Category Archives: Economy

What is a Living Wage?

Answering the Kennedys Call The Washington Post published a recent interview with new Democratic House Member Alexandria Octavia-Cortez in which she said, “I think it’s wrong that a vast majority of the country doesn’t make a living wage, I think … Continue reading

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What Happened to Consumers’ Confidence?

Financial FAQs http://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/ Consumer sentiment declined in early January to its lowest level since Trump was elected, reported the December U. of Michigan sentiment survey. It’s down for a number of reasons—too many reasons, and economists are consequently beginning to … Continue reading

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What’s Behind Brexit and the Politics of Fiscal Austerity?

Popular Economics Weekly https://www.washingtonpost.com The case can now be made that Briton’s vote to leave the EU was because of wrong-headed fiscal policies in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The housing bubble affected Europeans almost as much as Americans … Continue reading

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A Week of Conflicting Growth Signals

Popular Economics Weekly Econoday How do we reconcile the fact that industrial production in 2018 was very good, probably due to producers stocking up before more new tariffs are announced, and consumer sentiment has plunged to a 2-year low because … Continue reading

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Is There Too Little Inflation?

Financial FAQs The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) declined 0.1 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis after being unchanged in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Over the last 12 months, the … Continue reading

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America’s Immigration Problem

Popular Economics Weekly CalculatedRiskBlog The Calculated Risk graph says it best in the Labor Department’s latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). There are still about one million more job openings (yellow line) than hires (blue line). There have … Continue reading

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A Gangbusters December Employment Report

Popular Economics Weekly MarketWatch.com Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 312,000 in December, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, food services and drinking places, … Continue reading

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In Search of a Moral Economy

Financial FAQs vox.com Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders defined a moral economy in a recent Duke University dialogue with the Reverend William Barber II: ““A moral economy is one that says, ‘In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, … Continue reading

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Will 2019 Be Year U.S. Begins to Reunite?

Popular Economics Weekly vox.com Wonder of wonders, is New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks becoming a neo-Keynesian, New Deal economist? This is the term coined for those younger economists, such as Nobel economists Paul Krugman, Joe Stiglitz and George … Continue reading

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Why Isn’t Inflation a Problem?

Popular Economics Weekly us.econoday.com It looks like inflation will no longer be a problem holding back consumer spending for the forseeable future; or in any other economy in the developed world as well. It’s not a problem because economies today … Continue reading

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