Econ70
The Friday file: Legislators in CA are paid best at $90,000/year, with PA second at about $83,000/year. NY is third at $79,000, followed by MI and IL at about $70,000/year. By contrast, NM pays legislators nothing, NH pays them $100/year,…
Read MoreYear-over-year inflation in Japan is now 0.9%. While not much, after decades of deflation, it’s good news. That said, most of the inflation is the result of higher energy and electricity prices, not wages. And higher energy costs are the…
Read MoreAfter reducing Q4 GDP by 0.5% or $20 billion and achieving no meaningful policy changes by forcing a government shutdown, Congress now promises to reward us with potentially more of the same in early Q1 2014! While this will hurt…
Read MoreIn an odd choice, the Royal Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize in economics to Eugene Fama, whose life’s work shows that markets are rational in the short run, to Robert Shiller, who says that markets are often irrational over…
Read MoreIf the US defaults, short-term Treasuries, the most traded and liquid securities in the world and which often act as collateral for loans to banks and central banks, would lose their cash equivalence. This would immediately boost interest rates demanded…
Read MoreThe Friday File: The economy is improving! Beer volume rose 1.2% in 2012, to 2.8 billion cases – that’s 210 beers/person, pushing revenues up 3.5% to $62.3 billion. This largely makes up for the 1.3% decline in beer volume in…
Read MoreAmong the demands the Republicans have put forward to end the government shutdown is repeal of the 2.5% medical device tax which took effect 1/1/13. It is a spectacular tax because no one will change their behavior because of it.…
Read MoreGiven the government closure and resulting lack of economic data, the fact that Q3 GDP growth will be below 2% and that inflation remains very tame, virtually guarantees that tapering will not commence following the conclusion of the late October…
Read MoreFull-time working women earned 76.5 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2012, virtually unchanged from 2011. Interestingly, pay gaps are narrowing for all but the youngest. Women 25 to 44 earned 80 cents, up from 74 cents in…
Read MoreThe government shutdown, if short, will mildly depress Q4 GDP growth. The same can’t be said for failing to raise the debt ceiling. The government currently runs a $640 billion deficit/year, 4% of GDP, while GDP growth is 2%. If…
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