Archive for July 20th, 2010

This morning’s Financial Times is a must read.
It contains an excellent point/counter-point about the austerity argument now raging. The pro-growth argument is spelled out by Brad DeLong, while the austerity point of view is argued by Niall Ferguson. In this discussion DeLong is wearing the white hat.
Ferguson’s use of numbers is flat out dumb for… »

Just a quick note.
I received the Bureau of Labor Statistics press release on wages this morning and one thing jumped out at me: during the second quarter average [median] wages rose to $740 a week. That’s up 0.8% on last year. But inflation rose 1.8% over the same time. This means that real wages –… »

There is, of course, nom news in the headline that the housing sector is still sliding rather than recovering. The only reason that the decline appeared to have been arrested as the enormous effect of the government stimulus. That poured enough cash – in the form of tax credits – into the industry to limit… »