Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Some Great Reads on a Wintery Night

Been taking some time to recoup from back surgery (8 inch gash Lumbar area), catch my breath, and find some more interesting topics on which to write. There are some awesome reads out there if you just take some time to search for them. – Another Christmas gift from Dean Baker; The Effort to Divert […]

Inventories to Sales Ratio Rising

By way of JimH in the comments section, the ratio of inventories to sales has been rising through 2015. (link to graph) Through the 1990’s and into the 2000’s, inventories were dropping with such things as advances in supply chain management and point of sale inventory control. However since the crisis, that trend is reversing. […]

Checking in on Consumption for Capital and Labor

Periodically I present updated information about consumption from capital and labor income. Using the NIPA accounts and labor share, I can separate consumption by capital and labor. Total consumption is trending steadily upward. Even with consumption trending steadily, in 2013 consumption by capital income began to move sideways, while consumption by labor income began to […]

Dean Baker: “An Aging Society Is No Problem When Wages Rise”

The argument behind MJ.ABW in relation to Social Security (More Jobs. At Better Wages) by real economist and mentor Dean Baker of CEPR. Also an implicit underpinning of the Northwest Plan for a Real Social Security Fix. The whole thing is short if you want to read through: An Aging Society Is No Problem When […]

NAWRU II . There is no such thing as a NAWRU

This is the first of five posts I promised to write in this post. NAWRU stands for the Non Accelerating Wage inflation Rate of unemployment. It is a concept used by the European Commission when deciding how much to allow Treasuries adhering to the Stability and Growth Pact to spend. The commission considers cyclical adjustments […]