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

The Hippie Dog Whistle Work Ethic Silent-Majority Counter-Offensive

The Hippie Dog Whistle Work Ethic Silent-Majority Counter-Offensive Following up on my last post, I was searching for coverage of Ronald Reagan’s infamous “strapping young buck” comment from 1976 and found this wonderful commentary by Ian Haney López on Bill Moyers’s show. In his book, Dog Whistle Politics, López mentions the “work ethic” angle several times. The […]

How To Estimate “Rational” Market Expectations Of Future Inflation

How To Estimate “Rational” Market Expectations Of Future Inflation  I am not a fan of rational expectations, hence the quotation marks around “rational” in the subject head here.  Nevertheless I have become aware thanks to some posts at Econbrowser by the intrepid Menzie Chinn that the usual way this has been measured and reported by […]

Coronavirus dashboard for April 5: the problematic cases of Chile . . . and Michigan

Coronavirus dashboard for April 5: the problematic cases of Chile . . . and Michigan As you probably already know, the news on the vaccination front continues to be good, as the US is now administering on average over 3 million doses a day – and still climbing. At this rate of improvement, every adult […]

I bookmarked a prediction about the coronavirus by supply-sider Scott Grannis one year ago …

I bookmarked a prediction about the coronavirus by supply-sider Scott Grannis one year ago …  As I mention from time to time, I read a number of economic observers with whose opinions I usually strongly disagree, partly because it is good to consider other points of view, and partly because some compile excellent and interesting […]

American plutocracy in two simple graphs; plus, when will wage growth bottom?

American plutocracy in two simple graphs; plus, when will wage growth bottom? The JOLTS report for February comes out later this morning; I may post on it later or tomorrow. In the meantime, here are updates on several graphs I used to run during the last expansion in order to examine how shared out (or […]

The “Work Ethic” Hoax

The “Work Ethic” Hoax The story has been told that Martin Luther invented the doctrine of the “calling” and that John Calvin (“my friends call me Jean”) intensified it with his doctrine of predestination. Subsequent pastoral literature softened the predestination blow with the Protestant ethic that working hard and succeeding would show that you were […]

Blockbuster March jobs report, but still a long way to go

Blockbuster March jobs report, but still a long way to go  –HEADLINES: +916,000 million jobs added. The alternate, and more volatile measure in the household report indicated a gain of 609,000 jobs, which factors into the unemployment and underemployment rates below. U3 unemployment rate declined 0.2% to 6.0%, compared with the January 2020 low of […]

Weekly Indicators for March 29 – April 2 at Seeking Alpha

 by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for March 29 – April 2 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. One fairly unique service I think I provide is not just forecasting the next few months, but into the next year as well. So in the second half of last year I […]

Construction Spending Fell 0.8% in February

Commenter RJS at MarketWatch 666 Construction Spending Fell 0.8% in February after January & December Figures Were Revised Higher The Census Bureau’s report on February construction spending (pdf) reported that “Construction spending during February 2021 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,516.9 billion, 0.8 percent (±0.7 percent) below the revised January estimate of $1,529.0 billion. The February […]

Trade Incentives and Whoppers: A Finger Exercise

Nick Rowe was looking for the role of money in the Heuristic Macro Model, which is often used to introduce students to Trade economics. The problem he discovered is that there is only a role for money if there is friction in the model, and therefore a two-household (or household-firm or firm-firm) model makes money […]