Category Archives: Macro Economics

Why the Record 2018 Trade Deficit?

Financial FAQs BEA.gov The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $59.8 billion in December, up $9.5 billion from $50.3 billion in November, revised. This was not good … Continue reading

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Best Wage and Benefit Rise in 11 Years

Financial FAQs MarketWatch.com Workers’ wages and benefits are finally rising at a decent clip from being fully employed, said the Labor Department. Total compensation, including health and pension benefits, rose in 2018 2.9 percent, up from 2.8 percent in 2017. … Continue reading

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It’s the Consumer, Stupid

Answering the Kennedys Call—Part II New York Times’ economic writer Neil Irwin in a recent Op-ed is not seeing a very robust future for global economic growth. “…what the last few months have made clear is that the forces that … 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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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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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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Why the Fed’s Obsession With Inflation?

Popular Economics Weekly tradingeconomics.com/FRED The Federal Reserve’s December FOMC statement, said, after increasing their overnight rate another one-quarter percent: “Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee judges that some further … Continue reading

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Q3 Economic Growth Still Strong

Financial FAQs Econoday.com Q3 real GDP growth was up 3.5 percent, according to the U.S. government Bureau of Economic Analysis. “With this second estimate for the third quarter, the general picture of economic growth remains the same; upward revisions to … Continue reading

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Beware the Shrinking US Dollar!

Popular Economics Weekly Econoday.com Barron’s Magazine reported that the Fed is shrinking credit too quickly, and it will slow not only U.S. economic growth, but growth in the rest of the world as well. Why? Because the U.S. Dollar is … Continue reading

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Record Income Inequality = U.S. Credit Downgrade?

Financial FAQs Graph: MarketWatch The current debate whether the U.S. will escape the ‘new normal’ of slower economic growth since the Great Recession (when homeowners lost a collective $9 trillion in value) is taking a new turn with Moody’s Investor … Continue reading

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