- by New Deal democrat
Yesterday we were supposed to find out how much the economy grew (*if* it grew) during the 3rd Quarter, via the GDP report. This morning we were supposed to get the very important personal income and spending data for September as well. Neither of these were issued because of the federal government shutdown. While there are some decent substitute reports from other sources that can at least give us a back of the envelope estimate for this important data, they are no substitute for the real thing. We are flying blind, and there has been no urgency on the part of those in control of the Administration, the House, and the Senate, to do anything about it. In fact, if the economy is on the cusp of being in recession, they might prefer it that way.
It is an absolute disgrace that an alleged premier First World country has degenerated in to the governance of a Third World banana republic - and is poised to continue that way for possibly a long while more.
But today I want to pause to give a note of apprecitiaon.
For roughly the past 10 years, much of the material I have posted here has been picked up and cross-posted (with my permission) at the Angry Bear blog. For the past 5 years or so, *all* of my posts have been. Odds are that it gets more views over there than here.
The Angry Bear blog started over 20 years ago; in fact, Bill McBride a/k/a Calculated Risk started out there before he struck out on his own. For most of the time, it was hosted by Dan Crawford, until he passed away several years ago. One of his dying wishes was that the blog would continue, and he handed the reins over to another poster, whose first name in real life is Bill (not sure he would want his full last name posted publicly), who I had the pleasure of meeting over some gourmet pizza last year in Phoenix AZ.
For among other things health reasons Bill has also needed to step back. As a result, as of this weekend Angry Bear goes dark.
Angry Bear is only one of three economic sources I correspond with which have initiated plans to wrap up in the next year, mainly due to retirement. Sad, but as George Harrison sang, All Things Must Pass.
For my part, I am not a spring chicken either, but I have always figured there is another recession (not caused by the Giant Flaming Meteor of Death) out there, and another recovery. And I’ve also figured that, health permitting, I would like to keep at it until I forecast those cycle turns.
But I wanted to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to Bill, his late predecessor Dan Crawford, and everybody else associated with Angry Bear for their efforts. Thank you all.
