July retail sales lay an egg; a hangover after a spring Budget Bust-out Bill binge?”  – by New Deal democrat Let me start out this post with two comments: (1) real retail sales is one of my favorite economic indicators, because it tells us so much about consumer spending, which is about 70% of the […]

The post July Retail Sales Lay an Egg appeared first on Angry Bear.

Businesses fail all the time in America. The owners and investors pay the price (yes, the employees too). But if the businesses are large banks that gamble with other peoples’ money, they become too big to fail and instead are bailed out by the government, a form of financial socialized medicine. “. . . the […]

The post Will AI be too big to fail? appeared first on Angry Bear.

But, but, but Biden was too old. Not Tr__p! Trump is a solipsist. The only point of reference is himself, so he makes no attempt even at faking interest in other people, since he can not really see them from his self-centered position. “Trump isn’t a narcissist – he’s a solipsist. And it means a […]

The post The Rise and Fall of . . . appeared first on Angry Bear.

When a columnist writes that Trump has reached a new low, the columnist is doing something that looks like moral reporting and is not. The columnist is administering the fiction that the object has an interior. The fiction says: somewhere, in there, is a person who could have chosen otherwise, and today he did not, […]

The post Quote of the day appeared first on Angry Bear.

“Producer prices indicate continued inflationary expansion, but how long can it last?”  – by New Deal democrat I usually do not pay much attention to producer vs. consumer prices. Partly that is because in the past few decades, the PPI has tended to be coincident with the CPI rather than leading it, and partly because […]

The post Producer prices indicate continued inflationary expansion appeared first on Angry Bear.

There’s an article in the latest New Yorker on Chief Justice Roberts. In it, he’s quoted as saying: “Only the President (along with the Vice President) is elected by the entire Nation.” What an embarrassing and easily falsifiable lie. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the US Constitution and the first GW Bush and Trump […]

The post John Roberts needs to read the Constitution appeared first on Angry Bear.

Just so you know, the issue is not dead. Tr__p is calling in every resource he can to limit or block mail voting.. 12 states responded in a SCOTUS brief in support Trump’s Executive, order. Another 23 states and the District of Columbia responded asking SCOTUS to deny the other 12 states and Tr__p’s EO […]

The post A Turn of the Screw by Republicans to make Voting harder appeared first on Angry Bear.

This report is about one week old. I do not believe much has changed since the SPR is within its strategic minimum. However, Tr__p still bumbling around with Iran which has some if not complete control of the strait of Hormuz. The issue may have changed by now or Trump may have blundered again and […]

The post SPR Nears Strategic Minimum Withdrawal Level appeared first on Angry Bear.

Sound economic projections are critical in assessing investment and public policy. I try not to let the fact that I’m philosophically valanced towards Medicare for all blind me to the need for rigorous study of its likely economic impact. “Previous research has shown that shifting the United States to a Medicare for All system could […]

The post Monetizing Medicare for All appeared first on Angry Bear.

Jobless claims continue to forecast a very positive economy in the near term  – by New Deal democrat Let’s take our regular weekly look at one of the most positive recent signs for the economy, “initial and continuing jobless claims.” And they continued to be very positive. Initial claims rose 9,000 for the week to a […]

The post Jobless claims continue to forecast . . . appeared first on Angry Bear.

Big personnel news out of the White House yesterday: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving the administration. Leavitt, who had her second child in May and returned from maternity leave last month, wrote in a post that “I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and […]

The post Quote of the day appeared first on Angry Bear.

 July consumer inflation: the second gift horse in a row, with gas prices down again and shelter subdued – by New Deal democrat As I wrote yesterday, July’s CPI was likely to be subdued because on average the price of gas went down further in July. And it was, rising only 0.1% for the month and […]

The post AB: There are few places where a reader can get a down-to-earth explanation on Consumer Inflation, Gas prices, and Shelter in one commentary, in a simple explanation format, and short. It is lengthy at times but shorter than others. appeared first on Angry Bear.

Not sure if this is anything special. Just an update by Bill Moyer’s take on railroads. If I get someone of Bill Moyer’s stature mentioning me by my name, I am going to pay attention. Bill writes about railroads these days. And he should. Railroads are one form of transportation in the United States which […]

The post Reconnect America – Railroads appeared first on Angry Bear.

The first time I recall using a map was in boy scouts. Travel in unfamiliar places on foot, bike or car required maps for me for decades. The first time I saw GPS in action was when my brother and I were on Ride the Rockies. We were invited to dinner by a friend in […]

The post Book review: Little Blue Dot appeared first on Angry Bear.

This is one of the issues, I am not an expert on. I know the numbers. If I track them, I can arrive to a conclusion. It is people like New Deal democrat and Dean Baker who can explain them to the degree you may wish to know. They give the reasons why and how […]

The post Slower Job Growth Path appeared first on Angry Bear.

Let’s hand the microphone to Garrett Graff: “Most people think of Jurassic Park as a cautionary tale for science, when really it’s a cautionary tale for corporate trust and safety teams, board oversight, and regulatory compliance. The dinosaurs’ entirely predictable rampage should really be seen as a failure of the security teams and the fence […]

The post AI: Manhattan Project or Jurassic Park? appeared first on Angry Bear.

David Remnick’s interview with a DSA co-chair is an out-of-body experience.

The post Must be heard to be believed . . . appeared first on Angry Bear.

– by New Deal democrat Tomorrow we’ll get the CPI report for July. At first, I thought this might resume the upward spike of April and May — but maybe not. My “quick and dirty” way to create a back of the envelope estimate of consumer inflation is to divide the change in gas prices (conservatively) […]

The post A “quick and dirty” look at anticipated consumer inflation in July appeared first on Angry Bear.

The Citizenship Clause was indeed written to repudiate Dred Scott, the 1857 Supreme Court decision holding that Black people could never be citizens. But the Reconstruction Congress did not swap one caste rule for a narrower one; it extended the promise to “every free-born person in this land.” The idea wasn’t just to retroactively protect […]

The post Quote of the day appeared first on Angry Bear.

Quite a few people are dropping healthcare insurance because they can not afford it. If they are above the limits for subsidies, they are risking themselves and family to a financial catastrophe. I have done this myself when the children were gone and I was without a position. One state has chosen to support people […]

The post One State Does It Right – Colorado State legislature extends supplemental state ACA subsides thru 2027 appeared first on Angry Bear.