Warren Buffett wrote an op ed piece for The New York Times. One part of the article was predictable. Buffett feels that rising government borrowing will eventually cause inflation. He goes through an elaborate…
Inflation is taking a ride in the backseat, again. The Labor Department said that July’s wholesale inflation measured by Producer Price Index came in at -0.9% on the nominal or headline rate, while the…
More and more economists talk about a “V”-shaped recovery. The recession has been so bad, their theory goes, that there is now pent-up demand for goods and services. New data from the government show…
“Do not go gentle into that good night.” –Dylan Thomas The recession, which was supposed to be ending, is hanging on for dear life if some of the economic data out this week are any…
The Small Business Administration runs a stimulus program for the government that provides up to $225 million for modest American enterprises. According to The New York Times, this pool is meant to make about…
The announcement from the FOMC on the decision on interest rates is out. As most suspected, it was not the rate decision that mattered as much. It was the language around the potential exit…
It may be that some people just want to spoil a good time. As earnings, GDP, employment, and housing sales begin to show the trends that have encouraged analysts to call an end to…
American GDP growth was much better than expected in the second quarter of the year, falling only 1%. Unemployment statistics were surprisingly good as the jobless rate actually improved from 9.5% in June to…
Chief Executive magazine has released its latest CEO Index. We follow this more closely now in order to try to gain insight about what the top brass of major companies in America is thinking…
It has begun to dawn on economists that all of the good news about housing, GDP, and earnings much be leading somewhere. Practitioners of the dismal science are beginning to make upward revisions to…
The Commerce Department has just released its data on Personal Income and Spending for the month of June. Income came in at -1.3%, and Dow Jones had estimates at -1.2% as the consensus. We’d…
The Institute for Supply Management has shown that the manufacturing activity came in with a reduced rate of contraction for July. The manufacturing index came in at 48.9. This is still slightly in the…
We already knew GDP was coming out and that it was going to be bad. At least it was not an echo of the -5.5% GDP drop seen in Q1. The preliminary GDP came…
The Fed has stated that it is not worried that low interest rates and an economic recovery will cause inflation. Adjustments in economic policy and control of the money supply will prevent that. Deflation…
No one wants to say the recession is over. It would be bad luck. The minute a prominent economist or the head of the Fed or Treasury Secretary calls an end to the downturn,…