The Angry Bear

In a recent post, Matt Yglesias argues for using fiscal policy – tax increases or benefits cuts – to control inflation, rather than relying on interest rate hikes.  There is certainly an argument to be made here, but his suggestions for reducing consumption seem less than ideal. Yglesias floats the idea of limiting Social Security inflation adjustments for retirees with higher incomes.  He also mentions capping deductions, and cutting Medicare...

Real average and aggregate non-managerial wages for November  – by New Deal democrat With November’s consumer inflation report in the books, let’s update two of my favorite measures of how the working/middle class is doing – real average non-supervisory wages, and real aggregate payrolls. Nominal average wages for non-supervisory workers rose a strong 0.7% in November. Inflation fell sharply to 0.1%. So real average wages rose 0.6% last...

Mark Weisbrot of CEPR had an article up in the November LA Times addressing Inflation and the Fed. It appears it may be reprinted in December’s LA Times. “Weisbrot (LA Times): Inflation is Falling Much Faster Than Most People Know; and The Fed’s Response to Inflation May Pose a Bigger Threat than the Inflation Itself.” An essay arrived in my Hotmail account just today. An interesting email which I will repeat many portions of it here. Inflation...

I am not the only one who sees issues with the way railroad workers are on call 24/7 with any time off being canceled or workers being subject to penalization if missing the call. Biden could have pushed harder to resolve this labor issue. Just like siding with financial issues, Jow Biden sided with Railroad corporate interests. ~~~~~~~~ Infidel753: Tell Biden to do the right thing, Infidel753 Blog, 06 December 2022. Since Congress voted...

November CPI: Thank you, gas prices! No thank you, owners’ equivalent rent  – by New Deal democrat Just like producer prices as reported last Friday, consumer prices for November confirm the inflection point of last June. Thank you, lower gas prices! Here’s what total and core (ex-food and energy) inflation look like, normed to 100 in June: Since June, overall consumer inflation has increased 1.0%, so is increasing at a 2.2% annual rate....

Rents decreasing, CPI slowly decreasing, and questions on whether any of this is due to the FED’s actions. Industrial production is still the same and gasoline prices have dropped. According to New Deal democrats’ analysis, real sales and real income have increased (still lower than they were one year ago), and payrolls have continued to increase but at a decelerating rate. Jobless claims have not yet reached the signal a recession point yet. If the...

Interesting dilemma for higher education. I had heard that some colleges were having issues attracting students to their campuses. The high tuition and a lack of funding in the form of scholarships, grants, awards, etc. have been an issue when they do not keep up with the costs of colleges. Another issue has crept up which I was not aware of till reading it at The one-handed economist. This is one of David’s selected articles featured in Interesting...

A brief overview of the current state of the economy  – by New Deal democrat This week we get the final most important data of 2022, with consumer prices tomorrow and industrial production and retail sales Thursday. The Fed will also be making its final rate hike decision of the year. Next week and the week after, the only data will be housing construction and prices, plus personal income and spending. So let’s take a look at few salient...

What caught my attention to the potential train strike was it not being clear as to why. No one source was explaining why train crews and other crafts were angry at the railroad companies. Doing some reading I came away with a better understanding. Aaron Gordon at Vice does an excellent depiction of the issues. Biden stance on this issue is very similar to the screwing over of Students with their student loans. He made certain the law would stop...

For some fifty years now, the question of how to get labor a fair share has been tantamount. Fact being, it was a problem from the beginning of the industrial age and even before. Union labor has never had leverage – the bosses don’t work for them. For the past 40-50 yrs, the bosses and the shareholders have operated with great reciprocity — management gets rewarded to the extent they reward the holders. Much of this rewards system has come at the...