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

The Historical Relationship Between the Economy and the S&P 500, Part 3: The S&P 500 and the Employment to Population Ratio

by Mike Kimel The Historical Relationship Between the Economy and the S&P 500, Part 3: The S&P 500 and the Employment to Population Ratio A few weeks ago, I had two posts looking at the relationship between the S&P 500 and real GDP (Part 1 and Part 2). The first post noted that using data […]

It’s not about regulating markets, after all! It’s about regulating the individual!

by Beverly Mann Ah! It’s not about regulating markets, after all! It’s about regulating the individual! ATLANTA — In perhaps the weightiest of the dozens of challenges to the Obama health care law, a panel of appellate judges grappled Wednesday with the essential quandary of the case: if the federal government can require Americans to […]

Time to Change Those Tags? or Economists Catching Up, Round Two

Brad DeLong, not generally a Leading Indicator in such matters, follows Mark Thoma yesterday in looking into the abyss and seeing the outline of a train around the “light”: Henceforth, I will call the current unpleasantness not “The Great Recession,” but rather “The Little Depression.” This still strikes me as optimism, but I’m stil on […]

Who cares about the unemployed…

…it seems that way, at least, when I listen to much of the rhetoric coming out of Washington. But it’s not just Washington, it’s Wall Street, too. In my line of work, finance, market participants grapple with the monthly economic data flow, eyeing each release as if it’s telling a new story about the current […]

Tech Bleg

Trying to upgrade an iMac from 10.4.11 to something in the 10.6.x range, but can’t seem to find any way to transition to 10.5.x (which is, apparently, required before 10.6.4 can be installed). Apple presents files, but no instructions. Anyone done this? Or should I just keep treating 10.4.11 as something like Windows Vista–an OS […]

Markets and the ACA: Why the Supreme Court Will Uphold the ACA

by Beverly Mann The link to the ACA litigation blog article I discuss is here . ‘Markets’ and the ACA: Why the Supreme Court Will Uphold the ACA In my post last week about the activity/inactivity canard on which the challengers to the constitutionality of the ACA claim, I wrote: In his [blog] post, [high-profile […]

Monetary Policy. I’m not only not feeling it, I’m dehydrating because of it.

by Daniel Becker Continuing my prior post suggesting that what ever monetary policy has done, it has not reached that vast majority nor has it addressed what is the main issue, I viewed this chart by Mike Kimel and thought: Perfect!Then comes Ken Houghton linking to this article with it’s chart. What do they have […]

Telling the Right Story, or Economists Catching Up Round One

Anyone who was in the MBS market and not working for a primary originator can tell you that the MBS securitization market ended around Halloween 2006. (Those of us who were at places with origination go a few more months, but had no flow by February.) Only economists were fooled by what I’ve been calling […]