Category Archives: Politics

U.S. Already in Recession?

Financial FAQs The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the US ticked down by 0.1% in May 2025 to 99.0 (2016=100), after declining by 1.4% in April (revised downward from –1.0% originally reported). The LEI has fallen by 2.7% in … Continue reading

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Tariffs Trump Consumer Spending

Financial FAQs “Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for May 2025, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $715.4 billion, down 0.9 percent (±0.5 percent) from the previous month, … Continue reading

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California Can’t Be Bullied

Popular Economics Weekly Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that California has officially overtaken Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, according to newly released data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). April, 2025 LATimes The Trump … Continue reading

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Republicans Have Never Paid Their Bills

Financial FAQs “The new law will reduce federal revenues by significant amounts, even after allowing for the impact on economic growth. It will make the distribution of after-tax income more unequal. If it is not financed with concurrent spending cuts … Continue reading

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Immigrants Make a Difference

Popular Economics Weekly “Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 139,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in health care, leisure and hospitality, … Continue reading

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What Happened to American Exceptionalism?

Barron’s 6-9-25 American exceptionalism may not be dead yet, but our democratic principles and Constitution are under assault (“U.S. Market Dominance Is On Pause. It Will Roar Back,” Other Voices, May 29). There’s plenty of research on the decline of … Continue reading

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More Signs of Slower Growth

Financial FAQs “The manufacturing economy continues to struggle,” Susan Spence of ISM said. “It will continue to struggle” due to all the trade uncertainty. “The administration’s tariffs alone have created supply chain disruptions rivaling that of Covid-19,” executive at an … Continue reading

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Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill?

Answering Kennedy’s Call “The House has now passed what must surely be the worst piece of legislation in modern U.S. history. Millions of Americans are about to see crucial government support snatched away. A significant number will die prematurely due … Continue reading

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What’s the Fed Saying?

The Mortgage Corner “In considering the outlook for monetary policy, participants agreed that with economic growth and the labor market still solid and current monetary policy moderately restrictive, the committee was well positioned to wait for more clarity on the … Continue reading

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Consumers Not So Confident

Financial FAQs “Consumer confidence improved in May after five consecutive months of decline,” said Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board. “The rebound was already visible before the May 12 US-China trade deal but gained momentum afterwards.” Conference … Continue reading

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