Category: U.S. economy

Krugman’s Accounting of the National Debt Is Jailworthy

Commentary The national debt has risen at a blistering pace over recent decades and is now higher than any era of the nation’s history—even when adjusted for inflation, population growth, and economic growth (GDP). Denying this reality, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman recently wrote two columns for the New York Times in which he claimed that the debt is an “overhyped issue” and…


Inflation Seems to Be Re-Accelerating

Commentary It was a bad week for those promising that our inflation problems are going away. All data from January suggest exactly the opposite. The headlines for consumer prices were all about “cooling,” “firming,” “easing,” “moderating,” and another or so dozen weasel words to disguise the reality that January’s numbers had gained steam over December…


The Case for Risking Default on the Debt

Commentary The same old game is starting all over again. The big spenders in Congress and the administrative state are demanding an increase in the debt limit. Republicans aren’t happy about it. They are demanding some fiscal responsibility. The negotiations begin. But the cards are stacked, and why? Because the bad guys in this drama…


Should We Cheer Booming Retail Sales?

Commentary This one you simply will not believe. The major business press this morning absolutely cheered to the heavens about the surprise explosion in retail spending in January. As I will show, it’s all a big fakeroo. “The consumer roared back in January,” wrote the Wall Street Journal, “with broadly higher retail spending on vehicles,…


You Call This Easing Inflation?

Commentary Here’s a thing I like to do on the day of Labor Department data releases. I read the actual release and look at the data and trend lines, then look at the details and see what’s driving the trend. I make a general judgment and write an imaginary headline. Then I check in the…


Don’t Fall for Biden’s Economic Fairy Tale

Commentary Like Nero bragging about rebuilding Circus Maximus after burning it down, President Joe Biden took to the podium Tuesday night to take credit for solving a slew of problems he helped create. At the top of his State of the Union address, the president boasted that he had “more jobs created in two years…


Minimum Wage and the Fed’s Biggest Fear

Commentary How does the minimum wage affect the Fed’s biggest fear? I touched on this subject previously as the Fed began its rate-hiking campaign. However, while the issue of the “millions of people” who aren’t paid a “living wage” for work makes headlines, the actual numbers are pretty underwhelming. As of the end of 2021,…


Gallup Poll: Half in US Say They Are Worse Off Than a Year Ago, Highest Since 2009

Half of U.S. adults say they are worse off financially now than they were a year ago, according to a report based on a national survey conducted by Gallup in which U.S. adults were asked about their financial situation. The same report states that 35 percent of U.S. adults say they are better off than they were…


Broken Labor Markets and Shattered Progress

Commentary Please forgive me for not watching the State of the Union address last night. There is only so much phony baloney I can stand, and I knew in advance that it was going to be a lot of blather about how great the economy is based on the unemployment rate. The thing is that…


US Manufacturing Index Sank in January, Feeding Recession Risk

The U.S. manufacturing industry contracted for the third month in a row in January, and remained below a key threshold that is consistent with a recession in the broader U.S. economy. On Wednesday, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) announced that its Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for manufacturing dropped to 47.4 in January. The new manufacturing…