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

The trend in US corporate profits is what you think it is

by Rebecca Wilder The trend in US corporate profits is what you think it is In my research for an article about the cross section of national income, I ran across this piece in Forbes by Tim Worstall. In this article, he uses proprietary Bloomberg and WSJ data for 2012 corporate offshore cash holdings to assess […]

Not Spending is Not Investment

I see this logical error so constantly, almost every day, that I feel the need to reiterate. Personal saving, virtuous and useful as it is for individuals, does not increase investment. This is what I call the “lump of money” fallacy (a.k.a. the loanable funds model). Ask yourself: If you transfer $10K from your bank […]

What is the story of wages and growth?

Lifted from comments: Run 75411 reacts to Daniel Alpert at Economonitor. : It appears much of the job growth has been in low wage opportunity which forces people to do with less and detracts from demand led economic growth. The economic bump in taking a lower wage paying job is just not that great; average Unemployment […]

Offshoring profits with captive reinsurance

by Linda Beale Offshoring profits with captive reinsurance One of the ways that corporations manage to cut their federal income tax bills way, way below the statutory rate is by setting up reinsurance affiliates offshore.  While some of these reinsurance affiliates may actually function as full-service reinsurance companies to many different customers, those truly taking […]

Examining the Entrails of the U.S. Employment Situation –

Daniel Alpert at Nouriel Roubini’s Economonitors offers a through, data supported (but in real English as well), description of what is happening in our economy, and why some things that might look puzzling  are not so hard to see with some careful reading: I have a story to tell you about the U.S. employment picture. A […]

Round and around the revolving door does spin…

Lifted from comments from open thread July 23 by reader Jack Round and around the revolving door does spin. Those who take the ride are guaranteed to win, in the game of securities enforcement law. In yet another move between public and private practice John Khuzami moves from the SEC to “….a job that pays […]