Most people think nothing much is happening right now. Markets are drifting, headlines are recycled, and the sense of urgency feels muted. That’s usually when I start paying closer attention. Because the biggest moves rarely begin with noise — they begin with compression. Right now, a series of structural indicators suggest we’re coiled inside a … Read More

I suppose we can begin at the beginning – which is the CPI figures just out from Labor. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased … Read More

There’s really not a hell of a lot going on.  Not really. Sure, Pam Bondi got pissed at abusive questioning on the Hill Wednesday.  A simple check of headlines in media will reveal which lean right and left. A near-enough middle is Bondi clashes with lawmakers over Epstein files. War Score and More In the … Read More

The future often reduces to a couple of numbers. This week, it’s the delayed Jobs report and Friday’s CPI. With soft ADP data and elevated Challenger job cuts in the backdrop, the official BLS print carries extra weight. Depending on how it lands, we could see the classic “buy the rumor, sell the news” dynamic … Read More

Since hitting the 77 mark this month, I have cut myself considerable slack.  Things like “pressure” to keep UrbanSurvival going, publish still more books, and doing more research.  I mean, eventually time runs out and what we leave with is all between-our ears, anyway. Still, mornings like this? Good to sit in the recliner over at the … Read More

Now that my apparently (and perhaps deeply rooted) fears of a drunk driver taking out a pole and causing a behind-the-scenes power outage have passed, we can return to pondering the road ahead. My pillow survived the interruption in non-destructive testing — and cell-level cleaning — once again. So we’re back to the clear skies … Read More

An Old Reporter’s Notebook Is a Fine Instrument All the PPP — print press peers — used to carry them. Corsaletti. Carson. Sperry. And even, rumor had it, Richard Buck. Buck, after all, built the original Cost of Nothing index, sounding one of the earliest alarms on what later became politely known as “customer charges.” … Read More

Or: Why Domains Matter When the Game Is On and the Store Is Closed (OK, there is a ShopTalk: Pay reader Egor the “over.”) We’re Not “Game” Super Bowl Sunday is a funny day. Half the country is focused on a ball game, the other half is pretending they don’t care, and somewhere around kickoff a … Read More

It’s Super Bowl weekend — but instead of hype and halftime noise, today’s Peoplenomics report takes a hard look at something few people ever question: why taxpayers are still paying for private sports empires. In Frank’s Weekend: The High Cost of Private Sports, we trace the hidden financial machinery behind stadiums, bonds, and “public-private partnerships,” … Read More

My friend – who later would become a “whale” – and who (I heard) got out of crypto – and hasn’t looked back – told me years back to buy Bitcoin.  “Accept a couple of BTC for Peoplenomics…” I remember him saying.  That was when BTC was a dime and we were sharing temporal research … Read More

Full agenda today so here’s the snapshot.   And Now Here’s Your Host: Wild George Pretend today I’m a “shock jock” – And you just tuned in to the Wild George Sez show. One of the few remaining English-language, non-thumping programs left on AM radio… He reads the headlines: “Challenger Job Cuts report is just out.  But … Read More

This memorandum reflects the experience and analysis of this publisher and does not allege wrongdoing by any party. That said, it does reflect a change in operations. And as a reader—hopefully a long-term one—we are taking the extraordinary step of being fully transparent with respect to your privacy and your attention. You May Notice the … Read More

What Matters More Than the Noise Two signals today deserve serious attention — and neither has much to do with the shouting matches dominating cable news. First, the jobs picture. ADP’s January number came in at just 22,000 jobs created nationwide, a figure that borders on stall speed. Normally, we’d look to follow-on data to … Read More