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

New article on tax increment financing in Missouri shows impact of KS/MO border war

New article on tax increment financing in Missouri shows impact of KS/MO border war After several years of work, my colleague Susan G. Mason (Boise State University) and I have published a new article on TIF in Missouri, specifically in the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas. “Exploring Patterns of Tax Increment Financing Use […]

Brad DeLong hops aboard the “Employers have a Taboo against raising Wages” bandwagon

Brad DeLong hops aboard the “Employers have a Taboo against raising Wages” bandwagon For Labor Day Prof. Brad DeLong posted a talk on the implications (or not) of the US being near “full employment.” The arguments on a few of the pages will be familiar to readers of this blog:

Has Trump Gone Over The Edge On Negotiating With Canada?

Has Trump Gone Over The Edge On Negotiating With Canada? He may well have.  Facing the  deadline for submitting his deal with Mexico to Congress on Friday, he did so.  However, he did so without Canada signed on, the apparently intense negotiations in Washington between Canadian Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland and US Trade Representative, Robert […]

Comments on personal consumption expenditures: the September anomaly and the Fed’s 2% inflation ceiliing

Comments on personal consumption expenditures: the September anomaly and the Fed’s 2% inflation ceiliing Let me make a few comments on yesterday’s (Aug. 30) report on personal income and spending. Well, actually, just the spending part for now. First, there is a long-time relationship going back 60 years in the data whereby the YoY% growth […]

Corporate profits after taxes set a new record. But the Fed is worried about wages

Corporate profits after taxes set a new record. But the Fed is worried about wages Yesterday  (Aug. 29) in the Q2 GDP update corporate profits were reported for the first time. Since corporate profits are one of four long leading indicators identified by Prof. Geoffrey Moore, I have updated my look at them at Seeking Alpha. […]

House prices continue to rise, exacerbating unaffordability

House prices continue to rise, exacerbating unaffordability Now that we have both the Case Shiller and FHFA house price reports for June, let’s take a look at how they fit in to the overall market, and in particular on housing affordability. To begin with, let me repeat the general formula for the housing market: interest […]

Marrying NAFTA and The TPP: The US-Mexico “Trade Agreement”

Marrying NAFTA and The TPP: The US-Mexico “Trade Agreement” I really am not sure where to begin with this latest farce, Trump’s announcement yesterday of a supposed US-Mexico Free Trade Agreement.  Of course there was the farce of him trying to make the announcement with a live phone call between him and outgoing Mexican President […]

Even if the yield curve tightens no further, there will be consequences next year

  by New Deal democrat Even if the yield curve tightens no further, there will be consequences next year Both my posts from yesterday morning and today dealt with two aspects of the implications of the Fed raising rates. The unifying idea beneath both of them is that the Fed’s raising rates is already having […]