Grassroots

manufacturing and construction are almost right at the juncture between expansion and contraction

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February construction spending: nominal vs. real makes all the difference  – by New Deal democrat Since the turn of the Millennium, a downturn in manufacturing has not been enough to tip the economy into recession. There must also be a decline in construction as well. This morning’s construction spending report for February painted a substantially […]

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Rural Schools and Balancing Uncertain Budgets

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Arizona is among the states where K-12 public schools rely on federal funding, according to the Pew Research Center. During fiscal year 2022, 19.7% of Arizona school funding came from the federal government, according to the center. Arizona ranks in the bottom 25% of schools for quality of education. Underpaid teachers is one issue. Yet, AZ […]

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Trump is killing the American vaccine industry

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“The United States led the world in developing the technology that beat the COVID-19 pandemic. Action from lawmakers may leave that legacy—and a $70 billion market—behind.” Abandoning mRNA vaccines is bad science, bad medicine, bad public health and bad business. This is just stupid. Which defines the Trump administration. Trump Administration attacks mRNA vaccines

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Heavy truck sales warrant a yellow caution flag

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 – by New Deal democrat After this morning’s contractionary ISM manufacturing report, it occurred to me to look at heavy truck sales to see if they confirmed the downturn. They did, but like the manufacturing index.  Heavy Truck versus Light Trucks. Which models are they? Heavy Trucks are 14000 lbs+ or class 4. While passenger […]

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Enforcement and Removal Operations at ICE, “this removal was an error”

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Or so they say . . . “an error.” I am sure Trump could get Garcia back from El Salvador. He always brags about being able to do this or that. After all, he is the president. The problem here is Trump has issues with people of different cultures. So any rescue by Trump is […]

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Little Girl Growing Up in Chippewa Falls Wins in Wisconsin

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Winning a judgeship should not be a big deal. Susan Crawford won or will win a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The problem as I see it? This was not about who would be the best judge or better credentials. It was about political party and which political party may or would benefit from […]

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Critics of VA Cuts Say: “This is Life and Death Stuff”

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– by Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early Washington Monthly also at Z Musk and Trump’s DOGE cuts are a grave threat to veterans’ healthcare and benefits or the VA as many know it as. Earlier this month, Vietnam War veteran Paul Cox went to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center in St. Louis to […]

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Manufacturing Index returns to Contraction

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ISM manufacturing index returns to contraction as the front-running of tariffs has ended  – by New Deal democrat [Note: I’ll report separately on construction spending, also released this morning] Although manufacturing is of diminishing importance to the economy, (it was in deep contraction both in 2015-16 and again in 2022 without any recession), the ISM manufacturing […]

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How to make money while losing money

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“Newsmax raised $75 million in its IPO Friday, with shares priced at $10. Newsmax’s rapid ascent in its first two days of trading pushed the company’s market cap to $16.7 billion. Shares traded around $190 early Tuesday.” Sounds great, right? But scroll down a bit: “The company is facing an ongoing lawsuit from Dominion Voting […]

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Expecting Someone Shorter

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Peter D. Wallace, 19 June 1961 – 26 December 2024 Prelude I have been working for many years. Not enough, by any stretch, but many. And, as with many males Of A Certain Age, my first regular job was delivering newspapers. Specifically, in my case, the Cincinnati Enquirer, a morning paper that had some appeal […]

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DOGE puts dollars over veterans

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I recall a time when the GOP posed as the staunch defenders of America’s military, including military veterans. But Republicans have stopped saluting veterans and save their salutes for tax cuts. “The Veterans Affairs Department is planning to lay off tens of thousands of employees throughout its organization later this year, according to an internal […]

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Trump & Musk Families Saving Billions From Republican Tax Plans?

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It sure looks like this is the plan according to Americans for Tax Fairness. If one of the expiring provisions–lower individual tax rates – were instead extended, Trump could have an extra and ~ $2.7 million in his pocket over 10 years. And that is a modest estimate by the Tax Fairness Group. An extension […]

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Drug Prices Outpace Inflation

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This is a serious issue. New drugs enter the marketplace at a higher price to recoup the costs of development. Do the prices come down over a period of time? Not necessarily, there-in lies the issues. When are drugs paid off? Can’t say I have an answer yet. I am combining old data with new […]

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Why I am Not Concerned by February increase in Core PCE inflation

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 – by New Deal democrat The deluge of new monthly data starts tomorrow. Today there’s no significant data, so let me follow up on a point from Friday’s personal income and spending report. I never look to see what others are saying before I finish my own analysis, because I want to be as unbiased as […]

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GOP budget flummery

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Duncan Black over at Eschaton posts: “One possibility I haven’t seen raised elsewhere is that Trump intends to announce massive tariffs lasting years, the Republicans will “book” this revenue when they do their budget bill, cut taxes on rich people accordingly, and then just erase (some of) the tariffs. “Some budget shenanigans are above my […]

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The Trump measles pandemic continues to grow

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“As of March 27, 2025, a total of 483 confirmed* measles cases were reported by 20 jurisdictions: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Washington.” Meanwhile, leaders at the CDC ordered staff this week not […]

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State Comparisons of Student Loans Balances to State Budget etc,

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No words. Just numbers . . . Student Loan Justice Org. I lied . . . some words. The first, oldest and largest citizen’s group in the nation fighting for student loan justice (Alan Collinge).  We are fighting for the cancellation of all federally owned student loans by executive action, and the return of bankruptcy […]

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Forestall a Corporate Tax-rate Increase? The big losers will be the American people.

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AB: Corporate America wanting more . . . Opponents of higher corporate taxes argue it’s not really corporations, ultimately their wealthy executives and shareholders pay the price. They claim we’re all hurt by increased corporate tax collections and are helped by lower ones through the impact on our jobs, communities, retirement savings, and the economy […]

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