A recent piece in the Wall Street Journal . . . Erica York “Do Tariffs Cause Inflation? New Studies Offer Surprising Answer?” The article highlights two economic papers that have found tariffs usually have not led to higher inflation (or only slight pickups), likely because tariffs tend to hurt the economy and reduce demand. If you read my November newsletter, you would not be surprised by those […]

A view of the Greenland controversy as seen through the eyes of another country, reported by the Bangkok Post, Thailand. As I read this news article, the Bangkok Post is in a presentation mode and not taking a position. Such could be the result of Thailand’s relationship with the United States. A viewpoint from outside […]

This is kind of stupid. It appears the National Park system is going to charge noncitizen tourists or customers a much higher fee to enter US National Parks. Now why would this be so ignorant? When you think about it, many of these parks are in areas which require some degree of travel. This means […]

According to press reports, the Trump Administration is considering military attacks on Iran. This act of war, like all wars, is likely to have unintended consequences. The myth is that such foreign attacks free domestic opposition to topple the regime (see, e.g., the Bay of Pigs). More often, they only serve to rally citizen support […]

 – by New Deal democrat [Note: Housing permits, starts, and units under construction were also updated this morning for September and October. I will post my remarks on this report on Monday; but in summary I can say it remained recessionary, with some possible “green shoots” that may indicate a bottom.] This morning’s jobs report for […]

– by New Deal democrat Yesterday’s JOLTS report for November was not stale inasmuch as it was at best delayed by a week or two. But nevertheless, since it was for November it remains somewhat old news that can only help to confirm other data we have already received.  Last month I concluded that the […]

 – by New Deal democrat Let’s take our weekly look at jobless claims, which are the best up-to-the-moment measure of the labor market. Initial claims rose 8,000 to 208,000, while the four week moving average declined -7,250 to 211,750. With the typical one week delay, continuing claims rose 56,000 to 1.914 million: Number of Initial […]

I am hoping the author will grant us an allowance to follow-up on some of the commentaries as this is an important topic. Most Americans are not aware of the impact they have on the areas around them. I see this as one way of making them aware of their impact. A review of species […]

 – by New Deal democrat As I indicated yesterday and earlier today, we got some stale data on factory orders this morning, as well as a JOLTS report for November. I’ll take a look at those tomorrow. In the meantime, the big news of the morning has to be the very good ISM services report for […]

 – by New Deal democrat I will write about the biggest economic release of the day, the ISM services report for December, later. In the meantime, here are two other important data releases for December, one from a private source (ADP), and the other from the BEA’s GDP updates. As an initial matter, I don’t […]