Tag Archives: US/Global Economics

(Hence the correctness of the theory of surplus population and surplus capital…) Marx mentioned, “the theory of surplus population and surplus capital,” parenthetically, in the Grundrisse and “surplus population and surplus capital” in his 1862-63 draft of Capital. Although it isn’t certain what theory exactly he was referring to, the phrase reappears, in reverse order, in chapter 15, section 3 of volume III of Capital, “Surplus Capital alongside...

“Lump” and “labor” are two words… From: Tom Walker Sent: October 27, 2021 3:49 PM To: scott.a.wolla@ Subject: Lump of labor fallacy Dear Scott, I just came across your article, “Examining the Lump of Labor Fallacy Using a Simple Economic Model,” from November of last year on the St. Louis Fed website. I have done quite a bit of research on this topic and I was dismayed to see the old canard of a fallacy recycled without any...

September Personal Income Fell 1.0%, Spending Rose 0.6%, PCE Price Index Up 0.3%; Savings Rate Lowest Since December 2019, Commenter and Blogger RJS, MarketWatch 666 Friday’s release of the September Income and Outlays report was concurrent with the GDP release on Thursday, and all the PCE data in the 3rd quarter GDP report we just covered actually originated with this report . . . and like that GDP report, all the dollar values reported here...

Commenter and Blogger RJS, Marketwatch 666, 3rd Quarter GDP Grew at 2.0% Rate even as Real Final Sales of GDP Ticked Lower Our economy grew at a 2.0% rate in the 3rd quarter, quite a bit slower than the growth rate of the second quarter, as increasing consumer outlays for services, greater nonresidential fixed investment, and inventory improvement were offset by decreasing consumer outlays for durable goods, shrinking residential investment, lower...

À la recherche du socially necessary labour temps perdu How many Trained Marxists™ know there is no “socially necessary labour time” in the Grundrisse? I didn’t. When researching the provenance of the term, I was surprised to discover that it was present in neither the Grundrisse nor Marx’s Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy. The latter book had a lot of approximations, though, and a pithy disclaimer about what Marx meant — and didn’t...

New home sales confirm upturn in housing, while FHFA and Case Shiller suggest increase in house prices is slowing This morning we got three reports on housing sales and prices. Let’s start with the sales data. New home sales, while very noisy and heavily revised, tend to lead all of the other housing indicators, even permits. This morning’s m/m increase in new home sales (blue in the graph below) was good news. It was the second increase in...

Q3 GDP will show economic contraction? 150+ years of short term interest rate history says no No economic news today, but let me show you one important reason I am not concerned about the supply chain or inflation issues at this point, despite some DOOOMMsaying about a likely punk GDP reading for Q3 that will be reported on Thursday. There is no one foolproof indicator that always has indicated recession in advance. For example, as I have...

Oil prices at 7 year high after longest string of weekly gains on record, Focus on Fracking, Commenter and Blogger RJS Oil prices rose for a record 9th consecutive week to a fresh 7 year high following across the board withdrawals from US oil & product inventories . . . after rising 3.7% to a 7 year high of $82.28 a barrel last week as global shortages of coal and natural gas were expected to lead to increased demand for oil, the contract...

The plight of independent truckers There were quite a few TV shows out there which gave trucking a romantic style of life to live. It was a lot of hard work and not quite like what was portrayed in shows like “Cannonball” or “Movin On.” Just crossing Nebraska would put you to sleep and Cannonball did not have a truck sleeper. There is a lot of danger involved with being on the roads with trucks other than having them stop and change a tire...

Does economic growth cause unemployment?, Econospeak, Sandwichman, October 24 Usually, a question in the title of an article is a teaser and the answer is almost always “no.” Not in this case. The standard argument is that economic growth is necessary to create jobs and that unemployment results from the slowing or interruption of growth. Even advocates of degrowth or a steady-state economy assume a positive connection between growth and...