The Friday File: For almost 20 years, the average in Brown University’s Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory in-class midterm was 65-80. This year it was take-home; the average was 96. Suspecting AI cheating, the same professor who taught the…
June M-o-M retail sales rose solidly at 0.2% with May revised upwards, weekly first-time unemployment claims remain very low at 208,000, the July Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index soared to 41.4, and the Empire State Manufacturing Index jumped to 15.6. Add…
While AI spending is boosting wages and driving massive investment in plant and equipment, it may, paradoxically, be reducing GDP growth. This is because AI spending is probably occurring much more quickly that it should be, like the Housing Boom.…
June existing home sales slipped to a disappointing 4.09 million annual rate. The combination of high rates and prices finds housing affordability consistently 30% below the average of the last several decades. The income needed to qualify for a starter…
The Ukrainian military has not only industrialized and transformed drone warfare on the battlefield, thereby undermining some assumptions behind traditional strategy, it’s also altered the notion of strategic depth. If Ukraine’s military can inflict damage deep inside Russia, the world’s…
The Friday File: With the World Cup nearing its zenith, make sure to watch a game and have a cold one. That said, in Tennessee state beer taxes are higher than anywhere else at a staggering $1.29/gallon, followed by Alaska…
Rising longevity puts pressure on Social Security and Medicare, but unequally. Life expectancy for the average 66-year-old increased 2.4 years between 1992-1994 and 2016-2018. Moreover, time spent with severe health limitations fell 30%. Applying 2017 mortality/morbidity patterns to a hypothetical…
Wage growth is running at 3.5% Y-o-Y and home prices at 1% Y-o-Y, but inflation is 4.2%. Moreover, construction spending is down 1.5% Y-o-Y (more after inflation) and payroll growth is barely positive at 0.3% Y-o-Y, the Household Survey is…
While the US is, by far, the world’s largest oil producer, with domestic daily production approaching 13.8 million bbl/day, 42% more than Saudi Arabia, domestic gasoline prices rose quickly when the Iran War began and have remained high. The reason:…
As a response to numerous DC-based pressures, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is considering offering the government a 5% stake in his firm if other AI firms do similarly. Based on OpenAI’s most recent valuation of $852 billion, 5% would be…