When in Thailand, I most certainly did not pay that much for several ounces of 22k gold there. From the looks of it things have changed. But then that was a few years back. Read on as this will be a part of the economy . Gold dips amid renewed Mideast conflict Bangkok Post 12 […]

The post Downturn in Gold Pricing could last until end of the year appeared first on Angry Bear.

People wonder if the big three will stay in the United States. They will be around for another ten years doing the assembly part and buying components and assemblies (wire harnesses, etc.) from overseas. And yes there is cost to doing it this way. Once on the dock, they own it. Six weeks on the […]

The post Automotive Manufacturing Investments appeared first on Angry Bear.

I rarely eat beef. Maybe once or twice a year. The closest thing I eat to beef is bison, and even that only a pound or two a year. I long ago switched to chicken, turkey and fish for animal protein. Beef prices are skyrocketing. “Retail beef prices are hovering near a record high. Last […]

The post Where’s the beef? appeared first on Angry Bear.

I cut Jared Bernstein’s Commentary “Why Are People So Damn Mad?” short because I wanted to get to the reasoning why people are mad and why they own it too. It used to be the modus operandi working hard will gain you the fruits of getting ahead, going to college will more likely than not […]

The post An Angry Constituency appeared first on Angry Bear.

I worked between Mexico and the US for an automotive company that made wire harness and other components for automotive companies. The assemblies would be done in one plant and then shuffled off to another plant in Mexico and then cross over into the United States for final production, packaging, and shipment to one of […]

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 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. “Consumers Back Off – Slightly” There was little change this week, but restaurant reservations – the first expense I would expect stretched consumers to cut back on – did slacken a little bit. And withholding tax payments over the past four weeks barely […]

The post Some of New Deal Democrat’s Weekly Indicators for June 8 – 12 appeared first on Angry Bear.

“So far, 206 Afrikaners have resettled in Ohio, a state that has struggled with population decline for decades. The Trump administration recently announced it plans to increase by 10,000 the number of refugee resettlement places for South Africans this year. “But since arriving in the US, Afrikaners – largely the Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Dutch settlers […]

The post Checking up on Trump’s chosen people appeared first on Angry Bear.

Report on Oil coming out of the middle east as Trump and Iran try to find common ground. This is way out of the ordinary and pretty much did not have to occur except for an oversized ego in the western hemisphere trying to make his mark globally. I am sure people will remember this […]

The post Status of the Global Oil Issues caused by a US President appeared first on Angry Bear.

– by New Deal democrat I’ve been ambivalent about whether the mania for AI is a Boom or a Bubble. That’s because whether its use is transformative or, like Steve Jobs’ claims that the Segway would revolutionize transportation, not so much.  But what has become increasingly clear is that virtually the entire economy has been […]

The post The entire US economy is downstream of the AI buildout dam, and that dam is almost certain to fail appeared first on Angry Bear.

Its Saturday and I am on the run. So, I am being brief. Another Dean Baker piece. This time on Immigrants. The one thing I keep saying over and over again is about our replacement rate. This is not like after WWII when men came home from WWII. got married, and population increased dramatically. The […]

The post Birth Rate and Labor appeared first on Angry Bear.

Talking Election Politics Hers . . . It has been five years since we lived in Michigan. Mallory took office in 2019 as a State Senator. She appeared competent and I did support her running for office. Apparently, she has done well enough and is popular enough to run as a Federal Senator. Her opponent’s […]

The post Michigan Candidate’s Agenda to Root Out Corruption in Washington appeared first on Angry Bear.

You may have seen that Speaker Mike Johnson wants Social Security to be “fixed” after the midterms. The fact that he wants to wait until after the midterms tells you everything you need to know. He’s using “fixed” in the sense of what you do to your dog if you don’t want puppies. Republicans know […]

The post Mike Johnson touches the third rail appeared first on Angry Bear.

Factory construction has trended downward due to economic uncertainty, throughput improvements, material costs increasing, and increasing interest rates. Companies are not willing to risk investment at this time without a sound future forecast to utilize additional factory production. The surge in 2024 was driven by policies such as the CHIPS Act. Demand cooled as companies […]

The post Decreased Factory Utilization and Increasing Capacity appeared first on Angry Bear.

 – by New Deal democrat I just wanted to drop a brief note about this morning’s PPI report. In May headline producer prices rose 1.1% for the month (the second such increase in a row), and on a YoY basis increased 6.5%. Final demand goods prices are up 9.1% YoY, and final demand services up 4.9%: […]

The post Producer prices suggest 5%+ YoY CPI, and very soon appeared first on Angry Bear.

 – by New Deal democrat Last week I wrote that “we’re coming up on the one year anniversary of that change of regime, so it will be interesting to see if the negative YoY comparisons continue, or if they fade away. This week’s numbers are noteworthy in that regard, because they suggest that – maybe – […]

The post More evidence for the return of post-pandemic seasonality in jobless claims appeared first on Angry Bear.

Private healthcare insurance polices and pricing is more varied than Medicare. No surprise there. The only thing you may deal with in having Medicare is Supplemental. The ACA should be similar to Medicare pricing. ACA Marketplace plans and Medicare differ significantly in costs and pricing (Supplemental). Too much freedom or leeway was given to the […]

The post Hospital Pricing Rising Faster for Private Insurance? appeared first on Angry Bear.

Commentary by Andrew Sprung at his site: xpostfactoid. Besides the other factors, I will point out, Hospital Prices Have Risen Much Faster for Private Insurance Than Medicare Since 2019 per a KFF report in May of this year. The increases “represent approximately one third of total health care spending and accounted for 40% of spending growth from 2022 to […]

The post “What will the politicians do to hold healthcare corporations accountable for high costs?” appeared first on Angry Bear.

The NYT published an article reporting that RFK Jr has abandoned most of his responsibilities: “Mr. Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote in the article. “Instead, they say, he is single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations […]

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– by New Deal democrat Just as forecast by the Cleveland Fed, the CPI in May increased 0.5% – less than the increases in March and April, but still too high. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased only 0.2%. The YoY% gains both also increased, to 4.2% and 2.8% respectively. to increase to […]

The post May CPI is “less bad,” but bad enough to edge consumers closer to recessionary income levels appeared first on Angry Bear.

Steve Roth — Wealth Economics When you look at the left side of an entity’s balance sheet or its brokerage account statement, you see a list of things that the entity owns, with an estimate of what those assets are worth. The estimates are generally at current market value — what somebody would pay for those assets at […]

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