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

How Invisible Capital Gains Drive Extreme U.S. Wealth Concentration

“How Invisible Capital Gains Drive Extreme U.S. Wealth Concentration: Evidence from Balance-Sheet-Complete Haig-Simons Accounting” Steve Roth @ Wealth Economics A dominant economic fact of the past half century is the extreme and increasing concentration of U.S. wealth into the hands of ever-fewer people, families, and dynasties, and the corporations (including banks, insurers, major media companies, […]

The economically weighted ISM indexes for June show continued growth, equipoise in employment, and still strong inflation at the producer level

 – by New Deal democrat The economically weighted ISM manufacturing + services indexes have become one of my favorite datapoints. In particular, in the past year they have been an excellent dashboard for the state of the US economy as a whole, both as a coincident and short leading indicator. Last summer they accurately suggested that […]

Podcast or Read? “Abraham Lincoln and the Role of Government in the Economy”

I read Michael Klein’s (executive editor of EconoFact) conversation with Roger Lowenstein on the role of government in the economy. It is not terribly long. Maybe 10-15 minutes in listening and a bit longer in reading for me. I like to read as I dwell on what I read. Then I will go back and […]

The Stench of Corruption and Dictator-worship is Over-powering.

As you read Paul Krugman’s commentary on the Slaughter decision by SCOTUS, it is not that hard to understand why he is concerned about the results of the SCOTUS decision. I typically might say (in a normal situation) we could expect a president given this power would decide in a manner benefiting citizens. Not this […]

New Deal democrat’s Weekly Indicators: Simply Stellar Consumer Spending June 29 – July 4

Weekly Indicators: Still Strong Spending, Tepid Tax Payments Two cross-currents I mentioned in my long piece Friday were very much in evidence in the high frequency data this week: huge gains in aggregate YoY consumer spending, and very weak withholding tax collections. My take on this is that the top end of the income distribution […]

GOP and Trump Policies Increase ACA Insurance Costs

This is a long commentary. However, it is very detailed. Charles Gaba explains the impact of Republicans allowing the enhanced federal tax credits to expire as well as other Trump Regime policy changes. Quite a few middle and low citizens dropped healthcare policies or took lower costs due to affordability. “How much more are ACA enrollees *really* […]

After the Attempted Albertson’s Merger

Kroger is looking to acquire Giant Eagle at ~1.7 billion. So far the FTC has not made a peep. The franchise can be found in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. “Kroger is again Looking to Acquire Other Supermarket Chains” Is a Merger and Acquisition (M&A) Strategy good for Kroger? Probably as it […]

Academic Ideas to Working Policies Differences in the Public Sector

I do read Dan Zetland’s site the One-Handed Economist from time to time. He does post interesting commentaries which Angry Bear reposts. This happens to be one of the ones I find to be interesting. Soft money versus hard money? What are the differences between either and especially when it comes to physical labor? From […]

June employment report: weakly positive headlines, and important negatives in hours and payrolls

 – by New Deal democrat My Big Theme for the past few months has been that the AI Boom (or possibly bubble) is counterbalancing a stagnant or even shallowly recessionary rest of the economy. After three good reports in a row, the June employment report was very weak, and in some respects even negative. Below […]