Menzie Chinn over at Econbrowser posted on low inflation today. His argument is that there is still lots of slack from real GDP being way below potential real GDP and from high unemployment. The idea is that abundant slack depresses prices. Inflation is generated as slack capacity is utilized. It’s the normal result of labor market […]

   Although the July employment report was weaker than expected, it was still in line with recent experiences. The household survey reported employment gains of 204,000 while the payroll report showed a gain of 162,000 jobs. Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 2 cents to $23.98, following a […]

by Linda Beale David Sirota Agrees with me on the Tax Reform “Secrecy” Scandal As I mentioned in an earlier post, Max Baucus has established a secret submission process for Senators to let him know what pet tax loopholes they want to retain (probably the ones that high-paid lobbyists representing corporations with operations in their […]

If you listen to CNBC or read right wing blogs you would think that the Obamacare regulations that require  large employers — over 50 full time equivalent employees –to provide their employees insurance or pay a penalty is leading to a massive shifting of employees from full time to part time.  CNBC is constantly interviewing […]

by Linda Beale Senators promised 50 years of secrecy on their tax reform proposals There continues to be more blather about the need for “tax reform, and buddies GOP Dave Camp and skin-deep Dem Max Baucus seem to be intent on accomplishing something “big”.  And that’s what’s worrying me. The Republicans have been arguing that […]

Lifted from comments: Run 75411 reacts to Daniel Alpert at Economonitor. : It appears much of the job growth has been in low wage opportunity which forces people to do with less and detracts from demand led economic growth. The economic bump in taking a lower wage paying job is just not that great; average Unemployment […]

A few people have asked me to provide a quick introduction to Edward Lambert’s recent work on Effective Demand, which work I’ve mentioned a few times. That’s ironic, because I made those mentions  in hopes that more-accomplished others would do the same for me. That help hasn’t been forthcoming, because quite a bit of work […]

by Linda Beale Offshoring profits with captive reinsurance One of the ways that corporations manage to cut their federal income tax bills way, way below the statutory rate is by setting up reinsurance affiliates offshore.  While some of these reinsurance affiliates may actually function as full-service reinsurance companies to many different customers, those truly taking […]

by Rebecca Wilder Best to own a business rather than work for one In my effort to move away from covering Europe exclusively on this blog, I’ve returned to a little niche of economic data that had intrigued me in the past: US national income accounts/accounting. This time I’ll look at national income, specifically corporate profits […]

CNBC has a video on youtube about the concern over machines replacing people. They actually touch upon many relevant aspects of the issue… high unemployment, increasing corporate profits, productivity of machines, rising real GDP, stagnating median household incomes, low minimum wages and even social instability. Replacing people with machines, like paying lower real wages, is […]