by New Deal democrat My forecast for the rest of 2019 is . . . . . . . up at Seeking Alpha! I’ll be doing my long term forecast through mid year 2020 once Q2 GDP comes out on Friday. It’ll probably get posted sometime next week. P.S. Sorry for the lack of posting […]
Frank Ackerman, 1946-2019 The world of economics suffered a sad loss a few days ago (July 15) with the death of Frank Ackerman. Frank was a mainstay of the activist left within the profession; he was one of the founders of the magazine Dollars and Sense and could always be found at activities of the […]
Mankiw Misrepresents a Story on Senator Sanders Campaign Worker Negotiations Greg Mankiw reads this story and writes: Staffers in the Sanders campaign, who are working on salary, complain that they are paid less than the $15 per hour that Senator Sanders advocates for the minimum wage. So Sanders raises their hourly wage. Does that increase their income? No, […]
(Dan here… Via Real News Network, Bill Black discusses the what-ifs of President Trump’s policies in a spectacular contrast to current expectations…providing. a jumping off point from what we expect from the way it is framed now. I assume the complex interalationships of the wealthy elites (let us see how the Epstein case unwinds for […]
Eliminate The Debt Ceiling Several days ago in WaPo, Catherine Rampell published a highly reasonable column calling for eliminating the century-old US debt ceiling, something no other nation has ever had, a position supported by a wide array of economists including such a conservative GOP stalwart as the recently deceased Martin Feldstein, a former CEA […]
Fox News Is Calling The Persian Gulf “The Arabian Gulf” Yes. For centuries throughout the entire world that crucial body of water has been called “the Persian Gulf,” even though in 1935 the nation of Persia changed its named to “Iran.” I became aware several decades ago when I was in Saudi Arabia that they […]
Trevor and I worked together on the supply of antennae for keyless go automobiles including Chrysler, Mercedes, BMW, Skoda, etc. I had met him while working in Germany as the Purchasing Manager for North America. He was representing a German/Czech company. I spent time traveling around Germany, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. Partook of Czech […]
June consumption was strong, while production was weak Tuesday morning’s retail sales and industrial production releases for June are consistent with my take that the consumer sector of the economy is doing OK, while the production sector remains in trouble. Let’s start with retail sales. Retail sales are one of my favorite indicators, because in […]
Congress has been busily working on a much-needed way to improve Middle Class savings and growth over the span of their employment to boost their retirement. Dueling bills to restructure IRAs and 401ks appear to be redundant. Better known as the “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Act” (SECURE Act) H.R.1994 and the Senate has […]
by New Deal democrat The consumer vs. the producer economy Prof. Edward Leamer wrote over a decade ago that, in a consumer led recession, first housing turns, then vehicle sales, then other consumer goods. What do home and vehicle sales tell us now about the economy, vs. corporate profits? This post is up at Seeking Alpha. […]