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

The Fed’s attempt to assuage inflation fears that don’t need assuaging

by Rebecca There is no shortage of speeches by US central bankers these days. The following is an excerpt from a NY Times article that highlights the debate among key Fed officials about the speed and method of stimulus withdrawal once the decision to exit has been made: Mr. Bernanke and other officials want to […]

Green Shoots Data Defined

As a rule, the Shiller Index uses the CPI as reported for All Urban Consumers (CPIAUCNS on Fred(r)). But the Index is only updated Quarterly, so monthly data is estimated. Which produces a very interesting difference over August, not to mention September expectations: The annualised inflation rate between June and August is 0.39%, which just […]

G-20 to talk about ‘exit strategies’…

Rebecca Wilder With the developed and developing economies printing money like it’s going out of style, the exit strategy – i.e., taking back the hundred percent increase in the monetary base (at least in the US) – is rumored to be the topic du jour at the G-20 summit later this month. According to Reuters, […]

This May Make Robert Shiller and SocSec recipients happy…

but it doesn’t do that much for the rest of us. Via The Ambrosini Critique, Scott Sumner discovers there was no housing crash: The BLS claims that housing prices are up 2.1% in the last 12 months….According to the BLS, housing makes up nearly 40% of the core basket of goods and services. Further reading […]

Inflation and interest groups in the Carter Years

Robert Waldmann Matthew Yglesias is very smart, but he is not omniscient. In particular he doesn’t remember things that happened before he was born and it appears that he has fallen for some Republican propaganda. He writes In the late 1970s, it just so happened to be the case that the structure of Great Society […]

TV serials as an indicator of inflation

by: Divorced one like Bush Just a little point of order regarding how bad this economy is. Lost in Space 120 episodes, 33.2 per seasonBatman (on twice weekly) 120 episodes, 53.33 per seasonThe Virginian, 249 episodes, 27.67 per seasonThe Beverly Hillbillies, 274 episodes, 30 per seasonGilligan’s Island, 98 episodes, 32.67 per season New season started […]

Two Things Someone Else Needs to Discuss

Since I’m trying to cut a 24-page paper down closer to 15 today, I’ll leave the Heavy Lifting to other. But two things probably should be discussed (or at least noted) here: Brad DeLong appears (to me) to confuse perceiving a move from Democratic Republic to Empire—and therefore away from any Competitive Advantage for the […]

A Quick One: Inflationary Credit Recession Strategies

Tom’s doing some heavy lifting, PGL is in form, Bruce has started SocSec 101, and the entire economics blogsphere is having so many conniptions over Hillary that you’d think the CEA was actually the Shadow Government. So I just want start easy, and take a look at three easy-to-compare data points:First, the Federal Funds target […]