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

Fastest wage growth over the last four years

Report on the impact from the expanded unemployment insurance, economic impact payments, aid to states and localities, child tax credits, and temporary protection from eviction amongst other measures as reported by the authors. These actions provided relief to workers and their families to help them weather the recession. These measures also fed the surge in […]

Is the Taylor Swift ERAs tour in the UK inflationary?

Tyler Cowen links to an article suggesting that Taylor Swift’s upcoming concerts in London may boost inflation and delay an interest rate cut by the Bank of England. I am not a macroeconomist, but color my skeptical.  For one thing, a short blip in the demand for hotel rooms in London will likely increase room […]

Amicus Presenting to Judge Aileen Cannon Next Week in the Trump Case

Taken from Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse I thought perhaps the argument going on in front of Federal Judge Cannon about Jack Smith’s appointment to prosecute XPres. Donald Trump might need some explanation. I am borrowing from Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse as a subscriber. This is kind of a sideshow to the real issue of trump […]

FDIC: Number of Problem Banks Increased in Q1 2024

by Bill McBride Calculated Risk, May 29, 2024 The FDIC released the Quarterly Banking Profile for Q1 2024: Reports from 4,568 commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) report aggregate net income of $64.2 billion in first quarter 2024, an increase of $28.4 billion (79.5 percent) from the prior quarter. A […]

Lead and crime

We recently received a letter from the City of East Providence water utilities division asking us to check whether our service line contains lead. Since our house was built in 1935, this was a reasonable possibility. In the event, our line is galvanized iron or steel, not lead. But this ongoing effort to purge lead […]