Tag Archives: US/Global Economics

Wealth is leisure. Leisure, wealth. The three quotes above are from, respectively: 1. William Godwin 2. Charles Wentworth Dilke 3. Karl Marx. There was a very pronounced influence of Godwin on Dilke and of Dilke on Marx (hence indirectly of Godwin on Marx). My research suggests that viewing Marx’s work from the perspective of Dilke’s major influence reveals both hidden strengths and weaknesses in Marx’s critique of political economy.  The...

Death Valley is not experiencing a drought. Neither is the Mojave, the Sahara, or the Gobi. A drought is an unusually extended period between the occurrence of a regularly occurring event; an anomaly. For example, when it usually rains on a regular basis, then but doesn’t rain for an unusually long period; that period during which it doesn’t rain is known as a drought. Rain in the desert is an anomaly; the lack thereof is neither an anomaly nor a...

September industrial production turns down, but no major cause for concern Industrial production is the King of Coincident Indicators. This morning’s report for September was negative, and August was revised downward, taking total production back below pre-pandemic levels. Total production decreased -1.3% in September, and the manufacturing component decreased -0.8%. The August reading for each was revised downward by -0.3%.  Nothing...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Why The Late Janos Kornai Did Not Get The Nobel Prize  Apparently yesterday Janos Kornai died in Budapest at the age of 94. He was the greatest analyst of the socialist system there was. Indeed, his personal life saw the full history of it in in his native land of Hungary, where, being Jewish, he […] The post Why The Late Janos Kornai Did Not Get The Nobel Prize appeared first on Angry Bear.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Michael Smith Farmer and Agricultural Economist, “Farmers need more space for crops to meet mounting demand”- AgResource | Reuters Dan Basse of AgResource Co. analyzes the impacts of biodiesel and is throwing up a potential issue.  Reuters interviewed an agronomist who is closely watching the budget reconciliations and the spending of a $350 billion yearly […] The post Analyzing the impact of biodiesel and it causing a potential...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Kawasaki Heavy Industries plans (2018) to restructure rolling-stock operations amid heavy losses, exploring such options as quitting the business and teaming up with other companies. This is unusual for a major Japanese firm to pull out of an industry, a country, and the United States. Or at least I find it unusual having worked for a Japanese company […] The post Quality Issues, Kawasaki Subway Car Wheels are Moving Outwards...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Focus on Fracking: US oil price at a 7 year high; largest US oil inventory build in 7 months; global oil shortage at 2,400,000 barrels per day as OPEC output is ​375,000 barrels per day short of​ quota​. Commenter and Blogger RJS OPEC’s October Oil Market Report Wednesday of this week saw the release of OPEC’s […] The post Globally; oil short at 2,400,000 barrels/day; OPEC output is 375,000 barrels/day short of...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Bad Biden Foreign Policy  I have posted on this previously, but not for a while. The main meme is that for reasons I mostly do not get, Biden has been carrying over a lot of bad Trump foreign policies.  Some of them I understand for political reasons, even when they damage the US and world […] The post Bad Biden Foreign Policy appeared first on Angry Bear.

Another strong month for real retail sales growth; to cope, employers are going to have to sweeten the pot to add employees Real retail sales, perhaps my favorite monthly economic indicator since they tell us so much about average consumer behavior, and are also a good short leading indicator for jobs, were reported this morning for September, and they were positive. Nominally retail sales increased +0.7%, after a +0.2% upward revision to +0.9%...

Farmer and Farm Economist Michael Smith on latest proposed business policies which can impact U.S. Farming. Secretary and former Fed Chair Janet Yellen recently went on CBS in order to sell the changes to the tax code provisions that would trigger events yet unknown at the $600 level,  and potentially beyond. I’ll leave this proposal up to you if it is a great idea or not. A dish washer purchase audit is probably bad tax policy, but I’ll...