Kevin Drum watches the stock price of Exxon decline even though they reported $8 billion in quarterly profits. CNN’s American Morning was on the story explaining the decline in the stock price by noting that analysts had expected $9.2 billion (not trillion). At one point – Andy Serwer hinted that the difference between reported earnings […]
Jonah Goldberg poses an Upward Mystery after reading one of his emails: Gas prices go up, driving stays the same. Interest rates go up, the economy keeps on chugging along … If things are so bad, how come they’re so good? This post came after he linked to an interesting article from Nick Schulz: But […]
NewHounds watch Fox so we don’t have to: Hannity’s face was in the bullyboy squint and he jabbed his finger as he spoke to “Democratic strategist” Bob Beckel. “I want YOU to know, Bob Beckel, I give blame for high gas prices. 30 years of the Democrats beholden to the extreme environmental movement, we haven’t […]
AB reader ilsm points us to a set of White House graphs on employment, GDP growth, and the budget. More on this after thanking Brad DeLong for commenting on a comment from Greg Mankiw on our fiscal future. Greg reminds us that we have to choose between reducing entitlement growth versus imposing taxes even higher […]
Mark Thoma finds this gem from the Columbia Business School Follies about Ben Bernanke … enjoy! Check this out: “Every Breath You Take,” by Dean Glenn Hubbard. It’s worth it (music video about Bernanke to the tune of “Every Breath You Take” – wmv file). Update: iTunes link (mp4).
KLo suggests that Senator Kennedy is a socialist for telling Russert: And he ought to activate and call the Federal Trade Commission-which is basically a sleepy organization that has given an interim report in terms of price-fixing and gouging-he ought to get them off and have them working seven days a week, 24/7, to make […]
We had a couple of data releases this week telling us something about inflation. Today’s release was the CPI data for March, which comes on the heels of yesterday’s PPI data release. Today’s news release showed surprisingly high inflation in non-energy consumer items. For some, this has raised alarm bells: WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. core […]
The spot price for Cushing, OK WTI just hit $70 per barrel. Edit: Spot prices were briefly above $70 last year due to Hurricane Katrina. Click on graph for larger image. Dr. Nouriel Roubini suggests that $70 oil may have a significant impact on the US economy: ” … if oil prices were to drift […]
Thomas Nugent coins a new term – Graham-Schumer-push inflation only after he tells us that the labor market is wonderful: Heretofore, the gloom-and-doom crowd fixated on the slow creation of jobs during this economic cycle and on the idea that outsourcing and illegal immigration were combining to steal American jobs. But at the current unemployment […]
On March 31, David Altig discussed this paper by Stephanie Aaronson, Bruce Fallick, Andrew Figura, Jonathan Pingle and William Wascher: On balance, the results suggest that most of the decline in the participation rate during and immediately following the 2001 recession was a response to business cycle developments. However, the continued decline in participation in […]