04/26/24 09:40AM - The primary Federal Reserve inflation gauge came in too hot for near-term rate cuts in March, but not as bad as feared. The S&P 500 opened solidly higher, largely holding onto gains after an overnight rally on earnings news from Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft.
Primary Fed Inflation Rate
The personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, …more…

04/25/24 01:17PM - There’s no way of learning to manage people other than by direct observation of those who do it well. It is time to deflate the hot-air balloon known as remote work. We have lurched, in an almost lemming-like way, from a view that work is done five days a week in an office to the fantasy that it is perfectly acceptable to stay home two, three …more…

04/25/24 08:53AM - President Biden has been the regulator-in-chief since he took office, but lately he is taking it to a whole new level. According to the American Action Forum's regulatory tracker, Biden has imposed nearly $1.4 trillion of regulatory costs on Americans. Now more than ever, states need to streamline their regulations to counter the barrage …more…

04/25/24 06:30AM - The only way to address the primary driver of high shelter costs is to build more apartments and houses. High interest rates prevent that. It may seem counterintuitive to suggest that today’s high interest rates will fuel shelter inflation down the road. After all, the Federal Reserve has tightened monetary policy to stamp out price pressures …more…

04/25/24 06:30AM - It would make imports more expensive and inflation harder to control, and it wouldn't promote exports as well as other policy options. According to Politico, the details have not been fully worked out. However, possible tactics include weakening the dollar unilaterally or threatening other countries with tariffs if they do not strengthen …more…

04/25/24 12:01AM - Let's just call this what it is another gimmick for Congress to escape its own budget limits and avoid having a conversation about tradeoffs. This week, Congress moved closer to passing four separate bills with $95 billion in funding for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific allies, and the domestic submarine industrial base. This funding has been …more…

04/24/24 05:04AM - Polls show voters are angry about costs, like mortgages, and worried they will stay high if the president wins re-election. Sky-high mortgage rates and other elevated borrowing costs are pinching American consumers ahead of the 2024 election, threatening President Biden’s chances at a second term. Yet so far, Mr. Biden has not called on …more…

04/23/24 03:21PM - Small businesses (under 500 employees) are the backbone of the U.S. economy, accounting for nearly all U.S. businesses and almost half (45.9%) of U.S. private sector employees.1 Business formations (or legal births) are a helpful indicator of job creation and U.S. productivity growth. The 2020 COVID pandemic saw a surge in new business …more…

04/23/24 01:48PM - Costs are passed on to consumers. If you work for and invest in companies, you get hit three times. In his call for Congress to repeal the 2017 tax cuts and increase corporate tax rates, President Biden asked: “Are we going to continue with an economy where the overwhelming share of the benefits go to big corporations and the very wealthy?” …more…

04/23/24 10:00AM - Can the Federal Reserve build a better mousetrap? Wall Street Journal columnist Joseph Sternberg hopes so. Sternberg rightly indicts the Fed for failing to predict and contain the worst inflation in 40 years. The problem is "the central bank's model of the economy – the set of spreadsheets, as it were, that are supposed to help Fed …more…

04/22/24 08:43PM - The US federal deficit reminds us of the 1958 science fiction horror classic, "The Blob." It stars none-other than Steve McQueen, in his first leading role. The blob is an amoeba-like alien creature that crashes to Earth from outer space and feeds on humans, getting bigger and bigger with every bite. The federal deficit is getting bigger …more…

04/22/24 02:00PM - Anyone doubting that China is well on its way to a Japanese-style lost economic decade has apparently missed the bursting of its massive housing and credit market bubble and the souring of U.S. and European trade relations with that country. And if China, the world's second largest economy, were to fall, it would constitute a major headwind …more…