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

Existing homes inventory and prices move towards normalization and Sales . . . ?

Existing home market inventory and prices move slowly towards normalization, while sales remain punk  – by New Deal democrat Since existing-homes sales are less important for economic purposes, and especially with new home sales being reported tomorrow morning, I will keep this brief. What we are looking for is rebalancing in the housing market. For […]

Ambivalence

by Tom Walker Econospeak Book proposal: Marx’s Fetters and the Realm of Freedom: a remedial reading — part 2.2 Published in 1821, The Source and Remedy of the National Difficulties was a major influence on Marx’s analysis of ‘disposable time.’ In an 1851 notebook, Marx logged a 1000 word summary of the pamphlet. He also discussed it […]

Should Democrats rally around Harris?

It appears that the democratic nomination contest is wrapped up.  People are voting with their wallets.  Pelosi and Obama at one point appeared to favor some kind of competitive process, but Pelosi has evidently thrown her support behind Harris.  Potential rivals are all standing down. Ezra Klein is still making the case for an abbreviated […]

Are Drug Companies Alone Responsible for the Prices We Pay for Medicines?

I had presented Part I and Part II a while back. Part III was difficult to present in a piece-meal way so for now I have set it aside. What is interesting about Part IV is I can beak it apart into segments, still maintain the flow of informatio, and present it in a logical […]

A Partial Presentation- Joe Biden’s Legacy

Biden’s legacy: a Summary by Noah Smith – an introduction to Noahpinion Noahpinion Joe Biden announced today that he won’t seek reelection for President. We don’t yet know who will replace him, but we know Biden’s tenure in office will soon end. Now is the perfect time to talk about Biden’s legacy as America’s 46th […]

Inversion

by Tom Walker Econospeak Book proposal: Marx’s Fetters and the Realm of Freedom: a remedial reading — part 2.3  Inversion Marx stated repeatedly in the Grundrisse that capital inverts the relationship between necessary and superfluous labour time. Capital both creates disposable time and expropriates it in the form of surplus value, reversing the nature-imposed priority of necessity […]

Are Real Interest Rates Restrictive?

 – by New Deal democrat Over the weekend Harvard econ professor Jason Furman suggested that the Fed funds rate is not very restrictive: “As inflation has come down the real Federal funds rate has risen and is now the most restrictive it has been this cycle, a point that Austin Goolsbee has emphasized a number of times […]

Arguments from evidence

Kevin Drum pushes back on the WSJ claim that household debt is a problem in America, and Kevin brings the receipts: “. . . debt as a percent of disposable income . . . is currently lower than it was at the end of 2019 (9.8% vs. 10%). “. . . household debt as a […]