by Mike Kimel Corporate Profits and Corporate Taxes Based on a comment by reader Troy, the following graph from FRED, posted without comment: Figure 1

This was another disappointing  employment report  It is looking more and more like the stronger numbers last winter stemmed more from the mild weather rather than a strengthening of underlying trends. The headline or payroll report showed a gain of 115,000 jobs– 130,000 in private jobs and a 15,000 drop in government employment.    The […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Employer PPACA Options, More Analysis One of the more suspenseful issues of PPACA (aka Obamacare) is the question of employer conduct in 2014 and after.   Question is, will employers drop health insurance and punt workers into the state exchange system? Some new perspectives have been added […]

by Kenneth Thomas New York’s City Council passed a living wage ordinance On Monday, New York’s City Council passed a living wage ordinance, reports Good Jobs New York’s Bettina Damiani. The 45-5 vote means the Council can easily override a threatened veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg (New York Post, May 1, via Nexis subscription service). […]

by Mike Kimel Taxes and Economic Growth: Real World & Simulations Over the past few years, I’ve posted many times on an unpleasant reality: despite the fact that so many people believe otherwise, in general, lower taxes do not result in faster economic growth. It is really too bad, because we could all be better […]

As I wait for the roofers to fix a leak in a flat part of the roof I pass along this comment and link: Lifted from comments at Naked Capitalism, reader Mary  points us to some history: Martin Mayer C-Span link in full: The Greatest Ever Bank Robbery” 1990.   Even as Wells Fargo bank remains […]

Do you think it’s the Fed? It’s not. The market determines short term interest rates. Really. The Federal Funds Rate, which is set by the Fed, FOLLOWS 3 month T-Bill rates.  It does not lead the economy.  Here are some looks.  First the whole data set, going back to 1954, presented in Graph 1. Federal […]

At Illusion of Prosperity, Stagflationary Mark posted this scatter-graph of quarterly GDP YoY growth and CPI data from Q1, 1948 through Q4, 2011.  Each point represents the differences from the medians of each data set for each of the variables, respectively.  This gives you a picture of time spent above and below what might be […]

by Kenneth Thomas Whiny Apple Pioneered Avoidance Strategies, Books Fictional Tax Rates If you haven’t yet seen The New York Times article on Apple, go read it. I’ll wait. It’s a blockbuster.    As I wrote last month, Apple whines about the fact that it has to pay taxes. But of course, it does much more […]