Tag Archives: US/Global Economics

I learn from Brad DeLong (nickname delong run) that Paul Schmelzing has gone to a truly heroic effort and estimated safe real interest rates since 1310! The main point is the long slow decline (it is ironic that one of the stylized growth “facts” is that there is no clear trend in real interest rates. Brad discusses this at length at his SubStack. Oddly, although he is one of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis’s worst enemies not named Robert...

From a comment thread over at jabberwocking.com:“The walls are more a sign of desperation than power. A better way is to fix Central America so there is a larger buffer between the US and the problems in South America. Fixing includes making conditions in the continent prosperous enough for all that we don’t have hordes desperately attempting dangerous journeys.”Exactly. Walls don’t work. But the GOP would rather spend billions on futility than spend...

I guess the US is not the only place having issues with the rising costs of healthcare. Swiss healthcare is rising at a faster rate also. However, I suspect Switzerland has greater control over those costs than the US does. However, the industry is attempting to pass along higher costs. The cost of compulsory health insurance in Switzerland rose by 4.6% in 2023 compared to the previous year, raising the bill per insured person to CHF4,513. ...

The Republican Party has demonstrated it’s subservience to Donald Trump and rejection of policy making as such. In a sane country, this would doom the party to a very long period in opposition, but I am a citizen of the country I have not the country I want. I think the issues are well known, but I will attempt a brief review. First, while most Republicans in Congress agree that the US should aid Ukraine, some side with Putin. More importantly,...

Only the top 20% saves. Originally published at Wealth Economics Newly released data series from the Bureau Economic Analysis have revealed a pretty eye-popping economic reality that’s been invisible in the national accounts…forever. Subtract households’ Personal Taxes and Personal Outlays from Personal Income to yield Personal Saving, and it turns out that the bulk of U.S. households don’t save. Quite the contrary: the bottom 80% spends more...

Originally published at Benzinga Biden The Master Oil Trader Part III? President Refills Emergency Stash as Crude Price Slides – United States Oil Fund, Benzinga, Aaron Bry, Editor. ~~~~~~~~ The Biden administration has been slowly replenishing stocks in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as oil prices fell in the fourth quarter, buying crude at prices that could rate the president as an oil trading legend. The SPR is an emergency...

U.S. winning world economic war, axios.com, Neil Irwin. The United States economy grew faster than any other large, advanced economy last year, by a wide margin, and is on track to do so again in 2024. Why it matters: America’s outperformance is rooted in its distinctive structural strengths, policy choices, and some luck. It reflects a fundamental resilience in the world’s largest economy that is easy to overlook amid the nation’s...

This is taken from a more detailed and longer write-up on alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. It has been edited and comments have been added. Sometimes when you write a long piece, people just quit reading halfway through it. My point here is to get people to read what is out there and where we are with alternative power sources beside gasoline driven motors. We are still a long way away from having a long term and suitable replacement for...

The same as David, I have heard good things about this book. I am also old enough to remember some of the news of the turmoil in Zimbabwe. Book Review: When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, The one-handed economist, David Zetland A white woman in South Africa suggested that I read this 2006 book by Peter Godwin, and I am glad that she did. I mention the color of her skin because skin matters in this memoir of how Zimbabwe fell apart in the...

(Not) Thinking About Money, Wealth Economics, Steve Roth (substack.com) It’s tempting to abolish the word entirely. Reprint from Wealth Economics. J.W. Mason offers a bang-up post on economists’ thinking about “money,” how economists have thought and talked about it over decades and centuries. There’s even a class syllabus and reading list from his class for his John Jay MA econ students. It’s a very deep dive. (“Thirteen Ways of Looking at...