement and their number has fluctuated significantly in the last few decades. Former President Trump has promised to take this further and significantly ramp up the policy with a mass deportation of people who do not have the legal […]

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Wayback Machine: In 68 I left on a jet plane, a Boeing 707 to San Diego. A few busses were waiting for us. They took us to Recruit Depot for a rude awakening. Written by John Denver in 1967, “Leaven on a Jet Plane” was also sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary. We were in […]

The post It is a Friday, Something Different, and a bit of History Passing By appeared first on Angry Bear.

– by Alan Collinge Medium The taxpayers have been repaid. A federally owned student loan, in fact, could be cancelled at little- or no actual cost to the taxpayers. Over the past two years, beltway defenders of the federal student loan program have overwhelmed the mainstream media with articles and essays nearly shrieking that student […]

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 – by New Deal democrat Since I posted earlier about why I follow jobless claims so closely, let me briefly restate why I pay a lot of attention to real retail sales. Retail sales have been tracked for over 75 years. When they are lower YoY, that has historically been a good (not perfect) indicator […]

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For much of the world, simply getting enough calories to sustain life is a daily challenge. Among the relatively affluent citizens in the west, wave after wave of dietary fashions encourage us to medicalize food. A recent example is the demonization of “processed” and “ultraprocessed” foods. This has been validated by the Trump nominee for […]

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A Refresher on Why I pay so much attention to them . . . – by New Deal democrat  This might be a good time to reiterate why I post each week on jobless claims, and what my system is. Initial jobless claims in particular are a recognized leading indicator. In fact, they are one […]

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The Russians are using an amazing approach to drone warfare in Ukraine — fiber optic controlled drones. They are avoiding radio detection and jamming by using drones which play out and communicate through an optical fiber. “Russian forces are using explosive-packed drones connected to their operators by fiber-optic cables to deliver unjammable precision strikes on […]

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Why So Much Deficit Spending by the nation? This is here for another reason. The big issue I saw in the last election was the deficit spending by government. Much of it was due to the 2017 Tax Breaks put in place by then President Donald Trump 10 years earlier. This was passed by Republicans […]

The post In Praise of California Part 2 appeared first on Angry Bear.

This article discusses the bad mouthing of California during the fire storm. Some politicians masquerading as Senators and Congressional Representatives do not want to help California. The claim being they bought this fire storm on themselves. So, the politicians do not want to “pay in $dollars for the repair of California. $83 billion in 2022 […]

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My track record in prophecy is certainly mixed, but based on what I’ve seen so far, RFK Jr will be the next HHS secretary. He’s certainly no more unqualified than Pete Hegseth is to be secretary of defense, and it looks like Hegseth is headed for approval. “Amid reports that the adults in Donald Trump’s […]

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Joyce is giving a good take down of the Trump story. The not-so-funny thing about this, I do not hear or see any commotion by people in general. Trump does not give a damn. For him, this is water under the bridge or this ship has sailed. All we or you are getting is a […]

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The title is a warning to me. The claim that “this time it’s different” is supposed to be typical of bubbles, but I write it meaning it. I think that this huge increase in the relative price of housing is different. In the past such an increase has been a reliable sign of a bubble. […]

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– by New Deal democrat December consumer prices indicate that we are leaving the immediate post-covid era and seeing a rebalancing of sectors, as sectors that declined sharply in the past several years rebound. As in November, the only two categories of “hot” numbers showing price increases of 4.0% a year or more are two […]

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Fossil Fuel Money Played a Role in the Los Angeles Fires and the Push to Install Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 15, 2025 ~ The cognizant dissonance of watching scandal-ridden Fox News weekend host Pete Hegseth stonewall his way through a Senate confirmation hearing yesterday for the job of Secretary of Defense, as thousands of homes smolder in ruins in the suburbs of Los Angeles from a failure of the U.S. to properly address climate change, has a common thread – dark money from the fossil fuel industry. The science-fiction like world Americans now wake to each morning, which is set to become ever more surreal in five days, with 34-count convicted felon Donald Trump assuming the Presidency of the United States, is the product of four decades of the fossil fuel industry’s climate denial octopus of front groups. Two groups funded with fossil fuel money, the Heritage Foundation and American Leadership PAC are separately running ads pushing U.S. Senators to confirm Hegseth. (Watch the ads … Continue reading →

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Briefly: I did not have much of a chance to dive into to this last night. Just briefly reviewing it. The case is covering preventative care as determined by the US Preventive Services Task Force (PSTF). The PSTF currently requires insurers to cover “more than 50 preventive services.” This includes “screenings to detect lung, cervical, and colorectal […]

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