“Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.” That’s the message coming to Trump from pollsters (the Real Clear Politics average) and the more literary members of the team ensconced with Joe Biden in his basement redoubt. Biden leads in the national polls (+7.1) and in key states that swung to Trump […]
Is a puzzlement, moaned Yul Brenner’s King of Siam when trying to understand his small country’s geopolitical position. That also describes the performance of share prices compared with what is going on in what we like to call “the real economy.” Herewith a try at an explanation. Start with share prices. Last week the S&P […]
We are in the midst of a daggers-drawn battle over how the slices of that great pie that is the US economy should be distributed. That battle, of which the current dispute over the nature of a new relief package is merely a skirmish, is not receiving the attention it deserves. It may well determine […]
The underlying strength of the American economy is starting to assert itself in its battle with Covid-19. Employment rose by 1.8 million in July, and the unemployment rate dropped from 11.1% to 10.2%, reflecting “the continued resumption of economic activity” according the Labor Department. Equally cheering, the Institute for Supply Management reports that its index […]
Irwin Stelzer interviewed by Bobby Kerr on “Down to Business”, NewsTalk Radio, Dublin, July 30, 2020 Irwin Stelzer joined Bobby to discuss the economic and political situation in the United States as the covid-19 pandemic continues & the US 2020 presidential campaign rumbles on. Click to open Link
One of the less recognized effects of Covid-19 is the virus’s ability to so dominate the news cycle as to preclude attention to almost anything else. That is unfortunate since there are three clouds on the horizon, and each is a lot bigger than a man’s hand. The first is an explosion in the inflation […]
There are two titanic battles underway in America. The first is between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Trump is incessantly before the public in person or as tweeter-in chief, often to his disadvantage. Biden, his phantom opponent, is ensconced in his basement, communicating through ghost tweeters and releasing occasional set-piece videos. In 1946, heavyweight champion […]
Only the hard-hearted can quarrel with the idea that the government should do all possible to ease the plight of the innocents laid low by Covid-19. Rather than debating details of policy, get the cash out there, print the money, save the drowning, live with the glitches. Especially, the cynical might add, with an election […]
LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS The former Treasury Secretary speaks with Irwin Stelzer and Jeffrey Gedmin on China, “decoupling,” reforming capitalism, and the shape of a post-pandemic fiscal policy. Published on: May 22, 2020 Irwin Stelzer and TAI Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Gedmin recently spoke with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers in a wide-ranging conversation. They discussed […]
Certain: “settled, to be depended on” according to my OED. Certainty is a blessing reserved for the doctors predicting that doom awaits if several governors go through with plans to re-open their states’ economies. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government immunologist and telegenic spokesman for his colleagues, was so certain of their dire prediction that their […]