Inflation Is Scrambling Americans’ Perceptions of Middle-Class Life, businessinsider.com, Jennifer Sor Yes, we have inflation. It is a given. Inflation is scrambling the lives of middle-class Americans. Income is not keeping up with the costs of maintaining a Middle-Class Life. I have sat here in AZ watching this play out in the nation. In many cases we are fighting a supply chain shortage which is entirely controllable in the US. Similar happened...
Read More »Another strong personal income and spending report, but beware the uptick in inflation
– by New Deal democrat The Bonddad Blog Personal income and spending has become one of the two most important monthly reports I follow. This is in large part because the big question this year is whether the contractionary effects of Fed tightening have just been delayed until this year, or whether the fact that there have been no rate hikes since last summer mean that the expansion will strengthen. Because real personal spending on services...
Read More »The Argentina of Javier Milei
[embedded content] A seminar organized by the Association for Heterodox Economics with myself, Ramiro Álvarez and the Argentine Senator Carolina Moisés.
Read More »Open Thread, April 12 2024 Inflation Increases – Look to Gasoline and Shelter
Consumer Price Index – March 2024 (bls.gov) “The BLS index for shelter rose in March, as did the index for gasoline. Combined, these two indexescontributed over half of the monthly increase in the index for all items. The energy index rose 1.1percent over the month. The food index rose 0.1 percent in March. The food at home index wasunchanged, while the food away from home index rose 0.3 percent over the month. Good reads on the March BLS...
Read More »Open Thread March 17 2024, January and February were rough months for inflation
Employ America’s current corecast is for a 2.86% YoY core PCE print for February. The six-month growth rate of core PCE, which was under 2% in December, should now be over 3% in February. Core services ex-housing inflation will be up on a year-on-year basis versus the previous meeting. Many FOMC members, especially among the moderates in the committee (Daly, Mester, Powell, Waller) have expressed a willingness to look through a hot January...
Read More »Inflation and Auto Insurance
Center for Economic Development and Policy Research, CEPR Dean Baker When we hear about inflation most of us probably think of items like food, gas, and rent, but when it comes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the most frequently cited measure of inflation, auto insurance has played a very large role in recent years. The index for motor vehicle insurance rose 0.9 percent in July. It was responsible for 0.024 percentage points of the 0.4...
Read More »Atonella Stirarti’s Godley-Tobin Lecture
There was a problem during the 7th Godley-Tobin Lecture. I disconnected everyone when I was trying to fix a problem with Professor Stirati's presentation, and I didn't notice until much later. The worst part is that the recording was lost. I'm posting here the PowerPoint presentation for those interested. We will also post the link for the published version of the lecture, which will be open also on the website of the Review of Keynesian Economics (ROKE).
Read More »Open Thread February 13 2024 Inflation cooled again in January . . .
but came in above Wall Street’s expectations, another sign that the Federal Reserve’s path to interest-rate cuts is far from settled. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that consumer prices rose 3.1% in January from a year earlier, versus a December gain of 3.4%. That marked the lowest reading since June. Inflation at 3.1% Reflects “Stubborn Pricing Pressure, Clouding Outlook for Fed Rate Cuts,” msn.com, WSJ article. Open Thread February 6...
Read More »high corporate profits are/were a (main) driver of ongoing inflation
It appears like someone is waking up to a reality. When they can, corporations will take advantage of an economic event to increase margins resulting in increasing profits. They will call up and say they are increasing prices, take it or leave it. When your customer is one of the big three, you take it. And, you will not be able to pass along the pricing increase. One scenario, I experienced. Prices are simply the sum of costs and corporate...
Read More »The great economy Trump left Biden
from Dean Baker We have been seeing numerous stories in the media about how people support Donald Trump because he did such a great job with the economy. Obviously, people can believe whatever they want about the world, but it is worth reminding people what the world actually looked like when Trump left office (kicking and screaming) and Biden stepped into the White House. Trump’s Legacy: Mass Unemployment The economy had largely shut down in the spring of 2020 because of the pandemic. It...
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