Climate change recently was pushed to the back burner by a host of more immediate concerns – gas prices, inflation, recession, crime, illegal immigration – and by a realization that the geopolitical and economic settlement following WW II is in tatters. But climate policy is once again a hot topic in the United States, and […]
The pedants have gone to war. The Federal Reserve Board announced Friday that inflation as it measures it is rising at an annual rate of 6.8 percent, a 40-year high and more than three times the Fed’s 2 percent target. Ordinary folk stocking up on food say the rate they face is closer to 10 […]
Just when we thought May’s year-over-year 8.6 percent jump in inflation was as bad as it could get, the June Consumer Price Index clocked in at an eye-watering 9.1 percent. Gasoline (+59.9 percent), air fares (+34.1), household energy (+21.9), furniture (+13.1) and groceries (+12.2) led the parade. And while the ink was still wet on […]
There is no doubt that the economy is slowing. But whether that is bad news or good depends on how you view a driver’s decision to slow down from 90 miles per hour to something within the speed limit. Slowing From Warp Speed Retail sales are down. The Markit PMI shows “The pace of US […]
The unemployment rate is a mere 3.6 percent. There are 11.4 million job openings, almost two for every person looking for work. We have added over one million jobs in the past 90 days. Jobs are so readily available that 20-25 percent of candidates don’t show up for interviews, even if offered cash to appear. […]
Last week the President summoned Fed chair Jay Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to the White House for a photo-op. Biden reaffirmed Powell’s independence and blamed inflation on Putin, never mind that the annual inflation rate hit 7 percent before the Russians invaded Ukraine. Yellen blamed her mistake in thinking inflation “transitory” on unforeseeable […]
On Friday, May 20, share prices dipped into what is called bear territory, 20 percent below the previous peak. This was a very short, intraday dip, that missed the 20 percent by a bit, but it rattled investors. Wall Street zoologists say a bear market is driven by investors who expect share prices to fall, […]
Inflation is eating into the living standard of the middle class and poorer groups, the collapse of share prices is making the rich and the very rich watch billions disappear from their balance sheets. No surprise that 75 per cent of American adults tell NBC pollsters that the country is headed in the wrong direction, […]
“Inflation rate drops”, or “Inflation rate remains elevated,” choose your headline to describe a change in America’s inflation rate from 8.5 percent in March to 8.3 percent in April. This change in the number following the decimal point after an 8 is of no policy consequence. It can’t change the important fact that seven-in-ten Americans […]
Party On What a swell party this is… never seen such gaiety,” warble the dynamic duo of Crosby and Sinatra in Cole Porter’s “High Society”. Wake up on Monday morning, overpay for a new house, have a capital gain by the weekend. Buy a new car at a premium price, and next week sell it […]