Even if inflation (CPI less food and energy) stays steady between 1% and 2%, there really is no problem. Prices are still rising. Paul Krugman would like to see inflation rise because that would lower real interest rates. But that is not going to happen, and he shouldn’t be expecting that it will. Is there […]
In a previous post, I wrote about a natural rate of inflation. Does it really exist? What would it look like? We could understand a natural rate of inflation as the inflation rate at which the economy can most efficiently progress in terms of social benefits and costs. Some benefits are more employment, greater growth […]
Using data from Census Bureau Historical Income Table H-08 and CPI data from FRED (index 1982 to 84 = 100), I was able to calculate real median household income (RMHI) from 1984 to 2011. Graph 1 shows the results – annual data. Graph 1 RMHI – First View – 1982-4 $ Except for […]
Affordable Care act versus Obamacare Act I will give you, there is nothing within this bill that is easy to understand. Along with Maggie Mahar and others, I took the time to read the act and attempt to understand it which even today causes me fits. As shown in this clip, many people can distinguish […]
Sorry for the late posting….but no access till now.
Just about everyone who knows me well knows that I’m a WWII buff and have a very soft spot for veterans of that war. So this really touched me. I thought some other Bears and readers, who don’t read the Washington Post regularly and would otherwise miss seeing this, might enjoy this little reason to […]
Does targeting low inflation lead to higher unemployment? In other words, is it possible that a higher natural rate of unemployment is necessary to maintain a lower rate of inflation? Output and prices move together to maintain economic momentum. Normally output increases in response to demands in the market, which keeps prices stable. Yet, at […]
Well today is a busy day. www.healtcare.gov is open for business, the discretionarily funded US Federal Government isn’t. There is a political crisis in Italy (no that doesn’t happen every day anymore) and there are crises both in the Republian party and in the PDL (Silvio Belusconi’s party which he considers his as his shoes […]
Obama Care for Fox News and Friends Not that they have any interest in reality at the moment. The Republicans have worked themselves into a frenzy that resembles the adolescent girls who accused the Salem townspeople of witchcraft at this point. This is how they look: Maybe it is time to take away the beer? […]
Whereas David Romer will say that the low inflation rate is a result of the zero lower bound. I would say that BOTH the low inflation rate and the zero lower bound result from the weak consumer liqudity due to very low labor share. In the previous post, I wrote about how inflation is a […]