Category Archives: Economics

People Are (Re-)Learning What a Tight Job Market Is Like

Posted on November 11, 2025 by mikethemadbiologist

And I don’t think they’ll like it. In 2024, I kept saying that too many either forgot or never experienced what it was like to be an employee in an economy where five percent unemployment was considered too low. Now … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Jobs | 1 Comment

Trump Take GOP Candidate: Unintended Consequences of Republican Budget Cuts

Posted on September 22, 2025 by mikethemadbiologist

Picking up another Virginia House of Delegates seat just got easier (boldface mine): Chris Stone, the Republican challenging Del. Michelle Maldonado (D) in the House of Delegates’ 20th District, has pulled out of the race. Stone made the announcement Monday, … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Economics | 1 Comment

Trump and Republicans Declare the Republican War on Christmas

Posted on August 25, 2025 by mikethemadbiologist

No, they really did (boldface mine): The vast majority of artificial Christmas trees, lights and other decor are imported — mostly from China. Because seasonal items typically need to be shipped months ahead of time, stiffer levies already added millions … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Economics, Fucking Morons, Gut Yontif | 1 Comment

Job Numbers Are Often Variable

Posted on August 5, 2025 by mikethemadbiologist

Following up from yesterday’s post, I want to clarify that I really don’t think the jobs numbers are weird right now (though what will happen in the future remains to be seen). If you look at historical data, whenever there … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Economics | Comments Off on Job Numbers Are Often Variable

Even After Three Years, the Only Democratic President with Worse Job Growth Than Trump Was Obama

Posted on August 28, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

Heckuva job Larry Summers! This figure has been making the rounds: As many have noted, after four years, Trump was the worst. EVAR. But if we want to pretend the pandemic never happened (and if we do, then Carter should … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Democrats, Economics | 4 Comments

The Washington Post Hides the Lede: The Food Prices Edition

Posted on February 5, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

In another story about high food prices, The Washington Post hides the lede in the fourth paragraph. See if you can find it! But there is no immediate fix for policymakers. Grocery prices remain elevated due to a mixture of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Economics | 2 Comments

The Rents Are Too Damn High–And Democrats Should Do Something About It

Posted on November 29, 2023 by mikethemadbiologist

But why do people think the economy is not good? (boldface mine) It now requires $119.27 to buy the same goods and services a family could afford with $100 before the pandemic. Since early 2020, prices have risen about as … Continue reading →

Posted in Democrats, Economics, Housing | 3 Comments

A Great Crankiness Throughout the Land

Posted on November 22, 2023 by mikethemadbiologist

There have been a whole spate of articles (here’s a decent one) attempting to determine why, despite some strong economic indicators, people say they’re pessimistic about the economy–even as they spend more money, which is usually associated with boom times. … Continue reading →

Posted in A Great Crankiness, Economics | 5 Comments

COVID and Economic Pessimism

Posted on September 20, 2023 by mikethemadbiologist

Economist Claudia Sahm, both at Substack and Bloomberg, makes the argument that COVID is to blame for poor consumer sentiment. From Bloomberg: Lots of reasons have been given for the gloominess, including political partisanship, the media’s focus on negative news … Continue reading →

Posted in COVID-19, Economics | Comments Off on COVID and Economic Pessimism

It’s All About Housing Prices

Posted on July 21, 2023 by mikethemadbiologist

Well, obviously, not everything. But Ned Resnikoff makes a good point about the context in which the entertainment industry strikes are occurring (boldface mine): Characteristically, I’d like to dedicate the rest of this post to discussing the last issue: the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing, Unions | Comments Off on It’s All About Housing Prices