Economy – Issues.xyz

Opinion Headlines

Economic Recovery. “A Texas Guide to Economic Recovery” by Bradley Allen MD [Re. Calif.] 7-7-14
Economics. LTE. “The Supply-Side Is About Growth, Not Redistribution” 8-21-14
Economy “Behind the Productivity Plunge: Fewer Startups” by Edward Prescott 6-26-14
Economy “The Asset-Rich, Income-Poor Economy” 6-20-14
Economy, GDP “GDP’s ObamaCare Downgrade” 6-26-14
Economy, USA. “How to Get America Moving Again” by Geo. Shultz. […rev up the economy.] 8-9-14
Economy. “The 2.1% Expansion” […Obama continues to rely solely on the Fed…] 7-31-14
Economy. “’Secular Stagnation’ May Be for Real.” By Wm. Galston. [… target inflation…] 8-27-14
Economy. “The West’s Bruised Confidence in Capitalism.” By Donald A. Baer. [A new global survey finds that only 36% of Americans see corporations as a source of ‘hope.’ In China it’s 84%] 9-22-14
Economy. LTE. “Let’s Get Out of the Way of Growth and Benefit Everyone.” 9-17-14
Economy. “Mothers, Tell Your Children to Be Software Coders.” [Dozens of companies are poised to follow Alibaba in going public, but there’s a shortage of developers.] 9-27-14
Unemployment. “Saving the Vanishing American Worker.” By William Galston. [Eight million people have simply dropped out of the economy since late 2007…] 9-17-14
Economy. Mortgage crisis. LTE. “We Ignore Mortgage Crisis’s Lessons.” 10-2-2014
Economy. Regulations. LTE. “Mr. Lew’s Counterproductive Policy.” 10-2-2014
Economy. “The Free-Trade Way to Job Growth.” By Matthew J. Slaughter. [Pay at companies that import and export is 15% to 20% higher than at purely domestic ones.] 10-2-2014
Economy. “The Fourth Major Era of Computing Kicks In.” By Andy Kessler. [With mobile users now outnumbering desktop users , a new economic cycle has begun.] 10-7-14
Economcy. LTE. “What We Have Now Isn’t Capitalism.” 10-8-2014
Economy. LTE. “What It Takes to Be Made in the U.S.A.” 10-10-14
Economy. LTE. “Who’s the Predatory Godzilla in Fannie-Freddie Case?” 10-10-14
Economy. World. “The Wild Bunch.” [Investors have good reason to wonder about world economic policy.] 10-10-14
Economy. “Behind the Global Growth Slowdown.” By Brian Wesbury. [‘Austerity’ isn’t the problem. Eurozone governments are spending more now as a share of GDP than before the crisis.] 10-15-14
Economy. “The ‘New Mediocre,’ “ [Investors get the growth jitters, but a recession doesn’t seem likely.] 10-16-14
Economy. “A Year of Living on the Brink.” By Daniel Henninger. 10-16-14
Economy. “Government Forecasters Might as Well Use a Ouija Board.” By Edward P. Lazear. [If you always assume that GDP growth will be 3.1%, you’ll be more accurate than federal number-crunchers.] 10-17-14
China. “Global Markets Catch the Chinese Flu.” By Ruchir Sharma. [The ill effects of Beijing’s borrowing and spending binge are rippling through the world economy.] 10-17-14
Economy. Mortgages. “What Happened in Vegas.” [History repeats: A new plan for mortgages with low down payments.] 10-22-14
Democrats. Bringing Back a Trusty Tactic. [Casting Republicans as too willing to send jobs overseas is a strategy Democrats have used successfully before.] WSJ. 10-24-14, p. A4
Economy. “The Return of Volatility Is Mainly About Monetary Policy.” By Niall Ferguson. [This month’s wild market swings show that there is no smooth exit from QE3.] 10-25-14
Economy. LTE. “Repeating Mortgage Errors Will Give the Same Result.” 10-25-14
Economy. “Avoiding the Global Slowdown Blues.” By Michael J. Boskin. [Despite jitters about where the U.S. is headed, there are specific steps we can take to ensure even stronger growth.] 10-28-14
Economcy. “More Risky Loans Allowed.” [The feds ease rules for mortgages but tighten them for business.] 10-28-14
Economy. “An Economy on the Verge.” [Faster growth awaits a change in policy direction in Congress.] 10-31-14
Economy. “Missing the Prime Suspect in the Global Slowdown.” By George Melloan. [World-wide debt as a percentage of GDP has jumped 36% since 2008, to a record high of 212%] 11-3-14
Economy. “U.S. Sugar Policy: Sweet for a few, Sour for the Most.” By Burleigh C.W. Leonard. [Restrictions on Mexican sugar imports undermine the government’s negotiating position in free trade talks.] 11-3-14
Economy. “The Roots of Government Meddling in Mortgages.” By Judge Glock. [Federal Land Bands created in 1916 were the Fannie Mae model. They too went belly up.] 11-4-14.
Economy. “A Sure-Fire Way to Harm The Economy.” By Brad Sherman et al. [A proposal to count leases as liabilities would cost 3.3 million jobs and add #2 trillion to company balance sheets.] 11-10-14
Economy. “A New Agenda for Tech Freedom.” By L. Gordon Crovitz. [Now we’ll find out if Washington can move on patent reform, drone use and other big issues.] 11-10-14
Economy. “Clear Evidence on Disincentives to Work.” By Bob Funk. [The progress on U.S. job creation in the past year would have been stalled by extending benefits.] 11-10-14
Economy. “A Fresh Start for Pacific Trade.” [Republican gains in Congress create a new political opening.] 11-10-14
Economy. “How to Distort Income Inequality.” By Phil Gramm, et. al. [The Piketty-Suez data ignore changes in tax law and fail to count noncash compensation and Social Security benefits.] 11-12-14
Economy. “Who’s Afraid of a Little Deflation?” by John H. Cochrane. [A Sudden drop wouldn’t be good, but a steady annual decline of, say, 2%? Worries about that are overblown.] 11-14-14
Economy. ‘How the ‘Reserve’ Dollar Harms America.” By Lewis E. Lehrman et. al. [Ending the greenback’s reserve-currency role will raise savings and make U.S. companies more competitive.] 11-21-14
Economy. “What the ‘Inequality’ Warriors Really Want.” By John H. Cockrane. [Confiscating wealth is ultimately about political power. Koch brothers, no, Public-employee unions, yes.] 11-20-14
Economy. “The Unsettling Mystery of Productivity.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Since 2010 U.S. productivity has grown at a miserable rate. And no one, not even the Fed, seems to understand why.] 11-25-14
Economy. “Wall Street Volatility Doesn’t Shake Main Street.” By Jason Cummins. “Stock-market gyrations have had little effect on what amounts to a return of the Great Moderation.” 12-2-14
Economy. LTE. “Declining Productivity Growth and Economic Policies.” 12-3-14
Economy. “A Growth Opening.” [Business hiring increases as policy damage from Washington ebbs.] 12-6-14Economy. “An Autopsy for the Keynesians.” By John H. Cochrane. [We were warned that the 2013 sequester meant a recession. Instead, unemployment came down faster than expected.] 12-22-14
Economy. “A Trade Opportunity for Obama and the New Congress.” By Charles Boustany et.al. 12-29-14
Economy. LTE. “An Argument Over Keynesianism’s Supposed Demise.” 12-29-14
Economy. “Life Without Fannie and Freddie.” [A new study shows only a modest effect on the housing market.” 12-27-14
Economy. “European Economic Errors for the U.S. to Avoid. ” [The story of the Continent’s moribund economy began long before the European Central Bank was founded.] 12-30-14
Economy. “The Double-Edged Dollar.” [The rising buck is good for consumers, but watch out for overshooting.] 1-7-15
Economy. “ ‘Scoring’ Legislation for Growth.” By Edward P. Lazear. [New Laws have economic consequences. Ignoring them doesn’t make a bill ‘neutral.’] 1-7-15
Economy. LTE. “Making the U.S. Less Like Europe.” 1-8-15
Economy. “Beware the Currency Wars of 2015.” By Mike Newton. [More aggressive currency devaluations in Asia and Europe could create great systemic risks world-wide.] 1-9-15
Free Trade. LTE. “Free Trade Often Doesn’t Help U.S.” 1-10-15
Economy. “The $250 Econ 101 Textbook.” By Craig Richardson. [We economics professors are missing a chance to teach a lesson about the unchecked rise of prices.] 1-14-15
Economy. “How Spending Sapped the Global Recovery.” By Ruchir Sharma. [The Obama-Lew lobby is urging Europe to ramp up stimulus spending. Emerging markets would beg to differ.] 1-16-15
Economy. “Blood on the Forex Floor.” [The Swiss currency shock leaves losses everywhere.] 1-17-15
“Oil Export Myths.” [Lifting the ban will increase U.S. supply and energy security.] 1-17-15
Economy. “Solving the Puzzle of Stagnant Wages.” By Edward P. Lazear. [Evidence points to growing government regulation like Dodd-Frank and policies that discourage investment.] 1-26-15
Economy. “A Modest Uptick in U.S. Economic Freedom.” By Terry Miller. [The seven years slide has stopped, thanks to some restraint in the growth of government spending.] 1-27-15
Economy. “President Costanza’s Jobs Boom.” [A new study shows that Mr. Obama needs a ‘Seinfeld’ epiphany.] 1-28-15
Economy. LTE. “ Economic Growth Must Come First.” 1-28-15
Economy. “How Student Debt Harms the Economy.” 1-28-15
Economy. “Building Toward Another Mortgage Meltdown.” By Edward Pinto. [In the name of ‘affordable’ loans, the White House is creating the conditions for a replay of the housing disaster.] 1-29-15
Economy. “Obama’s Peter Pan Economics.” By Daniel Henninger. 1-29-15
Economics. Bookreview, by John Steele Gordon. “When Globalization Fails, by John Macdonald.” [In 1909, a best-seller argued that financial interdependence made war self-defeating. A century of global conflict followed.] 1-30-15
Economics. Global. “Modi’s Reform Push.” [India’s leader takes some risks to clear obstacles to growth.” 1-30-15
Economy. “Another Growth Dip.” [Last year was the ninth in a row that U.S. GDP expanded by less than 3%.] 1-31-15
Economy. LTE. “Government Disincentives Mean Fewer Jobs Are Created.” 2-2-15
Economy. LTE. “Have We Learned from Past Mortgage Mistakes or Not?” 2-3-15
Economy. “Why Airlines Are Flying High.” By Rick Schifter. [Private equity is one of the least known but most significant contributors to the industry’s performance.] 2-4-15
Economy. “Wobbly Policies Produce a Shaky Economy.” By David Primo. [Washington’s uncertain signals on everything from taxes to health care force caution onto businesses.] 2-6-15
Economy. Book Review by George Melloan of “Steering Clear” by Peter G. Peterson. “A Deficit Hawk Spots His Prey.” [A billionaire argues that the rich should pay more in taxes, but their wealth may do more for the country than government spending.] 2-9-15
Economy. LTE. “ Keynes’s Day Came and Has Passed.” 2-12-15
Economy, Trade treaties. “The Looming Trade Showdown.” By Kimberley A. Strassel. 2-13-15
Economy. “Stopping the Economy-Sapping Patent Trolls.” By John Chambers et.al. [Entities that don’t make products or sell services file more than 60% of U.S. patent lawsuits.] 2-17-15
Economy. “Wal-Mart’s Capitalist Payday.” [The giant retailer raises its minimum wage at a fortuitous time.] 2-20-15
Economy. LTE. “More Public-Sector Spending Not the Answer for Growth.” 2-28-15
Economy. “Bringing a Business Approach to Doing Good.” By George R. Roberts. [A job is better than a handout. Here’s the ‘social enterprise’ way to put people to work.] 3-3-15
Economy. “A Recovery Waiting to Be Liberated.” By John B. Taylor. [Bad government policy has kept the economy caged. Here’s how to spur growth quickly.] 3-4-15
Economy. “Seasonally Adjusted Jobs Numbers Offer Cold Comfort.” By Daniel Quinn Mills. [The tradition of modifying employment data based on the weather is obsolete.] 3-6-15
Economy. Fracking. “How the Oil Export Ban Chokes the Fracking Boom.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [The energy renaissance was fun while it lasted, but age-old laws and lobbyists may finally prove its undoing.] 3-7-15
Economy. “Piketty Corrects the Inequality Crowd.” By Robert Rosenkranz. [The economist’s book caused a sensation last year, but now he says the redistributionists drew the wrong conclusions.] 3-9-15
Economy. “The Engine That Pulled Us Out of Recession.” By Penny Pritzker et.al. [One-third of overall U.S. economic growth since 2009 came from goods and services sold abroad.] 3-19-15
Economy. “The Jobs Slowdown.” [The White House fingers the weather and slow global growth.] 4-4-15
Banks. LTE. “What Car Loans Need Is Disclosure.” 4-13-15
Economy. “A Laffer Curve for Smokes.” By Patrick M. Gleason. [Another tax-hike dream falls to ashes: Higher cigarette levies reduce revenue and increase smuggling.] 4-13-15
Economy. “How to Revive the Private Mortgage Market.” [Fannie and Freddie still enjoy huge government advantages that make competition in the secondary market impossible.] 4-15-15
Economy. “Mel Watt’s Taxpayer Guarantee.” [The housing regulator keeps Fannie Mae large and in charge.] 4-20-15
Economy. “What’s Wrong With the golden Goose?’ By Phil Gramm. [‘Secular stagnation’ isn’t to blame for lousy U.S. growth rates. Obama’s higher taxes and regulatory assault are.] 4-21-15
Economy. “Dismal Growth Needs the 3.5% Solution.” By Bill Cassidy et.al. [The steps to spurring the economy include allowing oil exports and not taxing repatriated overseas profits.] 5-1-2015.
Economy. LTE. “There Is More Than Ever Before, But We Are Unsatisfied.” 5-2-15
Economy. “Chrysler Shops for Its Next Bailout.” By Homan W. Jenkins, Jr. [Mergers can’t substitute for governments letting the auto business be run like a business.] 5-6-15
Economy. “The Deal-Maker’s Economy.” [Abundant money goes to financial engineering, rather than investment.] 5-8-15
Economy. “How Washington Punishes Small Business.” By Stacy Mitchell et.al. [Lawmakers love to talk about the little guy, but their policies routinely favor the big and powerful.] 5-8-15
Economy. “Behind the Chronic Weakness of Capital Investment.” By Thomas J. Duesterberg et.al. [Companies have lots of cash on the books but are slow to lay it out – one reason why productivity has slowed.] 5-11-15
Economy. “Capitalism Wins at DuPont.” [A vibrant market for corporate control benefits shareholders.] 5-14-15
Economy. “Dear Class of 2015, You’re in Big Trouble.” By Diana Furchtgott-Roth et.al. [Facing unemployment, loan debt, expensive retiree payouts and more problems, young people need a lobby.] 5-13-15
Economy. “Paying for Ethanol at the Pump and on the Plate.” By Mike Brown et.al. [The federal mandate has driven up the price of corn – and of poultry, meat, eggs and dairy.] 5-15-15.
Economy. LTE. “Pittsburgh and Baltimore: A Tale of Two Steel Cities.” 5-15-15
Economy. “The Mystery of Declining Productivity Growth.” By Alan S. Blinder. [The healthy 2.6% a year form 1995-2010 has since been an anemic 4%. What’s scary is that we don’t know why.] 5-15-15
Economy. LTE. “Fiat Has Invested Heavily int eh U.S. and created Jobs.” 5-16-15
Economy. LTE. “Capital Investment: Lifeblood of Any Future We Want.” 5-18-15
Economy. LTE. “Look at Trade Results, Not Ideology.” [Sen. Jeff Sessions] 5-18-15
Economy. “The U.S. Underestimates Growth.” By Martin Feldstein. [The official statistics are missing changes that are lefting American incomes.] 5-19-15
Economy. “Technology Isn’t a Job Killer.” Bookreview by Tamar Jacoby of “Learning by Doing,” by James Bessen. [Many predicted ATMSs would eliminate bank tellers, but the number of tellers in the U.S. has risen since the machines were introduced.] 5-21-15
Economy. “Better Than Raising the Minimum Wage.” By Warren Buffett. [Help Americans who need it with a major, carefully crafted expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit.] 5-22-15
Economy. LTE. “Better Products, but Most of Us Don’t Feel Better Off.” 5-23-15
Economy. “Audrey Hepburn Teaches Economics.” By William McGurn. [Progressives rushing to help New York nail-salon workers should rent a copy of ‘My Fair Lady.’] 5-26-15
Economy. “It’s Amazing Anything Ever Gets Built.” By John Engler and Sean McGarvey. [Federal permitting is a mess. Even a pet Obama wind-power project has been stuck for years.] 5-27-15
Economy. LTE, “Adult Countries Provide Rail Service.” 5-27-15
Economy. “Prevailing-Wage Laws Help Locals.” LTE. 6-5-15
Economy. “The Latest Bond Panic.” [Draghi tells the truth about volatility. Markets prove his point.] 6-5-15
Economy. “When Will Bond Markets Join the 21^st Century? By Larry Harris. [Fundamental problems with the way bonds are traded have added to the current volatility.] 6-5-15
Economy. “Trade Deficit Myths.” [A case study in protectionist misinformation.” 6-9-15
Economy. “‘Patent Death Squads’ vs. Innovation.” By Peter J. Pitts. [The Patent Trial and Appeal Board was supposed to make the system better. It hasn’t.] 6-11-15
Economy. “The Return of Growth Economics.” [Passing a trade bill would mark the start of a new policy direction.] 6-12-15
Economy. “The House COOLS It.” [An act of trade sanity: No more country labels on imported meat.] 6-16-15
Economy. “Trade and the Presidency.” [Candidates who oppose free trade don’t belong in the Oval Office.] 6-17-15
Economy. LTE. “Demographics Will Drive Future Housing Headwinds.” 6-17-15
Economy. “How the U.S. Can Return to 4% Growth.” By Glenn Hubbard and Kevin Warsh. [Short-term policy gimmicks need to be set aside in favor of longer-term tax and regulatory reforms.] 6-22-15
Economy. “Why the Recovery Still Limps Along.” By Edward P. Lazear. [A state-by-state analysis shows that market-oriented policies work. Too bad more states aren’t using them.] 6-23-15
Economy. LTE. “Consumers Like to Know Where Their Meat Comes From.” [cf. “House COOLS It”, 6-16-15, here] 6-24-15
Economy. “Lessons From a Trade Victory.” [Ted Cruz inhales the Elizabeth Warren vapors.] 6-24-15
Economy. LTE. “Disruptive New Firms Challenge the Old Rule of Law.” 6-27-15
Economy. LTE. “Demand, Not Fiat, Creates the Jobs.” 6-27-15
Economy. LTE. “A U.S. Return to 4% Growth Isn’t Likely Anytime Soon.” 6-30-15
Economy. LTE. “Real Estate’s Rising Tide Isn’t Lifting All of the Boats.” 7-3-15
Economy. “A Regulatory Upgrade for Electronic Trading.” By Mark Wetjen. [Agencies need better access to data tracking money flows across interconnected markets.] 7-8-15
Economy. “A Dearth of Tech IPOs May Mask Bubble Trouble.” By Andy Kessler. [Only eight companies backed by venture capital have gone public in 2015. That’s a long way from last year’s 115.] 7-10-15
Economy. Airlines. “The Airline Cartel That Isn’t.” by Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Big labor and Team Obama gave us airline consolidation. Now their handiwork faces a pundits revolt.] 7-11-15
Economy. “A Third Term for Obamanomics.” [Clinton says the policies are failing but we need more of them.] 7-14-15
Economy. “Regulatory Rollback Is Wrong for Financial Markets.” By Antonio Weiss. [Complaints about illiquidity are prompting talk about reforms that are simplistic and even dangerous.] 7-13-15
Economy. LTE. “Canadian Subsidies Distort Trade.” 7-17-15
Economy. “A High-tech Trade War Nobody Wins.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Why a Chinese bid for a U.S. chip maker was a trial balloon that came down full of holes.] 7-18-15
Economy. LTE. “open Skies Policy Would Benefit All.” 7-18-15
Economy. “No Economic Mess in Texas.” [Oil prices collapse but the Lone Star State keeps creating jobs.] 7-21-15
Economy. “A Looming Pilot Shortage Means a Bumpy Ride for Airlines.” By Dan Elwell. [Airline pilot’s average age is 50, and newcomers are scarce. No wonder: The starting salary is $23,000.00] 7-22-15
Economy. “Fifty Years of Debasing Money.” By Seth Lipsky. [The Coinage Act of 1965 marked the end of silver coins, contrary to what LBJ promised.] 7-22-15
Economy. “No Economic Mess in Texas.” [Oil prices collapse but the Lone Star State keeps creating jobs.] 7-21-15
Economy. “Oil Export Momentum.” [Support is growing to repeal a Nixon-era ban that Iran and Russia love.] 7-29-15
Economy. “The Six-Year Slough.” [New GDP revisions show the worst recovery in 70 years was even weaker.] 7-31-15
Economy. LTE. “CEO Pay: Money for Real Value or Just Lots of Money?” 7-31-15
Economy. “The New Slow-Growth Normal and Where It Leads.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [On the 800^th anniversary of the Magna Carta, an unhinged regulatory state is our doomsday machine.] 8-1-15
Economy. “Shackling the Sharing Economy.” [Big Labor and the Plaintiffs bar gang up on Internet startups.] 8-3-15
Economy. “The New Slow-Growth Normal and Where It Leads.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [On the 800^th anniversary of the Magna Carta, an unhinged regulatory state is our doomsday machine.] 8-3-15
Economy. LTE. “Heading Off the Looming Commercial-Pilot Shortage.” 8-5-15
Economy. LTE. “Eminent Domain’s Poletown Success.” 8-5-15
Economy. “A Ports Policy Barnacled With Bad Law.” By Daniel J. Ikenson. [Trade negotiations offer a chance to modernize U.S. ports by opening them to the foreign dredgers they need.] 8-5-15
Economy. “The World-Wide Undermining of Free Markets.” By Romain Hatchuel. [China’s interference in its stock markets reflects a global trend of states trying to govern economic activity.] 8-11-15
Economy. Fed. “Overselling the Importance of When the Interest-Rate Rise Begins.” By Alan S. Blinder. [September? December? Next year? That doesn’t matter as much as how swiftly rates increase after the first hike.] 9-13-15
Economy. “The Next Stock Market Shutdown Could Be Much Worse.” By Hal Scott and John Gulliver. [The NYSE’s three-hour closure in July sent a signal that more data competition is needed among exchanges.] 8-17-15
Economy. LTE. “Port Dredging Not a Jones Act Issue.” 8-18-15
Economy. “The imaginary Problem of Corporate Short-Termism.” By Mark J. Roe. [Short-term thinking often makes sense for U.S. businesses, the economy and long-term employment.] 8-18-15
Economy. “Who Will Get the Dreary Economy Going?” by Mortimer Zuckerman. [The worst U.S. recovery since World War II drags on, with insufficient notice from the White House or candidates aspiring to the Oval Office.] [“…The U.S. has added 11.5 million jobs during the five years of labor-force expansion through June, but the number of full-time jobs today is…822,000 lower than it was at the prerecession peak…”] 8-21-15
Economy. “Trying to Teach Big Agra in a Hotbed of Locavores.” By Peter A. Cocianis. [The amazing story of U.S. agriculture is a tough sell in Chapel Hill, the buckle of the Research Triangle foodie belt.] 8-29-15
Economy. “Censoring a Business,” [Denver politicians cluck about a Chick-fil-A exec’s views on marriage.] 8-29-15
Economy. “The Student-Loan Siphon.” [New evidence that the college debt bomb is hurting the economy.] 8-29-15
Economy. “Small Business And the Secret of Big Growth.” By Thomas F. ‘Mack’ McLarty. [Small firms are economic drivers – and need help. Tax reform would be a good start.] 9-3-15
Economy. LTE. “Nasdaq Mistaken on Next Shutdown.” 9-3-15 [See, here, “Economy” 8-17-15]
Economy. “The Unfriendly Skies of Legacy Carriers.” By roger Dow. [Delta, United and American fight open-skies competition with calls for protectionism.] 9-3-15
Economy. LTE. “Car Parts Deal Must Serve All Sides.” 9-12-15
Economy. LTE. “Supply-Side Recoveries Beat Demand-Side.” 9-14-15
Economy. “Incomes and Poverty, 2014.” [No word from the White House on the latest grim economic data.]. 9-17-15
Economy. “How to Rev the Growth Engine.” By Jamie Dimon. [Put partisanship aside like they gave in Morto City, and start addressing education, immigration, grade and tax reform.] [Mr. Dimon is the chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.] 9-17-15
Economy. “The White House and the Census.” [We missed its analysis of the data, which reinforces our point.] [“…The income declines and stubborn poverty may be somewhat less awful than the Census methodology portrays…”] 9-18-15
Economy. “What Keynes Would Think of ‘Neo-Keynesians.’” By Richard Horowitz. [Unlike his acolytes, he understood the value of gold and the dangers of currency debasement.] 9-21-15
Economy. “A Lawsuit to Break the Gig Economy.” By A.J. Kritikos. [Uber drivers claim they are legally employee, but that doesn’t reflect reality.] 9-21-15
Economy. “How To Lower U.S. Living Standards.” By Robert Bryce. [The drastic ’80 by 50’ goal would reduce the energy use of Californians to that of North Koreans today.] 9-22-15
Economy. “The Assault on Drug Innovation.” [Clinton tanks biotech stocks as she comes out for price controls.] 9-23-15
Economy. “Pope Francis, Unfettered.” By William McGurn. [The opposite of market competition isn’t cooperation – it’s collusion.] 9-22-15
Economy. LTE. “We’re In Charge, but the Problems Aren’t Ours.” [cf. 919-15 “Census and the White House.”] 9-24-15
Economy. Bureaucrats. “Gas Prices Ought to Be Lower.” By Jacob Borden. [Oil prices have dropped 60%, but a gallon of gas is down only 25%. Why? Regulation isn’t cheap.] 9-24-15
Economy. “The Biotech Rout.” [Investors sell as hostility to innovation rises in Washington.] 9-29-15
Economy. LTE. “On Adverse Reactions to Drug Price Controls.” 9-29-15
Economy. LTE. “Keynes and Modern Neo-Keynesian Disciples.” 9-29-15
Economy. “We’re a Long Way From ‘Peak Car.’” By Mark Mills. [Millennials are moving to the suburbs. Guess how they’re going to be getting around?] 10-2-15
Economy. LTE. “Investors Need Transparent and Fair Trading.” 10-2-15
Economy. “The Big Jobs Miss.” [The hiring slowdown has now stretched into three months.] 10-3-15
Economy. “How Not to Prevent the Next Financial Meltdown.” By Edward P. Lazear. [Dodd-Frank’s safeguards against chaos are based on a misdiagnosis of what led to the 2008 crisis.] 10-3-15
Economy. LTE. “On Economic Growth and Lower Birth Rates.” 10-5-15
Economy. “The Pacific Trade Stakes.” [The pact would do much good but the IP details are worrying.] 10-7-15
Economy. “Those Short-Sighted Attacks on Quarterly Earnings.” By Robert C. Pozen and Mark J. Roe. [Regular financial reports serve investors well, despite what hou hear from critics of ‘short-termism.’] 10-8-15
Economy. “Still Paying the Price of Keynesian Currency.” By Lewis E. Lehrman and John D. Mueller. [Fundamental monetary reform – restoring gold reserves – would be a boon to the U.S. and world trade.] 10-9-15
Economy. “What Trade-Deal Critics Are Missing.” By Zachary Karabell. [Where was your iPhone ‘made’? Modern commerce defies old-style measures.] 10-9-15
Economy. LTE. “Stop Fiddling, and Upgrade the Infrastructure.” Trump. “Shows of Strength From Trump and Putin.” By Peggy Noonan. [The GOP front-runner hasn’t started fading, and the Russian president seems in command.] 10-10-12
Economy. “Measuring World Poverty as It Shrinks.” By David R. Henderson. 10-13-15
Economy. “The Golden Goose Is on the Run.” By Bob Fink. [Free enterprise is under assault from politicians who only care about good intentions, not results.] 10-13-15
Economy. LTE. “Our Demographics Explain Most of the Labor Rate Drop.” 10-16-15 [cf. #181, 10-3-15, here]
Economy. “No Wonder Growth Has Been So Anemic.” By Andy Puzder. 10-16-15
Economy. “Don’t Look Back in Anger at Bailouts and Stimulus.” By Alan S. Blinder and Mark Zandi. [Without the emergency measures of 2009-09, the U.S. economy would be far worse off today.] 10-16-15
Economy. “A Better Way to Measure Poverty.” By David Jeffrey and Amir Pasic. [ A new tool focuses on consumption, not income, and on whether people’s basic needs are being met.] 10-19-15
Economy. “How Government Sets Taylor Swift’s Royalties.” By Barlett Cleland. 10-19-15
Economy. LTE. “Anger, No, but Look Back With Clear Vision.” 10-21-15
Economy. “A Rare-Earths Economics Lesson.” [How markets defeated China’s attempt at minerals mercantalism.] 10-22-15
Economy. LTE. “The Weak Economy Hurts Employment Participation.” 10-23-15
Economy. “In Defense of Demonized Wall Street.” By Jason DeSena Trennert. [Never mind the Sanders-Clinton-Trump complaints. Capital markets have been a blessing to untold millions.] 10-23-15
Economy. “The Oncoming Train Crash.” [A bad 2008 law may soon disrupt rail service nationwide.] 10-26-15
Economy. “Ukraine Wheat Market and Others Effect U.S. Farmers.” 10-27-15
Economy. “Libertarian Dream of Pharmaceuticals.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Politicians deplore drug companies for behaving according to the incentives politicians created.] 10-31-15
Economy. LTE. Free Markets, but With A Government Assist.” 10-31-15
Economy. . “The Corporate Tax Political Divide.” [Democrats are driving U.S. companies and capital offshore.] 11-2-15
Economy. “Encouraged by the Feds, Cities Are Punishing Business.” By W. John Ella. [Multistate employers are being overwhelmed by a crazy quilt of local laws. A backlash is under say.” 11-2-15
Economy. LTE. “Ms. Fiorina Is Wrong About Democrats and Growth.” 11-3-15
Economy. “Converting the Yuan.” [The world should welcome a freely traded Chinese currency.” 11-4-15
Economy. “Third World America.” [The Keystone beating shows political risk is a major U.S. problem.] 11-4-15
Economy. “Where the New Jobs Will Come From.” By Thomas Tunstall. [In 2007 iPhone application developers didn’t exist. By 2011 Apple had $15 billion in mobile-app revenues.] 11-5-15
Economy: “Memo to Trump: Nafta Helps Americans.” By Mary Anastasia O’Grady. [Levying tariffs on Mexico to pay for a border wall would launch a trade war.] 11-9-15
Economy: LTE. “The White House and Economic Prosperity.” 11-9-15
Economy. “The Latest Lure From Abroad for U.S. Firms.” By Denis Hughes. 11-10-15
Economy. “My Tour of FICO Scores, Fido Loans, Whatever.” By Andy Kessler. [Puzzled that my just-out-of-college son’s credit rating is better than mine, I did some investigating.] 11-11-15
Economy. “Rigging the Game on Open Skies.” By Doug Parker and Keith Wilson. [When unfair competition forces U.S. airlines to cut service, the result is loss of American jobs.] 11-11-15
Economy. “The Real Cost of Obama’s Overtime Mandate.” By Jesse Panuccio. [The rule will supposedly cost $2 billion the first year. Our math shows $1.7 billion for Florida alone.] 11-14-15
Economy. LTE. “Let’s Stop Complaining and Start Competing.” [airlines, gov’t subsidies, etc.] 11-24-15
Economy. LTE. “Bowing to Big 3 Demands Would Hurt the Economy.” 11-27-15 [See 11-11-15, here, – Open skies for airlines]
Economy. LTE. “Giving Credit History Where Credit Is Due.” By Lilliam Lansing, CEO, FICO. 11-30-15
Economy. “U.S. Manufacturing Slides.” [For those not in Paris, the business climate bears watching.] 12-2-15
Economy. LTE. “If Apple Leaves, Will We Get The Message?” 12-4-15
Economy. LTE. “Emirates Airline Debunks False Allegations.” 12-4-15 [See Nov. 11, 2015, #214, here]
Economy. “Price Bomb of Gilead.” [The Senate probe into a Hep C treatment shows how markets work.] 12-7-15
Economy. “How to Keep the Unemployed Out of Work.” By Mark V. Holden. 12-9-15
Economy. LTE. “Open Skies, Maybe, but Hardly Level Skies.” 12-10-15 [ See #217 here]
Economy. “The I-Word Our Debates Are Missing.” By Glenn Hutchins. [Economic insecurity – not inequality — is the concern for Americans struggling to make ends meet.] 12-10-15
Economy. “The Uncounted Trillions in the Inequality Debate.” By Martin Feldstein. [Wealth isn’t so highly concentrated if you take into account Medicare and Social Security benefits.] 12-14-15
Economy. “A Merger Made in Washington.” [Would Dow and DuPont be getting married if the economy wasn’t lousy?] 12-12-15
Economy. “The New Bond Market.” [Encourage record sales of bonds, while telling banks not to buy them.] 12-15-15
Economy. LTE. “A Lot of Inequality Is What You Count or Not.” 12-18-15 (See 12-14-15 here.)
Economy. LTE. “Insecurity, Responsibility, Spending and Happiness.” 12-18-15 (See 12-10-15 here.)
Economy. “Strong Market, Weak Returns – Why?” by Romain Hatchuel. [Hedge funds have become a hedge against attractive gains. Big mutual funds are underperforming.] 12-18-15
Economy. “One Pharma Fix: Limit the ‘Orphan Drug’ Incentives.” [Money meant to encourage research on rare disorders is diverted to blockbusters.] 12-21-15
Economy. LTE. “The Darker Side of Licensing for Employment.” 12-23-15 (See 12-9-15, here)
Economy. “Subsidies for Cooking Oil.” [Green fuel grantees fail with biofuels but look out, Top chef.] 12-26-15
Economy. “Yahoo’s Mayer Can Still Be a CEO Hero.” [No longer expected to produce miracles, she can win for shareholders by beating the IRS.] 12-26-15
Economy. LTE. “Time to Let the ‘Small Fry’ Become the ‘Smart Money.’” 12-28-15
Economy. “Subsidiaries in Durope? Playbook, Please.” [“…a foreign government could hand the information over to any competitor or use it to develop a new one. And the file could be hacked…”] 12-28-15
Economy. “Investing for 2016 in an Expensive Market.” By Burton G. Malkiel. [Diversify broadly, control your costs, add some foreign stocks and resist the urge to sell your bonds.] 12-31-15
Economy. “Ackman and the Politics of Rail Mergers.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Consolidation would bring useful efficiencies, but the industry dreads opening a door to re-regulation.] 1-2-16
Economy. “Don’t Blame Oil for Global Chaos.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Cheap energy is a symptom, not a cause, of the world’s geopolitical mess.] 1-6-16
Economy. “The Recession Caused by Low Oil Prices.” By Donald L. Luskin. [Misery for oil incumbents from the fracking boom is spilling into the global economy. But there is cause for optimism.] 1-8-16
Economy. “Saving Corporate Cash by Hiring a Chief Health Officer. “ by David B. Agus. [Productivity losses from health-related matters cost American businesses tens of billions annually.] 1-8-16
Economy. “The Myths of China’s Currency Manipulation.” By Matthew J. Slaughter. [Movements in the yuan’s nominal exchange rate do not affect long-term trade flows or jobs in the U.S.] 1-9-16
Economy. “The Big But Hidden U.S. Jobs Problem.” By Robert Doar. [Labor-force participation remains alarmingly low. The British could offer tips on putting people to work.] 1-12-16
Economy. “GM Speaks Untruth to Power.” By Homan W. Jenkins. [Forget the technobabble. Detroit needs to engage in straight talk about regulation.] 1-13-16
Economy. “The Global Slowdown Hits the U.S.” by Ruchir Sharma. [America dodged the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, but much has changed. Today’s world economic slide is starting to hurt us.] 1-13-16
Economy. “$29 Oil and the Dollar.” [As the greenback keeps rising, commodity prices keep falling.] 1-16-16
Economy. “How Obama Can Revive His Stalling Trade Pacts.” By Robert B. Zoelick. [Deals in Europe and the Pacific aren’t dead, but the president must get to work.] 1-16-16
Economy. “Bad Days for Wal-Mart Americans.” By Homan W. Jenkins, Jr. [The retail giant encounters the everyday low politics of secular stagnation.] 1-20-16
Economy. “Markets Are Scaring Themselves.” By Alan S. Blinder. [China is not as big a deal as investors think, and their reading of oil prices is economically strange.] 1-21-16
Economy. “The Bernie Sanders Tax Attack on Stock Trades.” By Burton G. Malkiel. [His plan would hurt investors – but, hey, at least it would pay for free college.] 1-22-16
Economy. “The Deficit Rises Again.” [Obama has set up deficits and debt to soar after he leaves office.] 1-26-16
Economy. LTE. “It’s Not Just China and Oil Scaring the Market.” 1-26-16
Economy. LTE. “Inflation Is Hardly a Worry for U.S. Economy.” 1-26-16
Economy. “The Chances of a Global Meltdown.” By Gerald O’Driscoll Jr. [Investors have reasons to be fearful – but not terrified. Here’s what to expect in the rocky months ahead.] 1-26-16
Economy. “Washington’s Corporate Purge.” [Bernie and Hillary compete to drive more U.S. companies overseas.] 1-27-16
Economy. “Where Have All the Oil ‘Speculators’ Gone? By Brad Schaeffer. [Funny how the market worked fine without government intervention to stop price ‘gouging.’] 1-27-16
Economy. “The Sanders-Trump Fuel.” [The U.S. economy hasn’t grown by 3% for 10 straight years.] 1-30-16
Economy. “U.S. Economic Freedom Continues to Fade.” By Terry Miller. [“…Today, the U.S. ranks 11^th out of 178 rated economies…”] 2-1-16
Economy. “Killing the Working Class at Wal-Mart.” By Andy Puzder. [When a store closes, the minimum wage for your lost job is zero. Activists should have seen it coming.] 2-5-16
Economy. “Rumors of Recession.” [“…The overriding problem continues to be a lack of business confidence and investment…”] 2-6-16
Economy. “Chesapeake at Bay.” [Mr. Obama’s economic triumphalism is lost on the oil and gas market.] 2-9-16
Economy. “Negative Interest Rates Are a Dead End.” By William Poole. [They won’t spur growth, but will divert attention from reforms that can.] 2-9-16
Economy. “Nobody Likes the Obama Economy.” [“President Obama strode into the White House press room last Friday to deliver an economic pep talk. “So unemployment, deficits, gas prices are all down. Jobs, wages, and the rate of the insured are up,” he said. “The [U.S.], right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. I know that’s still inconvenient for Republican stump speeches as their doom and despair tour plays in New Hampshire…”] 2-11-16
Economy. “Hidden Dangers of the Oil-Price Shock.” By Jason M. Thomas. 2-12-16
Economy. “Your Funny Valentine Candy Pricing.” By Joe Pitts and David McIntosh. [Making a box of chocolates more expensive is one of many ways federal sugar policy hurts U.S. taxpayers.] 2-12-16
Economy. Republicans. “Grow , Baby, Grow.!” By William McGurn. [Republicans have a great message about economic growth for middle America. Why make it so boring?] 2-16-16
Economy. “The Political War on Cash.” [So long, Ben Franklin. Politicians want to coerce you to spend.] 2-18-16
Economy. “The U.S. Economy Is in Good Shape.” By Martin Feldstein. [As we shake off the effects of past Fed policy, many signs are good. But the 2016 race has seen some alarming proposals floated.] 2-22-16
Economy. LTE. “The Use of Cash Is Really a Civil Rights Issue.” 2-23-16
Economy. “Apple Goes to the Supreme Court.” [The Justices should hear the e-book antitrust case.] 2-25-16
Economy. LTE. “Why Feel Bad if Economy Is in Great Shape?” 2-26-16
Economy. “Making Depressions Great Again.” [The U.S. may renounce its trade leadership at a dangerous economic moment.] 3-1-16
Economy. “The Transformation of Economics.” By Richard K. Vedder. [Five big changes I’ve seen over the past half-century. One is economics as ideology in camouflage.] 3-2-16
Economy. “The New Cash Hoarders.” [Negative interest rates have the law-abiding scrambling for bills.] 3-4-16
Economy LTE. “Money Costs Money, Whether Tangible or Not.” 3-4-16
Economy. “Florida Basks in a Texas-Style Resurgence.” By Stephen Moore. [The Sunshine State’s economy dimmed in the recession, but now growth and jobs are brightening.] 3-5-16
Economy. “Vermont Invades Your Kitchen.” [A state rule to label GMO foods will raise costs nationwide.] 3-7-16
Economy. “Rising Global Debt and the Deflation Threat.” By George Melloan. [Years of deficit spending and near-zero interest rates have led to massive borrowing but little growth.] 3-8-16
Economy. LTE. “ Let’s Take Another Look at Income Inequality.” 3-10-16
Economy. “Voters Should Be Mad at Electric Cars.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [If Trump and Sanders fans hate absurd handouts to elites, the Tesla economy is the place to look.] 3-12-16
Economy. LTE. “Forget Theory, Look at the Results in Florida.” [by Gov. Rich Scott] 3-12-16
Economy. “Making the Case for Trade.” By Morton Kondrachke and Matthew J. Slaughter. [Reagan’s ‘protectionism is destructionism’ message was true – and it would be derided in the 2016 race.] 3-16-16
Economy. LTE. “World Trade Today Isn’t What It Used to Be.” 3-22-16.
Economy. “Valeant: Blame Our Accounting, Please!” by Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [The drug company hopes you will focus on how its revenues were booked, not how they were generated.] 3-26-16
Economy. LTE. “Extending Work for Some Means Fewer Jobs for Others.” 3-28-16
Economy. LTE. “Trade, Sans Manufactures to Sell, hurts U.S.” 4-1-16
Economy. LTE. “No Wonder U.S. Manufacturing Flees Abroad.” 4-6-16
Economy. LTE. “Workers Vote for Politicians Who Drive U.S. Jobs Away.” 4-11-16
Economy. “Why Are Companies Taking Sides Against Religious Liberty?” by William Ligon. [Policies intended to encourage inclusion have curdled into antipathy for people of faith.] 4-11-16 [See #294, here]
Economy. “Bernie’s Spinal Surgery on CEOs.” By Kimberley A. Strassel. [A few firms are finally standing up to defend themselves from the left’s nonstop attacks.] 4-15-16
Economy. “No Justice for Business.” [A small Minnesota company fights a bad prosecution – and wins. But where’s the redress.?] 4-16-16
Economy. “The Great Recession Blame Game.” By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon. [Banks took the heat, but it was Washington that propped up subprime debt and then stymied recovery.] 4-16-16
Economy. LTE. “Is It Freedom of Religion or Freedom From It?” 4-19-16 [See #290, here]
Economy. “Monetary Reform or Trade War.” By Lewis E. Lehrman and John D. Mueller. [Trump is right that other countries seek advantage by devaluing their money. But the fix isn’t tariffs.] 4-20-16
Economy. “Why We’re Reviewing Asset Management.” By Jacob J. Lew. 4-20-16
Economy. LTE. “Myths, False Memories of the Great Recession.” 4-22-16 (See 4-16-16, #293, here).
Economy. “Five Big Truths About Trade.” By Alan S. Blinder. [In 2000 the U.S. jobless rate was 4%, despite a trade imbalance larger than today’s. How could that be?] 4-22-16
Economy. LTE. “Governments Are Poor Managers of Economies.” 4-23-16
Economy. “Obama’s British Trade Threat.” [A U.S. – U.K. deal would be possible and desirable.] 4-25-16
Economy. “An Uber Shakedown.” [Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan has a wealth-sharing business model.] 4-25-16
Economy. Bookshelf by R. Tyler Priest. “Ignoring the Shale Revolution.” [The Oracle of Oil. By Mason Inman.] [U.S. Oil Production, at nearly nine million barrels per day, is nine times what Hubbert predicted it would be in the 21sth century.] 4-26-16
Economy. LTE. “Lew and the FSOC: First Do No Harm, Please.” 4-26-16
Economy. LTE. “Monetary Reform, Trade Wars and Choices.” 4-28-16 (cf. 4-20-26 here)
Economy. “Make America Grow Again.” [The economy barely dodges recession, and Washington yawns.] 4-29-16
Economy. “The Blame-Thy-Neighbor Economic Excuse.” By Kevin Warsh. [Faced with stagnation, the big economies cite vague ‘headwinds’ and play a devaluation tit-for-tat.] 4-29-16
Economy. “The Bobby Knight Primary.” By William McGurn. [What Hoosiers can tell America about turning around a struggling economy.] 5-3-16
Economy. LTE. “Look at the Darker Side of Free-Trade Policy.” 5-3-16
Economy. LTE. “Gig Economy Drivers’ Expectations vs. Uber’s.” 5-3-16
Economy. “Ending America’s Slow-Growth Tailspin.” By John H. Cochrane. [The U.S. economy needs a dramatic legal and regulatory simplification.] 5-3-16
Economy. LTE. “Fixed Rates Ballast Interest Rates and Commodity Prices.” 5-4-16
Economy. “Busting the Cable-Box Monopoly Is Overdue.” By Trent Lott and John Breaux. [Families pay an average of $231 per year, and prices are up 185% since 1994.] 5-9-16
Economy. LTE. “Getting the Executive Bonus Incentives Right.” 5-10-16
Economy. LTE. “Slow Growth, Complex Rules Suit Many of the Established.” 5-10-16
Economy. LTE. “Obama Economy Didn’t Spawn Trumps Surge.” 5-11-16
Economy. “Protecting Big Business.” [The FTC admits it blocked a merger as a way to help ‘large’ firms.] 5-12-16
Economy. LTE. “Oil, Windfall Taxes and Bad Long-Term Economic Policy.” 5-12-16
Economy. “When all Economics Is Political.” [The Weekend Interview with Russ Roberts; by Kyle Peterson] [The dismal science has too much junk science, says the EconTalk podcast host, who is an evangelist for humility in a discipline where it is often hard to find.] 5-14-16
Economy. “Trade Is a National Security Imperative.” By Robert B. Zoellick. [Abandoning the Pacific pact will tell America’s Asian allies that the U.S. is yielding to China. They will accommodate accordingly. ] 5-17-16
Economy. LTE. “Those Harmed by Trade Agreements Need Help.” 5-24-16
Economy. “The G-7 Agenda in Japan: Revive Global Prosperity.” By Shinzo Abe. [The subjects we will address include terrorism, international maritime laws and global health.] 5-24-16
Economy. LTE. “Clintonomics Would Be Very Different Today.” 5-25-16
Economy. LTE. “Any Cable-Box Change Must Help Consumers.” 5-25-16 (See May 9, here, on “Cable Box Monopoly.”)
Economy. LTE. “Economics Claims a Precision Rarely Found.” 5-25-16
Economy. “Fannie, Freddie and an Outbreak of Amnesia.” By Douglas Holtz-Eakin. [The growing ‘recap and release’ movement is a bad idea that could lead to another financial disaster.] 5-25-16
Economy. LTE. “Moves Against Chinese Steel Are Not Protectionism.” 5-27-16
Economy. “Inattention-To-The-Deficit Disorder.” By George Melloan. [By one estimate, the government will spend $117.9 trillion more than it takes in this century.] 5-27-16
Economy. LTE. “New Overtime Rules Will hurt the Motivated.” 5-28-16
Economy. “That Slow Hissing Sound? The Jet Bubble.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. 5-28-16
Economy. “Imagine an Economy without Wall Street.” By Nitin Nohria. [Absent finance, most people can’t buy a home or start a business. Look at my family’s experience.] 6-2-16
Economy. “Canada’s Housing Lesson for the U.S.” by Brian Lee Crowley and Sean Speer. 6-3-16
Economy. LTE. “A Deficit-Inattention Disorder May Be Fatal.” 6-3-16 (See 5-27-16, Economy, here) 6-3-16
Economy. “Democratic Dissonance on the Economy.” By Michael J. Boskin. [Obama claims credit for an economy that Clinton and, even more stridently, Sanders are blasting.] 6-3-16
Economy. “What’s Killing Jobs and Stalling the Economy.” By Marie-Josee Kravis. [A toxic regulatory brew from Dodd-Frank to state licensing laws, has poisoned the formation of new firms that drive growth.] 6-4-16
Economy. “A Rude Jobs Interruption.” [The labor market finally catches up with slower economic growth.] 6-4-16
Economy. LTE. “Sure Wall Street Adds Value, but For Whom?” 6-9-16 (See #330, here, 6-2-16)
Economy. “Money for Nothing.” [You can now pay Germany to borrow your money for a decade.] 6-15-16 (“…economic policy failure.”)
Economy. LTE. “There’s No Need to Pay Off the National Debt.” 6-23-16
Economy. “The End of Economic Forecasting.” By Roger Altman. [The dominance of finance has made economic volatility the new normal.] 6-24-16
Economy. “Time to Rethink ‘One Share, One Vote.’? By Peter Clapman and Richard Koppes. 6-24-16
Economy. “Markets and Political Surprise.” [Investors take a beating as they relearn that the status quo won’t hold.] 6-25-16
Economy. LTE. “Revitalize U.S. Manufacturing Via Training.” 6-27-16
Economy. “Shrinking Support for Small Businesses. By Robert G. Wilmers. 6-29-16
Economy. LTE. “Why It’s hard to Make Economic Predictions.” 6-30-16
Economy. LTE. “GM Is Much More Focused and Profitable Now.” 7-7-16 (by Alan Batey, President, GM North America)
Economy. “Fixing American Finance.” [High capital is better than betting on the foresight of regulators.] 7-9-16
Economy. “Restoring Fisheries, Scoring a Net Gain.” By Rob Walton and Fred Krupp. 7-11-16
Economy. LTE. “Idling Economic Engine Can Rev Up Again.” 7-14-16
Economy. “Low Unemployment, High Dissatisfaction.” By Bob Funk. 7-15-16
Economy. LTE. “Vegan Activists: No Meat, Cheese or Eggs.] 7-15-16
Economy. LTE “Best Financial Tool Ever – the Stock Market. 7-18-16 (See #346, here)
Economy. Regulation. “Markets Run Into skepticism – and Regulators.” [Faith in economic freedom used to be a given in the West. Now a misguided trust in government control is growing.] 7-19-16
Economy. “China’s Rare-Earths Bust.” [A new Honda engine shows the limits of Beijing’s coercion.] 7-20-16
Economy. “Indiana Growth Model.” [The Daniels-Pence record is a lesson in conservative reform.] 7-21-16
Economy. “Braids of Liberty.” [A victory in what should be a nationwide war on occupational licensing.] 7-27-16
Economy. LTE. “No wonder So Many Americans Are Unhappy.” 7-27-16 (See #349, here)
Economy. “The Loophole Economy Is No jackpot for Indians.” [Running casinos or selling tax-free cigarettes can’t substitute for what tribes truly need: property rights.] 7-28-16
Economy. “Make America Grow Again.” [The economy is stuck on 1% growth as business investment stalls.] 7-30-16
Economy. “Why This Recovery Is So Lousy.” By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon. [Don’t believe the line that slow growth is inevitable after financial crises. Bad policies yield bad results.] 8-4-16
Economy. “Bill De Blasio’s Progressive War on Uber.” By Benjamin Parker. [Archaic government regulation is the reason ride-hailing companies are flourishing in New York.] 8-4-16
Economy. “Socialist? Capitalist? Who Can Tell?” by George Milloan. [The 1960s idea that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. would ‘converge’ wasn’t so far-fetched.] 8-5-16
Economy. “The Looting of Volkswagen” [The company deserves a fine, but politicians keep demanding more.] 8-5-16 (“…all of this raises a question about America’s business climate…”)
Economy. LTE. “Growth Was Never President Obama’s Goal.” 8-8-16
Economy. LTE. “Government Simply Can’t Make Wages Grow.” 8-10-16
Economy. LTE. “Innovation and the Progressive’s War on Uber.” 8-11-16
Economy. “The Housing Non-Crisis.” [The home ownership rate is a bad measure of economic prosperity.] 8-12-16
Economy. “Why ‘Risk-based’ Capital Is Far Too Risky.” By Thomas M. Hoenig. [A risk-based system inflates the role of regulators and denigrates the role of bank managers.] 8-12-16
Economy. LTE. “Like It or Not, Isolationism Is f Mirage for U.S.” 8-13-16
Economy. “The Cure for Wage Stagnation.” By Kevin A. Hassett and Aparna Mathur. [A plethora of studies from around the world agree: Lower corporate tax rates equal higher wages.] 8-15-16
Economy. LTE. “Promoting Trade Without Competitiveness.” “The Pipeline and the Short Seller.” [Emails show a federal regulator shared non-public information with an investor.] 8-17-16
Economy. LTE. “Requirements Make Risk-Based Capital Safe.” 8-18-16 (See 8-12-16, #367 here)
Economy. “Michigan’s Lessons for Ontario.” By Mary Anastasia O’Grady. [Pro-growth reforms under Republican Gov. Rick Snyder have rescued the state.] 8-22-16
Economy. “The Robots Are Coming. Welcome Them.” By Andy Kessler. [Don’t believe the fears that machines will put humans out of work. Technology creates more jobs than it destroys.] 8-23-16
Economy. “Patent Judges Should be Scientists, Too.” By Alex Berezow and Neal Mody. [Courts aren’t equipped to weigh technical claims in fields like biotech, raising uncertainty for innovators.] 8-23-16
Economy. LTE. “Wilbur Ross Responds to His Critics on Trade.” 8-26-16
Economy. LTE. “Trade Deals Used in Foreign Policy Bring Economic Ruin.” 8-27-16
Economy. “The Idle Army: America’s Unworking Men.” By Nicholas Eberstadt. [Millions of young males have left the workforce and civic life. Full employment? The U.S. isn’t even close.] 9-2-16
Economy. LTE. “Robots Are Dandy, but Workers May Worry.” 9-3-16
Economy. “Germany Offers a Promising Jobs Model.” By Edward F. Lazear and Simon Janssen. [Germans with vocational apprenticeships earn 92% of the average wage.] 9-9-16
Economy. “In the Heart of Silicon Valley, They Don’t Want New Jobs.” By Andy Kessler. [Palo Alto is doing great, thanks. So please build your affordable homes somewhere else.] 9-17-16
Economy. “The Reasons Behind the Obama Non-Recovery.” By Robert J. Barro. [It wasn’t the severity of the Great Recession that caused the weak recovery, but government policies.] 9-21-16
Hillary. LTE. “Clinton’s College Fix Is Expensive and Flawed.” 9-21-16
Hillary. “Obama’s Track Record With Blacks Won’t Help Clinton.” [The president hopes to fuel minority turnout by stoking anger, fear and resentment.] 9-21-16
Economy. LTE. “Debating Robert Barro on the Non-Recovery.” 9-29-16
Economy. LTE. “Foreign VAT Hurts the U.S. Balance of Trade. 9-29-16
Economy. “How to Make Trade Work for Everyone.” By Christine Lagarde, Jim Yon Kim, and Roberto Azevedo. [Open markets are essential for a sustained global recovery and equity for years to come…] (Ms. Lagarde is managing director of the IMF, Mr. Kim is president of the World bank Group, and Mr. Azevedo is director-general of the World Trade Organization..) 10-5-16
Economy. LTE. “Time to Examine, diagnose Sick-Leave Policy.” 10-7-16
Economy. LTE. “Some Automakers Leave The U.S., Others Move In.” 10-8-16
Economy. LTE “U.S. Manufacturers: Fewer Workers, More Productivity.” 10-10-15
Economy. “Killing the Death Tax Would Resurrect Growth.” By Stephen J. Entin. [Because the tax reduces the stock of capital, it lowers the productivity of labor and reduces wages and employment.] 10-13-16
Economy. “Everyone’s Worst Investing Fears.” By Andy Kessler. [With assets in a funk, interest rates at zero and IPOs scarce, what’s capital to do?] 10-17-16
Economy. “Caterpillar’s Rough Dollar Ride.” [Oberhelman guessed wrong on the impact of monetary policy.] 10-18-16
Economy. “New York Tries to Kill Airbnb.” [Too many owners were making too many renters happy.] 10-22-16
Economy. LTE. “Getting the American Economy to Roar Again.” 10-22-16
Economy. “It’s Not the Economy, Stupid. It’s the Political Gridlock.” [American’s say the country is on the wrong track, but ‘consumer confidence’ is strong. So what gives.?] 10-25-16
Economy “What the China Trade Warriors Get Wrong.” By Alan Reynolds. [If trade agreements are so lousy, why are our largest deficits with countries that lack a U.S trade deal?] 10-27-16
Economy. LTE “Confiscation Is a Poor Productivity Incentive.” 10-27-16
Economy. “Consumers Save the Economy.” [Growth pops up but business investment disappoints again.] 10-29-16
Economy. “The Benefits of a New Atlantic Growth Pact.” By Kristen Silverberg and Phil Levy. [The next president has a chance to restart trade talks with an approach that addresses U.S. needs.] 10-31-16
Economy. “All Aboard the Infrastructure Boondoggle.” By Michael J. Boskin. [Whoever wins on Nov. 8, a flood of public-works money is coming. Cost-benefit tests are crucial.] 11-1-16
Economy. “Why Aren’t Americans Getting Raises? Blame the Monopsony.” By Jason Furman and Alan B. Krueger. [Instead of bidding up wages, firms collude to keep pay low and enforce noncompete clauses.] 11-4-16
Economy. “Don’t Believe the Economic Pessimists.” By John H. Cocrane. [Memo to Clinton and Trump: The U.S. economy can and will grow faster with the right policies.] 11-7-16
Economy. “Whoever Wins, Capitalism Will Survive.” By George Melloan. [don’t despair. Trump or Clinton may be a dismal choice. But the U.S. economy is resilient.] 11-7-16
Economy. “Which President ‘Created’ More Jobs?” by Douglas Holtz-Eakin. [I all depends on how you count. But the raw figures that Obama’s supporters tout are highly misleading.] 11-9-16
Economy. “Any Relief for the Monetary-Policy Guinea Pigs?” by Amy Falls. [Declining returns on investment deplete the coffers of our incubators of science and technology.] 11-11-16
Economy. “Pacific Trade Bust.” [The first casualty of America’s new anti-trade politics.] 11-12-16
Economy. ‘Markets Weren’t Spooked by a President Trump.” By David M. Primo and Trung A. Dang. [What investors feared was an indecisive election. Once the winner became clear, confidence returned.] 11-14-16
Economy. “Squaring Trumponomics With Reality.” By Martin Feldstein. [Corporate and personal tax cuts will boost growth. But debt will rise without reducing budget outlay.] 11-15-2016
Economy. “A Nobel Idea to Pay CEOs What They’re Actually Worth.” By Robert C. Pozen. [Indexing stock options would reward only skilled executives who beat their industry average.] 11-15-2016
Economy. “The Entrepreneurial Way to 4% Growth.” By Carl J. Schramm. [ Trump should set a goal: fix the business climate so a million Americans a year can start companies.”] 11-16-16
Economy. “A Look Behind the Curtain of Trumponomics.” By Alan S. Blinder. [The stock market senses a coming sugar high from tax cuts, but watch out for a destructive trade war.] 11-18-16
Economy. [licensing] “Breaking Down ‘Bottleneckers.’” By Dick Carpenter and Chip Mellor. [From music therapists to funeral directors, licensing schemes keep out competition.] 11-21-16
Economy. “Ford’s Tango with Trump.” [The car company keeps production in the U.S., but in return for what?] 11-21-16
Economy. “If Oil Refiners Crash, So Will the Economy.” By Carl Icahn. [Biofuel regulations are ruining merchant oil refiners – bad for business and national security.] 11-22-16
Economy. “The Real Enemy for Trump Is Mercantilism, Not Globalism.” By Hernando de Soto. [As in Adam Smith’s day, the state favors some firms through regulations, taxes, subsidies and licenses.] 11-28-16
Economy. “Trump Trains, Trump Air, Trump Roads…” [Don’t expect a big burst of growth from ‘infrastructure.’] 11-29-16
Economy. LTE. “More bank Capital Won’t Stop the Next Crisis.” 12-1-16
Economy. “Understanding the Trump Trade Agenda.” By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon. [Returning to the 1950s is impossible. But currency manipulation does hurt American workers.] 12-2-16
Economy. “A Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Background Check.” By Peter J. Wallison. [Reports of privatizing the government-sponsored mortgage-finance giants are greatly exaggerated.] 12-2-16
Economy. “Don’t Even Thing About Selling Grandma’s Homemade Cookies.” By Erica Jedynak and Heather Russinko. [New Jersey should follow Michigan, California and Texas in lifting its ban on home bakeries.] 12-3-16
Economy. “How to Put Building Permits on a Fast Track.” By Dan Sullivan. [It can take 15 years to win approval for a new airport runway. No wonder U.S. infrastructure needs a lift.] 12-5-16
Economy. “Trump’s Blank Goldman Slates.” [His top economic advisers have few known policy views.] 12-14-16
Economy. “Trump’s Infrastructure Mistake.” By Alan S. Blinder and Alan B. Krueger. [H wants to draw in private money – but do investors swoon to fix leaky school roofs?] 12-19-16
Economy. “The Company Founder’s Special Sauce.” By Chris Zook and James Allen. [No one leads a firm as effectively as the person who started it.] 12-19-16
Economy. “Doomed to Stagnate.” By Bret Stephens. [Eight years ago it took 40 days to get a construction permit. Now it’s 81.] 12-20-16
Economy. “The Keynesians vs. Kudlow.” [Trup needs some pro-growth voices in the White House.] 12-22-16
Economy. “The Latino Drivers of Economic Growth.” By Sol Trujillo. [Trump is on track to appoint the first cabinet in 28 years without a Hispanic.] 12-22-16
Economy. “Does Trump Have a Secret Master Plan for Wilbur Ross?” by Andy Kessler. [Carrier should be buying up competitors rather than propping up failing Indiana factories.] 12-28-16
Economy. “Holiday Cheer From the Dismal Science.” By Edward P. Lazear. [No G-7 Economy comes close to American Wealth. Per Capita, most are only about 70% as rich.] 12-29-16
Economy. “The ‘Labor Secretary’ Needs a Promotion.” By Gary E. MacDougal. [“…The Labor Department name is a relic of the era when union leaders felt entitled to a seat at the cabinet table…”] 12-30-16
Economy. “Where Are the IPOs?” [Despite rising stock prices, a down year for new public companies.] 12-31-16
Education. “School Choice Saves Money.” [A study from Wisconsin adds up some of the economic evidence.] 12-31-16
Economy. “Alibaba’s ‘Notorious’ Brand.” [The Chinese tech giant has a woeful record on counterfeit goods.] 1-6-17
Economy. “Trump’s Auto Bluster.” [He should stick to making the U.S. a better place to invest.]. 1-7-17
Economy. “Obama’s Last Jobs Report.” [Ho-hum employment gains but wages are finally increasing.] 1-7-17
Economy. “What’s Behind Trump’s War With Detroit.” By Holman w. Jenkins, Jr. [The butting of heads is less than it seems. Ford and th rest will be repaid with relaxed fuel-mileage rules.] 1-7-17
Economy. “Make Housing Sane Again.” [Will Trump protect taxpayers or Fannie and Freddie shareholders.?] 1-9-17
Economy. “How Index Funds Democratize Investing.” By Barbara Novick. [Academic criticisms of indexing lack economic logic and factual support from the real world.] 1-9-17
Economy. “Take a Patriotic Vacation to Johnstown, Pa.” by Bill Lane. [A true protectionist would tax travel: visiting Aruba is just like importing leisure.] 1-13-17
Economy. “Don’t Let the Dollar Inhibit Growth.” By Sean Rushton. [A soaring currency could slow exports, fueling populist anger. Time for another Plaza Accord?] 1-13-17
Economy. “Stimulate the Economy and Spend Nothing.” By Tony Lima. 1-17-17
Economy. “Trump’s Antitrade Warriors.” [The President-elect may ask Congress for a new tariff bill.] 1-17-17
Economy. “The Trumped-Up Dollar.” [Faster growth from better policies will lead to a bigger buck.] 1-19-17
Economy. “Tom Price’s Trading Days.” [His investments are an argument for index funds, not a case of scandal.] 1-19-17
Economy. “Steven Mnuchin Bought IndyMac Fair and Square. By Jim Wigand and John Bovenzi. [Trump’s pick for Treasury made the best offer. The second-highest bid meant $1 billion more in losses.] 1-19-17
Economy. “’Third World’ U.S. Airports? That Insults the Third World.” By John Tierney. [Private managers make terminals sparkle and hum the world over. Here we’re stuck with LaGuardia.] 1-21-17
Economy. “Obama Did Not Save the Economy.” By Homan W. Jenkins, Jr. [It’s not his fault he arrived too late to play a role. But getting the credit wrong also gets the blame wrong.] 1-21-17
Economy. “Will Trump Deliver a Growth Miracle? Don’t Count on it.” [His policies promise marginal improvement at best. But then, he could always get lucky again.] 1-23-17
Economy. “No More Keystone Capers.” [Trump liberates two pipelines but could kill them with new demands.] 1-25-17
Economy. “Trump’s Real Trade Problem Is Money.” By John D. Mueller. [Protectionism won’t cure the import-export imbalance. The solutions lies in monetary policy.] 1-25-17
Economy. “The Promise of Dow 20,000.” [It took 42 trading days to climb 1000 points but 17 years to double.] 1-26-17
Economy. “The Trump-Brexit Opening.” [A U.S. – U.K. Trade deal may never be easier to strike than right now.] 1-27-17
Economy. “About That Obama ‘Boom.’” [The economy averaged 1.8% annual growth, 2.1% after the recession.] 1-28-17
Economy. “Tomorrow’s Manufacturing Revolution.” By Mark P. Mills. [Bioelectronics is as big a jump as ditching vacuum tubes.] 2-3-17
Economy. “A Trump-Cohn Financial Rewrite.” [They could offer Wall Street fewer rules in return for more capital.] 2-6-17
Economy. “Coaxing Workers Back to Work.” [Can faster growth induce idle Americans into the labor force?] 2-6-17
Economy. “Dakota Access Dumping Ground.” [A pipeline can proceed but the protesters left a dirty mess.] 2-8-17
Economy. “Trade Punishment for Trump Voters.” [Protectionism is already hurting the Farm Belt.] 2-10-17
Economy. “Will Trump Tee Off on Japanese Cars?” by Holman W Jenkins, Jr. [Why don’t the Big three sell cars in Japan? The reason is not what you think.] 2-11-17
Economy. “Texas and the Real Forgotten Man.” By Mary Anastasia O’Grady. [If Trump destroys NAFTA, millions of Americans will pay the price.] 2-13-17
Economy. “Washington Protects Wall Street at Ordinary Citizens’ Expense.” [From the fiduciary standard to Dodd-frank, Trump belies his populist campaign.] 2-13-17
Economy. “Stock Options for the Little Guy.” By William M. Issac and Richard M. Kovacevich.[Helping companies give ownership to average workers is as easy as repealing 123.]
2-13-17Economy. “Currency Manipulation Is a Real Problem.” By Judy Shelton. [What’s the point of free-trade deals if governments can wipe out the benefits with monetary maneuvers?] 2-14-17
Economy. “Free Trade and the Bean That Helped Make America Great.” By Blake Hurst. [Farmers like me see promise in the new president but peril in his protectionism.] 2-14-17
Economy. “Michael Novak.” [ A thinker who argued for the morality of free markets.] 2-18-17
Economy. “A Statistical Trade Trick.” [Trump officials borrow phony deficit math from liberal protectionists.] 2-21-17
Economy. “The Obama ‘Fiduciary Rule’ Is Helping American Savers.” By Jason Furman (…former chairman of President Obama’s White House council of Economic Advisers …) [If Trump kills the regulation, retirement plans will see higher fees and worse returns.] 2-21-17
Economy. “For Hollywood’s big Studios, the Picture Is Looking Bleak.” By Rod Pennington. [Try to think of a major movie not based on a best-selling novel, comic book or disco-era franchise.] 2-25-17
Economy. “Confessions of a Free-Trade Lobbyist.” By Bill Lane. [Business leaders politely clap as the president puts exports at risk. Yet they know ‘Fortress America’ would be a disaster.] 2-24-17
Economy. “Lazy Does It.” (Bookshelf by Matthew Rees.) “The Compacent Class” by Tyler Cowen. [Workers switch jobs at half the rate they did 15 years ago. Entrepreneurship has also plunged: Only 7% – 8% of U.S. companies are start-ups.] 2-28-17
Economy. “Betting on Faster Growth.” [Investors bidding up share prices show that beter policies matter.] 2-28-17
Economy. “Repealing Labor’s Double Standard.” [The Senate should kill an Obama carve-out for a new state entitlement.] 2-28-17
Economy. “How Trump Can Hit 3% Growth – Maybe.” By Edward P. Lazear. [Overhaul the tax code, encourage investment and put Americans back to work. Then pray for luck.] 2-28-17
Economy. “Big bonus, Big Problem.” (Bookshelf by Burton G. Malkiel) “Why Wall Street Matters.” By William D. Cohan. [Dodd-Frank and the Volker rule address the wrong problems and did nothing to fix Wall Street’s broken compensation culture.] 3-1-17
Economy. “Snap Goes the Market.” [Even an IPO valuation of $24 billion is no guarantee of success.] 3-2-17
Economy. “The Economy’s Visible Hands.” (Bookshelf by Peter Conti-Brown) “Fed Up” by Danielle DiMartino Booth.” [The Fed is dominated by stodgy economists without business experience. But would we like it any better if it was staffed by CNBC junkies?] 3-3-2017
Economy. “The Forgotten Investor.” [“In the opinion of Michael Piwowar, the Obama Labor Department’s proposed ‘fiduciary rule” for financial advisers is a vehicle to “increase profits” for trial lawyers…] 3-4-17
Economy. “Why the White House Worries About Trade Deficits.” By Peter Navarro. [An imbalance imperils economic growth – and could put U.S. national security in jeopardy.] 3-6-17
Economy. “Trump, Trade and American Sovereignty.” By John Bolton. [The WTO’s process for settling disputes fails to deter violators and leaches national power.] 3-8-17
Economy. “How to Think About the Trade Deficit.” [Peter Navarro is Wrong about the U.S. balance of payments.] 3-10-17
Economy. “America Can’t Escape the Debt Vortex.” By George Melioan. [Total Obligations in the U.S. have hit 370% of GDP – and Trump seems intent on making matters worse.] 3-10-17
Economy. “Omens of Higher Wages.” [The Fed is clearly behind the labor market curve in tightening.] 3-11-17
Economy. “More Bank Capital could Kill the Economy.” By Tim Congdon and Steve H. Hanke. [Regulators sparked the Great Recession with a credit crunch. Now they want to do it again.] 3-14-17
Economy. “Flint could Be Trump’s Urban Showcase.” By Dylan Hernandez. 3-15-17
Economy. “Florida’s Trial Bar Hurricane.” [Legal abuse threatens insurers that absorb extreme weather risk.] 3-15-17
Economy. “Trump’s Auto Stimulus Act.” [Rolling back Obama’s mileage standards would help auto workers.] 3-16-17
Economy. “Would You Rather See Trump’s Tax Return or Have Saturday Off?” [Make the economy roar like it did in the 1920s and the issue will go away.] 3-18-17
Economy. “Growth Advocates at Treasury.” [Three good choices to steer policy toward pro-growth reform.] 3-20-17
Economy. LTE “Peter Navarro Responds to His Trade Critics.” 3-23-17
Economy. “Bill Gates vs. the Robots.” By Andy Kessler. [Sure, they’ll kill jobs. Like Microsoft Excel they’ll also create new ones.] 3-27-17
Economy. “How to Engineer a Trump Boom.” By Robert J. Barro. [Cut taxes, deregulate, build roads, bridges and airports – and don’t start a 1930-style trade war.] 3-28-17
Economy. “America’s Growing Labor Shortage.” [Lack of workers in ag and construction is hurting the economy.] 3-30-17
Economy. “What you Can’t Ask a Job candidate.” [Philadelphia tries to stifle the free speech of employers.] 4-8-17
Economy. “What’s the Matter with Connecticut? [The state’s politicians now want to bribe college grads to stay.] 4-8-17
Economy. “Obama’s Debt Interest Bomb.” [Rising interest payments are already showing up in the federal fisc.] 4-11-17
Economy. “Trump’s Weak-Dollar Temptation.” [Reagan and Clinton presided over a strong currency – and success.] 4-15-17
Economy. “Tesla Bulls Are Betting on Musk, Not the Car Business.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Selling autos into a crowded, competitive market will never justify today’s market cap.] 4-15-17
Economy. “Silicon and the Silver Screen.” [Can Hollywood and the tech industry make beautiful music together?] 4-17-17
Economy. “A Wisconsin Lesson for Trump the Builder.” By Ben Brubeck. [“…On Monday, Gov. Walker is expected to sign a law prohibiting state agencies and local governments from mandating “project labor agreements” on public works…”] 4-17-17
Economy. “Trump’s Deregulation Project.” [Thirteen Obama rules are gone so far, but there’s much more to do.] 4-18-17
Economy. “Do You Want Reagan’s Economy or Obama’s?” by Phil Gramm and Michael Solon. [The CBO failed to predict the tax-reform boom of the 1980s and the weak recovery in recent years.] 4-20-17
Economy. “That Jobs Report Won’t Generate Itself.” By Erica L. Groshen. [“…The BLS is considered one of the world’s premier statistical agencies…”] 4-21-17
Economy. “Teeing Up Trump Tariffs.” [Paving the way for higher taxes on U.S. steel consumers.] 4-21-17
Economy. “’Seed’ Capital Takes On New Meaning as Farms Go Digital.” By Nancy Fund. [Agriculture had been a fallow field for Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Not anymore.] 4-22-17
Economy. “Japan’s Potato Panic.” [If Trump wants people to ‘buy American,’ he needs trade deals.] 4-22-17
Economy. “Bad Intelligence Behind the Wheel.” By Andy Kessler. [Machine learning will bring amazing innovations – and dangers and lawsuits.] 4-24-17
Economy. “Trump’s New Housing Tax.” [A tariff on foreign lumber will raise the cost of U.S. homes.] 4-26-17
Economy. “Growth Can Solve the Debt Dilemma.” By Stephen Moore. [Graph: “The Power of an Expanding Economy: Federal debt held by the public as a share of GDP, 1930 – 2047, CBO projection (assuming 1.9% growth) and adjusted projection (3%)] 4-26-17
Economy. “NAFTA in Neverland.” [Does Trump know that Mexican tariffs on U.S. goods are close to zero?} 4-28-17
Economy. “Another State Frees the Braiders.” [No longer will it cost $10,000 to get a cosmetology license.] 5-1-17
Economy. “It’s the Prosperity, Stupid.” By Wm. McGurn. [The real debate is about making dreams come true, not just lowering taxes.] 5-2-17
Economy. Dodd Frank. “Durbin’s Debit-Card Price Controls Hit the Poor Hardest.” By Todd J. Zywicki and Julian Morris. [Limits on fees lead banks to charge the poor more for other services – or to stop offering them at all.] 5-2-17
Economy. “Give Trade Paranoia the Heave-Ho. By George Melloan. [Advice for Trump: Tell Bannon to hit the showers, revive TPP, and undo Obama’s economic legacy.] 5-3-17
Economy. “NASDAQ’s Blueprint for a New Era of Trading.” By Adena Friedman. [We’re going public with a plan to modernize markets and streamline regulations.] 5-4-17
Economy. “German Apprenticeships in South Carolina.” By Peter Wittig. [BMW shows how vocational training can work in the U.S.] 5-5-17
Economy. “The Great Productivity Slowdown. by Marie-Josee Kravis. [It began long before the financial crisis, and it has worsened markedly in the past six years.] 5-5-17
Economy. “When the CEO Met the CEO President.” (The Weekend Interview with Gregory Hayes. By Joseph Rago.) [United Technologies’ head on how Trump kept the Carrier plant open – and the high-paid factory jobs he’s having trouble filling.] 5-6-17
Economy. “The Labor Market Tightens.” [Wages are rising but there’s still a growing worker shortage.] 5-6-17
Economy. “Volatile Money Hurts Growth and Trade.” By James Kemp and Sean Rushton. [The dollar-euro exchange rate has moved 20% eight times in a decade, causing crisis and stagnation.] 5-9-17
Economy. “Prepare for a New Supercycle of Innovation.” By John Michaelson. [A financial crisis opens the economy to new forms of growth — which are about to start pouring down.] 5-10-17
Economy. “Farmers Know the Benefits of Trade.” By Sonny Perdue (Secretary of Agriculture). [Each $1 billion in ag exports supports 8,000 jobs. What America grows, the USDA will help sell.] 5-10-17
Economy. “Robots Will Save the Economy.” By Bret Swanson and Michael Mandel.” [The problem today is too little technology. Physical industries haven’t kept up.] 5-15-17
Economy. Trump Administration. “The Trump Trade Team’s Vocabulary Problem.” By Chad P. Bown and Alan O. Sykes. [It’s not clear that officials understand the meaning of ‘reciprocity’ and ‘most favored nation.’] 5-15-17
Economy. “The Economic Headwinds Obama Set in Motion.” By Phil Gramm and Thomas R. Saving. [A booming recovery would force the Treasury and Fed to compete with the private sector of credit.] 5-18-17
Economy. “The Lessons of Amazon.” [A case of disruption creating wealth, but government aided its e-book dominance.” 5-19-17
Economy. “The True Trade Deficit.” By Martin Neil Baily and Adam Looney. [Halving the official figure gets closer to the truth, as the iPhone example shows.] 5-19-17
Economy. Manufacturing. “The Mill That right-to-Work built.” By Allysia Finley. [An entrepreneur is bringing manufacturing jobs back to Kentucky – without protectionism.] 5-20-17
Economy. “The Market’s Tough Love Delivers.” By Andy Kessler. [If only government had the discipline traders collectively impose on companies.] 5-22-17
Economy. “Ford’s Turmoil Is Not About Tesla.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [GM doesn’t kid itself that ‘mobility’ will be the salvation of car building.] 5-24-17
Economy. “Can Trump Make America Grow Again? The Signs Are Hopeful. [More people are working, and the obs are better. Now for the ahrd work of health and tax reform.] 5-25-17
Economy. LTE. “MFN Rule Hurts Importers, Limits U.S. Trade.” By Wilbur Ross, U.S. Secretary of Commerce. 5-26-17
Economy. “Driving Under the Influence of Trump.” [The President needs a tour of foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S.] 5-27-17
Economy. “Happy 70^th to True American Suburbia.” By Jerry Cianciolo. [Levittown was once finishing a new house every 16 minutes.] 5-31-17
Economy. “Why do the Young Reject Capitalism?’ by Warren A. Stephens. [At the same time, they celebrate entrepreneurs and free enterprise. It’s a curious disconnect.] 6-1-17
Economy. “The Radial Tire Lesson for Tech.” by Andy Kessler. “Smartphones and computers last longer than ever. Can their makers adapt?] 6-5-17
Economy. “Index Funds Still Beat ‘Active’ Portfolio Management.” By Burton G. Malkiel. [There is no better way for individuals to invest in the stock market and save for retirement.] 6-6-2017
Economy. “A Nation Built by Business.” (Bookshelf: by Philip Delves Broughton) “The Land of Enterprise.” By Benjamin C. Waterhouse. [To understand how the United States developed into the land it is today, one must see American history through the lens of business history.] 6-8-17
Economy. “A Choice for Wall Street.” [The House votes for a sturdier, less politicized financial system.] 6-9-17
Economy. “Steel-Trapped Minds.” [A new Trump steel tariff would crush his ‘forgotten’ workers.] 6-12-17
Economy. LTE. “The Young Ditch Capitalism. Quelle Surprise!” 6-12-17
Economy. “Trump’s New Sugar High.” [Winning in trade apparently means higher prices for consumers.] 6-13-17
Economy. “Why Uber and Google Fight.” By Holman w. Jenkins, Jr. [Both companies face cultural challenges that have little to do with driverless cars.] 6-14-17
Economy. “Uber’s Growing Pains.” [The ride-sharing app won’t survive if lawyers and HR run the show.] 6-14-17
Economy. (Bookshelf by Lawrence J. Haas.) “Holding the West Together.” [The Retreat of Western Liberalism by Edward Luce.] [The backlash against liberalism is rooted in economics. While the rich live in opulence, over half of Westerners are barely getting by.] 6-15-17
Economy. “The ‘Exporting Jobs’ Canard.” By Matthew J. Slaughter. [Repeated research shows that multinational hiring abroad doesn’t come at the expense of U.S. workers.] 6-15-17
Economy. “Time Is Running Out for Nafta.” By Carlos Pascual. [The U.S. and Mexican political calendars leave Trump with about five months to get a deal done.] 6-16-17
Economy. “Amazon Will Free You From the Minivan.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [With his Whole Foods purchase, Jeff Bezos takes aim at groceries – and car ownership.] 6-17-17
Economy. “Don’t Raise the Debt Limit – Repeal It.” By Jason Furman and Rohit Kumar. [Owing tens of trillions is a problem. Default would be a catastrophe. End the continuing crisis.] 6-14-17
Economy. “Index Funds Are Great for Investors, Risky for Corporate Governance.” By M. Todd Henderson and Dorothy Shapiro Lund. [One solution is to abstain from voting, leaving decision to those with an incentive to be informed.] 6-23-17
Economy. “A Taxpayer Dike for Flood Insurance.” [Republicans try to plug the leaks in a program for affluent homeowners in coastal states.] 6-24-17
Economy. “How Myopic Antitrust Policy Helped Amazon Gain Dominance.” By Allysia Finley. [When Whole Foods and Wild Oats merged, the FTC said Wal-Mart wasn’t a competitor.] 6-29-17
Economy. “Central Banks and the New Abnormal.” [Markets fret as they forget what normal policy looks like.] 6-30-17
Economy. “For Whom the Bell Tolls, Sell.” By Andy Kessler. [Is this a bull market or a mania? You never know for sure, except in retrospect.] 7-3-17
Economy. “Get Able-Bodied Americans off the Couch.” By Peter Cove. [Nearly 95 million people have removed themselves entirely from the job market.] 7-5-17
Economy. “The Japan-EU Trade Warning.” [U.S. protectionism will hurt U.S. companies as countries cut other deals.] 7-7-2017
Economy. “Volvo Discovers Electric-Vehicle Hype.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [The Swedish car maker isn’t giving up on gasoline. It’s redefining its niche.] 7-8-17
Economy. “Why Bitcoin Is Booming.” By John O. McGinnis and Kyle W. Roche. [It’s become a trusted alternative when fiat money’s value is corrupted by politics.] 7-10-17
Economy. “Mineral Rights Can Make You Rich.” By Merrill Matthews. [“…the Bureau of Land Management took an average of 307 days in 2011 to process applications for drilling permits. States can give approval within a few months….”] 7-10-17
Economy. “The CEOs Who Didn’t Deserve the Boot.” By Jeffrey a Sonnenfeld. [From Ford to DuPont to Honeywell, leaders are being punished unfairly for long-term thinking.] 7-13-17
Economy. “Protectionism vs. Free-Market Populism.” By George Melloan. [What the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page learned from the 1920s and the 1980s.] 7-15-17
Economy. “Jamie Dimon Goes Off.” [The J.P. Morgan CEO savages Washington’s anti-growth culture.] 7-15-17
Economy. “How to Beat the High cost of Gravity.” By Taylor Dinerman. [Space is a happening place – from Juck to Bezos to Trump.] 7-21-17
Economy. “Trump’s NAFTA Stakes.” [How to renegotiate the treaty without blowing up the economy. 7-21-17
Economy. “Trump and the NAFTA Talks.” By Mary Anastasia O’Grady.” [The administration’s objectives are largely constructive. But beware of land mines.] 7-24-17
Economy. “The High Cost of Raising Prices.” By Andy Kessler. [What do ESPN, eBay and post office have in common? Ask a kangaroo in a bar.] 7-31-17
Economy. “Free Trade Is a Two-way Street.” By Wilbur Ross. ( article includes graph: “Who’s Protectionist:” average applied tariffs for the U.S., the EU and China: 22 categories of goods compared) [China, the EU and other trading partners put up formidable barriers to imports form America.] 8-1-17
Economy. “Hoteliers Start to Mimic Airlines – Uh-Oh.” By Charles Leocha. [Many hotels lower the sticker price by adding ‘fees’ to the bill.] 8-3-17
Economy. “Would You Like a Job?” [The monthly Jolts survey hits a record for job openings.] 8-9-17
Economy. “Trump Is Wrong – a Weak Dollar Doesn’t Make a Strong Economy.” By John Tamny. [How does it help U.S. workers to erode the value of the currency in which they’re paid?] 8-9-17
Economy. “Why a Universal Basic Income Would Be a Calamity.” By Dan Nidess. [How long before the elites decide the unemployed underclass shouldn’t have the right to vote?] 8-11-2017
Economy. “Business Rivals Agree on Policy.” By David Abney and Frederick W. Smith. [Simplify taxes, invest in transport infrastructure, and expand international trade while keeping it fair.] 8-14-17
Economy. “The Wage Paradox Explained.” [ A new Fed study shows faster gains than official figures suggest.] 8-16-17
Economy. “More Sunny Days Are Likely Ahead for the U.S. Economy.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Economic expansions tend to go on until something kills them. Today, not many dangers lurk.] 8-17-17
Economy. “The Acton Institute’s Moral Capital.” By Meme Ukueberuwa. [Economic liberty may be unfashionable, but the think tank hasn’t given up on it.] 8-18-17
Economy. “When CEOs Play Politics, Shareholders Can Take Them to Court.” By Jon L. Pritchett and Ed Tiryakian. [After Target established an ‘inclusive’ restroom policy, its share price plummeted by 40%.] 8-18-17
Economy. (Bookshelf by Richard Vedder.) “Thinking at a Macro Level.” “Hayek vs. Keynes. By Thomas Hoerber. [Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes worked at a time when the study of economics was concerned with society and its values.] 8-22-17
Economy. “Lighthizer’s Economic Deficit.” [What does the Trump trade rep have against the U.S. car industry?] 8-22-17
Economy. “If the CEO is Overpaid, Blame the Compensation Committee.” By Robert C. Pozen and S.P. Kohari. [Its report will probably be approved by shareholders, even if it relies on metrics that inflate performance.] 8-22-17
Economy. LTE “The Siren Allure of a Universal Basic Income.” 8-23-17
Economy. “The Coming Global Car Wreck.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Dieselgate is not the fruit of an industry cartel but of politicians ignoring cost and benefit.] 8-26-17
Economy. “The Bitcoin Valuation Bubble.” By Andy Kessler. [Faithful techies think in coming decades one digital coin will be worth $500.000.] 8-28-17
Economy. (Bookshelf by Melanie Kirkparick. “Business in a Common Tongue.”) “”The Language of Global Success.” By Tsedal Neeley.” [The CEO of a Japan-based company declared that, henceforth, every interaction, spoken and written, would be conducted in English.] 8-28-17
Economy. “Disaster and the Wealth of Nations.” [Texans will rebound from the awful flooding with their usual elan.] 8-28-17
Economy. “Making Growth Great Again.” By Kimberley A Strassel. [The GOP should learn from how Trump is selling supply-side tax cuts.] 9-1-17
Economy. “Bring Back the Work Ethic.” By Wm. McGurn. [‘There’s a person for every job and a job for every person,’ says Bob Funk.] 9-5-17
Economy. “The Liberal Arts Are Marketable.” (Bookshelf b Michael S. Roth.) “A Practical Education” by Randall Stross / “You Can Do Anything” by George Anders. [Liberal arts majors have the skills to translate their studies of history, philosophy and politics into impressive career trajectories.] 9-5-17
Economy. “Trump’s Korean Trade Folly.” [Protectionist threats undermine U.S. geopolitical goals.]. 9-5-17
Economy. “Trump’s Looming Trade Crack-Up.” By Robert B. Zoellick. [His fight with Seoul would leave the U.S. a loser. Congress needs to assert its authority to stop him.] 9-6-17
Economy. “We’re Richer Than We Realize.” By Martin Feldstein. [The official economic statistics fail to account for quality improvements and new products.] 9-9-17
Economy. “Finding America’s Lost 3% Growth.” By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon. [If the country can’t grow like it once did, then the American Dream really is irretrievably lost.]. 9-11-17
Economy. “A Human Face for Economics.” (Bookshelf by Deirdre N. McCloskey) “Cents and Sensibility.” By Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro. [Adam Smith did not believe people are merely economic maximizers. Instead, we balance self-interest with humane sympathy for others.] 9-14-17
Economy. “American’s Get Richer.” [The latest Census data show economic gains across income groups.] 9-14-17
Economy. “Solar Power Death Wish.” [Subsidies aren’t enough. Now solar-panel makers want tariffs.] 9-16-17
Economy. “Let’s Get Rational About Disaster Risk.” By Homan W. Jenkins, Jr. [An unfortunate truth is that American influencers have one thing in common: a beach house in Florida.] 9-16-17
Economy. NAFTA. “A Nafta Exit Would Be a Rotten Deal. By Thomas J. Donohue. [Hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs would be lost, especially in heartland states that backed Trump.] (Mr. Donohue is president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.) 9-25-17 {See #563, here}
Economy. “The U.S. Can No Longer Afford Deficit-Increasing Tax Cuts.” By Jason Furman. [Compared with 1981 and 2001, revenue is down and the debt is way up as a share of GDP.] 10-2-17
Economy. “The Morality of Charles Koch.” By Wm. McGurn. [A libertarian billionaire embraces a Catholic business school for its ethics.] 10-3-17
Economy. “’Price Gouging’ After a Disaster Is Good for the Public.” By Donald J. Boudreaux. [If government prohibits suppliers from charging more, consumers hoard, exacerbating shortages.] 10-4-17
Economy. “Why I’m Not Bidding for Amazon’s HQ.” by Sam Licardo. [San Jose won’t offer subsidies for favored corporations, which are a bad deal for city taxpayers.] (Mr. Licardo, a Democrat, is mayor of San Jose, Calif.) 10-5-17
Economy. “Pacific Trade Advances Without the U.S.” [TPP is moving ahead in ways that will cost American Exporters.] 10-6-17
Economy. “This Year’s Nobel Economist Makes Sense of Rationality.” By David R. Henderson. [Richard Thaler has challenged the standard assumption that people act in their best interests.] 10-10-17
Economy. “Lessons From the Sorry History of Steel Protectionism.” By Bill Lane. [Even the Trump team seems to recognize that tariffs or quotas would start a global trade war.] 10-11-17
Economy. “An Air-traffic Winner.” [How to help the traveling public and the economy.] (…if Republicans don’t wig out.) 10-12-17 (See #606, here)
Economy. “Trump’s NAFTA Threat.” [Ending the pact would be the worst economic blunder since Nixon.” 10-16-17
Economy. “Efficient markets Need Guys Like Me.” By Paul Singer. [Activists and index funds are natural allies. There’s no conflict between short and long-term value.] 10-20-17
Economy. LTE “ATC Privatization Won’t Fix U.S. Air Travel.” 10-21-17 (by Mark Baker, President and CEO, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and Ed Bolen, Pres. & CEO, National Business Aviation Association) 10-21-17 (See #603, here)
Economy. “Is NAFTA Rotten? How About Them Apples? [Killing the trade deal would bear bitter fruit for U.S. agriculture.] 10-25-17
Economy. “Trump’s States Need NAFTA.” By Mary Anastasia O’Grady. [Coastal elites’ won’t be hardest hit if the president nixes the trade agreement.] 10-30-17
Economy. “How to Kill American Solar.” [A crucial decision comes this week on tariffs that would raise solar costs.] 10-30-17
Economy. “An EU Plan to Invade UY.s. Markets.” By J. Christopher Giancarlo. [In response to Brexit, Brussels looks to expand its reach.] 11-6-17
Economy. “Trump’s Pacific Trade Tear.” [Things were going so well. Then he returned to his worst subject.] 11-11-17
Economy. “A NAFTA Recession.” [The biggest threat to the Trump economy is his trade agenda.] 11-13-17
Economy. “How Big Pharma Sandbags Generic competition.” By Michael A. Carrier. [From denying samples to pushing ‘citizen petitions,’ drug companies are clever. But Congress can help.] 11-15-17
Economy. “Yes, NAFTA Is Good for My Children.” By Patrick J. Ottensmeyer. [In answer to Robert Lighhizer’s thought-provoking-question, it’s good for the country too.] 11-15-17
Economy. “Where Have All the Public Companies Gone?” By Jason M. Thomas. [There are 3,671 listings today, down from 7,322 in 1996. Investors can feel the difference.] 11-17-17
Economy. “For GE Investors, Growth in the Spring.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. 11-18-17
Economy. “Quit Modifying Capitalism.” By Andy Kessler. [Profits should be pure, generated from price signals between buyers and sellers.] 11-20-17
Economy. “Have They Got a Bond for You.” [Connecticut and Chicago borrow a debt trick from Puerto Rico.] 11-21-17
Economy. “What’s Behind the AT&T Lawsuit.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [And why Donald Trump’s finger may have been on the scale after all.] 11-22-17
Economy. “There’s No Antitrust Case Against AT&T.” by Geoffrey A. Manne. [The merged firm would get nothing from withholding ‘Game of Thrones’ or selling ‘CNN exclusivity.’] 11-22-17
Economy. “Trump’s Dubious Trust-busting.” [The assault on AT&T-Time Warner seems to be more about politics than antitrust law.] 11-24-17
Economy. “Who’s Afraid of Index Funds?” by Barbara Novick. [If passive investing creates market distortions, active managers can win big.] 11-27-17
Economy. “If GPS Failed, We’d Be More Than Lost.” By A.P.D.G. Everett and Alex Berezow. 11-27-17
Economy. “At&T and the Danger of ‘Vertical Integration.” By Irwin Steizer. [The old Ma Bell and Time Warner both have histories of using distribution power in anticompetitive ways.] 11-28-17
Economy. “Where Are My Incentives to Relocate?” by Daniel Akst. [The lucky winning city will bring home a coveted job – mine.] 11-29-17
Economy. “The Coming Aluminum War.” [Trump and Ross tee up tariff brawls for the New Year.] 12-4-17
Economy. “To Spur Homeownership, Stop Subsidizing It.” By Edward Pinto. [The House tax bill would create about 870,000 newly available housing units over the next decade] 12-5-17
Economy. “Tear Down the Littlest Trade Barrier.” By Christine McDaniel. [The U.S. duty-free threshold is $800. Canada’s is only $20.00] 12-8-17
Economy. “The Incredible Shrinking Workforce.” By Edward Lazear. [The U.S. is two million workers short of where it should be. Many are on disability – or the couch.] 12-8-17
Economy. “The Economy Revs Up.” [The jobless rate for non-high school grads is down to 5.2%.] 12-9-17
Economy. “Protectionism Is a Negative-Sum Game.” By Nancy McLernon. [Foreign companies operating in the U.S. employ some seven million Americans.] 12-11-17
Economy. “A Google vs. Amazon Antitrust Lesson.” [Their content spat shows why AT&T’s merger deserves approval.] 12-13-17
Economy. “When It’s Illegal to Ask, “How Much do You Make?” by Gerald Skoning. [The question saves time if an applicant’s salary needs are out of line with what the employer can offer.] 12-13-17
Economy. “A Booming Economy will Challenge the Fed.” by Phil Gramm and Thomas R. Saving. [Normal growth will drive up the demand for bank loans and induce lending of excess reserves.] 12-14-17
Economy. “The U.S. Is Left Behind on Trade.” [ The new Japan-EU deal will hurt a slew of American exporters.] 12-15-17
Economy. “Dow 24,000 and the Trump Boom.” By Maria Bartiromo. [Companies are bringing cash and jobs back to the U.S. to keep that trend going, tax reform is vital.] 12-15-17
Economy. “What Bitcoin Needs Is a Few Good Regulations.” By Dov Greenbaum. [The digital currency – and the tech behind it – is in limbo, as federal agencies make up differing rules.] 12-15-17
Economy. “How Retailers Can Thrive in the Age of Amazon.” (The Weekend Interview with Kemper Freeman by Stephen Moore.) [The secret, says Bellevue Square’s owner, is to provide customers with ‘emotional fulfillment.’] 12-16-17
Economy. “How to Get American Men Back Into the Workforce.” By Jason Furman. [Rethink unemployment insurance and increase public investment in improving skills.] 12-18-17
Economy. LTE. “Economic Growth Will Put Men Back to Work.” 12-23-17 [“American workers deserve better than Jason Furman’s analysis in “How to Get American Men Back Into the Workforce”(op-ed, Dec. 18). He broadens the Democratic Party’s identity politics of victimhood to men…] 12-23-17
Economy. “America’s Dairies Need Free Trade – Including a Better Nafta.” By Anrei Mikhalevsky and Stan Ryan. [Negotiators should insist on meaningful access to Canada’s market – and work aggressively on Asia.] 12-27-17
Economy. “Google-Hotel Travelopoly.” [The search giant works with hotels to hurt travel competition.] 12-28-17
Economy. “Some Good Jobs News” [The black jobless rate falls to its lowest ever in the Labor statistics.] 1-6-18
Economy. “Raise Wages via Growth, Not Mandates.” By Andy Puzder. [American workers are already benefiting from tax reform.] 1-8-18
Economy. “Trump Courts Economic Mayhem.” By Robert R. Zoelick. [This year we’ll find out how serious he is about protectionism. So far the signs aren’t good.] 1-8-18
Economy. “Make It Easier to Work Without a License.” By Alexander Acosta and Dennis Daugard. [A multistate compact would lighten the regulatory burden.] 1-9-18
Economy. “Will Trump Punish the Farm Belt?” [Pulling out of NAFTA would hurt the exporting states that elected him.] 1-9-18
Economy. “Tales From the Cryptocurrency.” By Allan Ripp. [New ideas for how companies can cash in on blockchain mania.] 1-10-18
Economy. “The Tax-Reform Stock Rally.” [Animal spirits are unleashed, but watch the Fed’s great unwinding.] (“…but keep in mind that we’ve never lived through a monetary-policy reversal like the one that is coming.”) 1-17-18
Economy. “Stocks Are Headed for a Fall.” By Martin Feldstein. [The Fed is playing catch-up. As interest rates and inflation rise, asset prices will revert to earlier norms.] 1-17-18
Economy. “Killing NAFTA Would ruin American Farmers.” By Karl Rove. [And given how many live in red states, it would doom the GOP in the 2018 elections.] 1-18-18Economy. “Stocks Weren’t Made for Social Climbing.” By Andy Kessler. [Profits are the proper gauge of a company’s value to consumers – and to society.] 1-22-18
Economy. “How to Invest in an Overpriced World.” By Burton G. Malkiel. [Two strategies that work: broad diversification and rebalancing. Also, try to minimize your costs.] 1-23-18
Economy. “Trump Starts His Trade War.” [His new tariffs punish many for the sake of three companies.] 1-24-18
Economy. “Making the Dollar Weak Again.” [Mnuchin and Trump want to reduce U.S. purchasing power.] 1-25-18
Economy. “A Simple Plan for Parental Leave.” By Kristin A. Shapiro and Andrew G. Biggs. 1-25-18 (“… Our proposal is simple: Offer new parents the opportunity to collect early Social Security benefits for a period…”)
Economy. “The Mnuchin Dollar and the Draghi Euro.” [Both sides risk losing the competitive-devaluation game.] 1-26-18
Economy. “These Prices Are a Steal – and in Some States, That’s Illegal.” By C.J. Szafir and Patrick Gleason. [When Meijer opened two stores in Wisconsin, the state demanded it charge more for dog food.] 1-27-18
Economy. “Mayors, Say No to Amazon.” By Richard Florida. [City leaders should pledge to compete on merits, not incentives.] 1-29-18
Economy. “When Assets Are Intangible.” (Bookshelf by George Melloan) “Capitalism Without Capital” by Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake. [In today’s postindustrial world, our thinking about capital – how it should be measured, how it acts in the economy – is badly out of date.] 1-29-18
Economy. “The Next Money-Fund Bailout.” [Republicans want to tee up mutual funds for taxpayer guarantees.] 1-29-18
Economy. “Why Now Is the Wrong Time to Increase the Deficit.” By Alan S. Blinder. [In a growing economy, the federal government should shore up its long-run fiscal position, not blow it out.] 1-31-2018
Economy. “Why Do You Need a College Degree to Give Diet Advice?” by Shoshana Weissmann and C. Jarrett Dieterle. [State licensing laws overly burden military spouses, who move frequently only to find they can’t work.] 2-1-18Economy. “The Selloff Arrives, Finally.” [“…Stock corrections are inevitable along the way…”] 2-3-18
Economy. “The Markets Point Toward Economic Strength.” By Jason De Sena Trennert. [Higher long-term interest rates suggest central banks may finally be curtailing their outsize influence.] 2-6-18
Economy. “It Takes Chutzpah to Call This the ‘Obama Boom’ by Andy Puzder. [Hundreds of thousands of Americans are moving from part-time work to full-time employment.] 2-7-18
Economy. “America’s Self-Imposed Uranium Shortage.” [The U. S. and its allies have plenty, but we still buy from despots.] 2-8-18
Economy. “A War on the Rich Won’t Help the Poor.” By David R. Henderson. [Oxfam notes that poverty has declined sharply, then ignores the quickest way to reduce it even more.] 2-9-18
Economy. “The Bernanke Correction.” [Asset prices are adjusting as financial repression ends.] (Re: Stock market’s major sell off.) 2-10-18
Economy. “The High Cost of ‘Affordable Housing’ Mandates.” By Paul Kupiec and Edward Pinto. [‘Inclusionary zoning’ laws create a vicious cycle of higher prices and reduced demand.] 2-13-18
Economy. “The Inflation Surge.” [Republicans should be worried about the impact on real earnings.] 2-15-18
Economy. “Private Jet-Setters Against Better Air Travel.” [The folks who don’t fly commercial are blocking air-traffic reform.] 2-15-18
Economy. “As Boomers Go Gray, Even 2% Growth Will Be Hard to Sustain.” By Jason Furman. [Hoping for 3% or more is folly. The fundamentals – people and productivity – seem unlikely to provide it.] 2-15-18 (Mr. Furman, a professor …at the Harvard Kennedy School, was chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, 2013 – 17.) 2-15-18
Economy. “Another Plea From Fannie Mae.” [The mortgage ward of the state needs $3.7 billion from taxpayers.] 2-17-18
Economy. “How to Punish American Workers.” [Steel and aluminum tariffs would cost more jobs than they save.] 2-20-18
Economy. “Both Sides of the Aisle Want Better Roads and Ports. “ by James Inhofe and Sheldon Whitehouse. [Conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats can find common ground on infrastructure.] 2-22-18
Economy. “Don’t Misjudge Trump’s Trade Tirade.” By Walter Russell Mead. [The president may be shifting the discussion more than GOP elites think is possible.] 2-27-18
Economy. “Government Spending Discourages Work.” By Edward Lazear. [The French and Italians pay higher taxes and put in 30% fewer hours per person than Americans.] 2-27-18
Economy. “We Need Our Private Space.” By Mark R. Whittington. [Trump is setting the stage for commerce in low Earth orbit.] 3-2-18
Economy. “Trump’s Tariff Folly.” [His tax on aluminum and steel will hurt the economy and his voters.] 3-2-18
Economy. “A Lovely Little trade War.” [Donald J. Trump explains his theory of comparative advantage.] 3-3-18
Economy. “Failure to Launch in Congress.” [The GOP bows to corporate jet owners on air-traffic control.] 3-3-18
Economy. “Reagan Protectionism vs. Trump Protectionism.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [In every way, the Gipper saw a bigger picture even when he pursued unseemly trade policies.] 3-3-18
Economy. “Is Canada a National Security Risk?” by Mary Anastasia O’Grady. [There isn’t anything dangerous about buying steel from a democratic ally.] 3-5-18
Economy. “Steel Tariffs Without Jobs.” [Taxes on imports won’t bring back the jobs or yore in Pittsburgh.] 3-5-18
Economy. “Trump Is Serious About Tariffs.” By Walter Russell Mead. [His attacks on free trade emerge from one of his most deeply rooted beliefs.] 3-6-18
Economy. “The President Channels His Inner Hillary.” By Wm. McGurn. [If Mrs. Clinton is such a loser, why is Trump now copying her trade policy.] 3-6-18
Economy. “Warren Democrats for Wall Street.” [A modest Senate reform would help regional and small banks compete.] 3-6-18
Economy. “Professor Ross’s Soup-Can Economics.” [A new study predicts job losses from tariffs of nearly 146,000.] 3-6-18
Economy. “Reagan’s Cure for America’s Debt Disease.” By Martin Feldstein. [Two programs, Medicare and Social Security, are the bulk of the problem. Here’s how to fix them.] 3-6-18
Economy. Trump Revives ‘The Apprentice.’ By Daniel Henninger. [If the tariffs cost jobs, Joe Biden will ask every laid off worker: Who got you fired?] 3-8-18
Economy. “How a Trade War Escalates.” [Europe retaliates against U.S. exports and Republican states.] 3-8-18
Economy. “In America’s Absence, the TPP Goes On.” By Ed Gerwin. [The remaining 11 countries are to sign a renegotiated deal Thursday. U.S. companies will suffer.] 3-8-18
Economy. “The Northeast’s Costly Tunnel Vision.” By Ted Budd. [Why should taxpayers from other states fund a hugely expensive project in New York and New Jersey?] 3-8-18
Economy. “The Meaning of Bitcoin’s Volatility.” By Kevin Warsh. [Cryptocurrency may be a leading indicator for traditional assets such as stocks, bonds and credit.] 3-8-18
Economy. “Why We Imposed the Metal Tariffs.” By Wilbur Ross. [Unfair trade practices have damaged our national security and hurt the economy.] 3-9-18
Economy. “Trump’s Hoover Temptation.” [A confluence of political forces echoes the blunders of the 1930s] 3-9-18
Economy. “Trade Agreements Are the Answer to Trade Deficits.” By Frank Lavin and Fredrik Erixon. [Before an FTA is in place, the U.S. is typically a more open market than its trading partners.] 3-9-18
Economy. “Trump’s Jobs Boom*” [* Manufacturers are hiring right and left – or they were before tariffs.] 3-10-18
Economy. “Don’t Blink or You’ll Miss the Trade War.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [The Trump reality show is moving on, but China’s tech challenge will outlive this week’s circus.] 3-10-18
Economy. “Help Workers without a Trade War.” By Henry Olsen. [Training programs or even wage subsidies are better than tariffs.] 3-12-18
Economy. “The National Security Tariff Ruse.” [Commerce relies on bad data and can’t even persuade the Pentagon.] 3-13-18
Economy. “Who’s Afraid of Higher Wages?” by Larry Kudlow and Stephen Moore. [ A surge in investment, productivity and profits has analysts fretting about an ‘overheated’ economy.] 3-13-18
Economy. “Trump’s Broadcom Veto.” [After its political reprieve, Qualcomm now needs to deliver.] 3-14-18
Economy. “The Art of the Steel Tariffs.” By Melissa Francis. [Trump’s political style confuses friends and foes, but he told the world about it in 1987.] 3-16-18
Economy. “Consumers Make Their Own Case Against Abolishing Cash.” By Joseph C. Sternberg. [Paper money becomes more popular as monetary policy becomes less so. That’s good for democracy.] 3-16-18
Economy. “The Trump Tariff Layoffs Begin.” [A keg manufacturer lays off workers as domestic steel prices rise.] 3-17-18
Economy. “Trump’s Losing Trade Gambit.” By Mary Anastasia O’Grady. [The president had to back off new tariffs on Mexico and Canada, with no concessions.] 3-19-18
Economy. “AT&T’s ‘South Park’ Argument.” By Andy Kessler. [While cartoons mock Netflix as a content spigot, a Time Warner merger is no threat.] 3-19-18
Economy. “Trump’s China Tariff’s.” [Stocks fall as markets doubt the White House has a trade strategy.] 3-23-18
Economy. “Trump, Tariffs and the Protectionist Temptation.” By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon. [The trade balance doesn’t matter for U.S. prosperity. But America could benefit from updating and enforcing its trade deals, especially with China.] 3-24-18
Economy. “Steel and Aluminum? Let’s Talk About Gold.” By Rep. Alex Mooney. 3-26-18
Economy. “A Guide to TV’s ‘Fall’ Season.” By Dennis Kneale. [When stocks plunge, talking heads join the panic. Here’s how to keep calm while watching.
Economy. “Pols Use Economics the Way Drunks Use Lampposts.” By Alan S. Blinder (He was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004) [They seek support, not illumination. Here are a few suggestions on how to produce better policy.] 3-27-18
Economy. “The Illuminati Embrace Protectionism.” By Karl Rove. [There are 138 nations that run trade deficits with America. What if they got together?] 3-29-18
Economy. “Mr. Lighthizer’s Managed Trade.” [The revised Korea deal favors Detroit and steel over U.S. consumers.] 3-29-18
Economy. “Monetary Reform Would Rebalance Trade.” By Sean Rushton. [The dollar’s status as global reserve currency is as responsible as bad agreements for the deficit.] 3-29-18
Economy. “Your Pickup Truck Takes You for a Ride.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Trump’s ‘chicken tax’ extension makes suckers out of U.S. truck buyers.] 3-31-18
Economy. “Two Can Play at Trade War.” [China’s response to Trump’s tariffs hit innocent bystanders.] 4-3-18
Economy. Bureaucracy. “A Model for Licensing Reform.” [How to make it easier for Americans to work in a skilled trade.] 4-4-18
Economy. “The Fuel-Economy Reality Show.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [The Obama rules were always designed to provide a sound bit and then be repealed.] 4-4-18
Economy. “Trump’s Irrelevant Tariffs.” By Daniel Henninger. [The president won the real jobs war, which wasn’t with Mexico or Germany.] 4-5-18
Economy. “Businesses Can Make Sure Growth Helps Workers.” By Jamie Dimon (chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase and chairman of Business Roundtable.) 4-5-18
Economy. “Punishing America First.” [Trump to Iowa: You’ll have to suffer while I force Xi Jinping to give in.] 4-7-18
Economy. “New Jersey’s Business Model.” [Phil Murphy wants to raise taxes to offer free tuition.] 4-7-18
Economy. “Trump’s Trade Tactic Might Work.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Americans should not be too quick to sell their own side short.] 4-7-18
Economy. “A NAFTA Poison Pill.” [Lighthizer thinks the rule of law is a government subsidy.] 4-10-18
Economy. “The Zuckerberg Effigy.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [A Silicon Valley CEO sticks up for a culture of trying new things and learning by doing.] 4-11-18
Economy. “Beijing’s Trade Straddle.” 4-11-18
Economy. “Trump and China Share a Bad Idea on Trade.” By Robert J. Barro. [Imports are things we want, and we pay for them with exports. Isn’t getting more for less a good thing?] “Beijing’s Trade Straddle.” 4-11-18
Economy. “Tax Cut Growth Dividend.” [CBO says the economy will grow 3.3% this year, the most since 2005.] 4-11-18
Economy. “Both Sides Would Lose a U.S.-China Trade War.” By Jack Ma. [The largest market in the world is open for business. Will America forfeit this opportunity? ] 4-12-18
Economy. “Use NAFTA to Ease Regulation.” By Kimberley A. Strassel. [Republicans are getting creative about procedural means to achieve policy goals.] 4-13-18
Economy. “Trump’s Pacific Rim Shot.” [Getting back into TPP would be strategic leverage with China.] 4-13-18
Economy. “Auto-Lending Lemon Repeal.” [Congress has a chance to kill one of Obama’s worst rules.] 4-13-18
Economy. “Don’t Blame Tips for Sexual Harassment.” By Dawn Lafreeda. [I own and operate 81 restaurants. Waitresses see gratuities as a great feature of the job.] 4-13-18
Economy. “Tariffs First, Farm Subsidies Later?” [Team Trump toys with a version of Hillarynomics.] 4-14-18
Economy. “America Needs Federal ‘Baby Bonds.” By David M. Smick. [Every person should have a stake in the equity markets that create real wealth.] 4-16-18
Economy. “Protecting U.S. Dredgers Kills Jobs.” By Nancy McLernon. 4-17-18
Economy. Taxes. “The Wages of Tax Reform Are going to America’s Workers.” By Kevin Hassett. [In a dynamic, competitive economy, what’s good for companies is good for their employees.] 4-18-18
Economy. “The Art of Someone Else’s Deal.” [Europe and Mexico show the world can trade without the U.S.] 4-24-18
Economy. “Trump Needs Allies on Trade.” By Thomas J. Duesterberg. [This week’s meetings with Macron and Merkel provide an opportunity to reaffirm common interests.] 4-24-18
Economy. “If GDP Lags, Watch the Economy GO.” By Mark Skousen. [‘Gross output’ reflects the full value of the supply chain, and it portends much faster growth. ] 4-24-18
Economy. “A System in Need Of an Overhaul.” (Bookshelf by George Melioan) “Edge of Chaos.” By Dambisa Moyo. [Democratic capitalism is a peerless engine of economic growth, but it threatens to break down if current trends continue.] 4-25-18
Economy. “Sea-to-Table Stewardship.” (Bookshelf by Richard Adams Carey.) “Fishing Lessons” by Kevin M. Bailey. [Small-scale artisanal fisheries, dominated by small owner-operated boats, promote marine conservation and strengthen local economies.] 4-26-18
Economy. “Business Carries the Economy.” [Better policy is driving more investment to keep the expansion going.] 4-28-18
Economy. “The Jones Act Drives America’s Finest Into Exile.” By Colin Grabow. [Limits on imported steel threaten to sink both a U.S. shipbuilder and its domestic customer.] 4-30-18
Economy. “Please, No Tweet on T-Mobile Deal.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Merger review is a swamp that needs to be drained to make America great again.] 5-2-18
Economy. “Trump’s Antitrust Bust.” [The feds failed to make their case against the AT&T-Time-Warner tie.] 5-2-18
Economy. “The Tariff Uncertainty.” [Trump’s assault on trade takes a bite out of U.S. manufacturing.] 5-2-18
Economy. “Worry About the Trade Deficit – a Bit.” By Jason Furman. [The danger is that the U.S. borrows too much money from foreigners. Balancing the budget would help.] 5-2-18
Economy. “Where’s the Invisible Hand When You Need It?” by Stanley F. Druckenmiller. [Obama was hostile to the principles of capitalism. In some ways, Trump isn’t much of an improvement.] 5-3-15
Economy. NAFTA. “The NAFTA Ultimatum Strategy.” [Trump’s trade rep thinks Democrats will save his trade rewrite Bad idea.] 5-4-18
Economy. “Is the Phillips Curve Dead? And Other Questions for the Fed.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Before adjusting interest rates again this year, the central bank should focus on the fundamentals.] 5-4-18
Economy. “Columbus Discovers the Amazon.” By Andy Kessler. [Jeff Bezos’ approach: Explore strange new worlds – business model to come.] 5-7-18
Economy. “Good News in the Labor Market.” [The black and Hispanic jobless rates are at record lows.] 5-7-18
Economy. “Trump and the ‘Chimerica’ Crisis.” By Niall Ferguson and Xiang Xu. [The countries’ divergence began in 2015, as Beijing took defensive steps against financial risk.] 5-7-18
Economy. “Opportunity Knocks.” [Job openings nearly matched the number of job seekers in March.] 5-9-18
Economy, “Trump’s Trade Threats Are Hurting Growth.” By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon. [Tariff tensions promote economic uncertainty, which in turn inhibits business investment.] 5-10-18
Economy. “Have We Got a Muni bond for You.” [“Municipal bond investors lend at their own risk, and they may want to think long and hard before walking into Illinois’s debt mine…] 5-11-18
Economy. NAFTA. “Don’t Try to Blackmail Us on NAFTA, Mr. President.” By Pat Toomey (U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania). [I’ll vote ‘no’ on a bad new deal and employ all legislative means to block a unilateral withdrawal.] 5-11-18
Economy. “Wisdom of a Non-Idiot Billionaire.” By Peggy Noonan. (“An occasional preoccupation in this space is that young people have no particular loyalty to or affection for free-market capitalism, the economic system that made America a great thing in history and a magnet for the world…”) 5-12-18
Economy. “Why the AT&T Case Suddenly Matters.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Comcast, T-Mobile and Sprint etc. are eager to see if Team Trump is friend for or foe of 5G adaptation.] 5-12-18
Economy. “Managed Trade? I’m Back in the U.S.S.R.” by Daniel M. Price. [Soviet negotiator’ 1990 demands find echoes in the Trump administration today.] 5-14-18
Economy. “Rebuilding Schools, Bridges – and Lives.” By Richard Trumka and Marty Walsh. [“…As unions, businesses, engineers and policy makers celebrate Infrastructure Week from May 14-21, we’re reflecting on the investments that add value to America…] 5-15-18
Economy. “In a Trade War, It’s Hard to Get A Head.” By Pete Coors. [MillerCoors buys half a billion pounds of aluminum every year, and 28% of the cost is a mysterious fee.] 5-15-18
Economy. “Seattle to Business: Drop Dead.” [The city taxes companies for hiring more workers.] 5-16-18
Economy. “Exporting Jobs Instead of Food.” [The U.S. farm labor shortage is driving production overseas.] 5-18-18
Economy. “A Conservative Economics of Dignity.” (The Weekend Interview with Glenn Hubbard by Tunku Varadarajan.) [The dean of Columbia business School is a tax cutter and free trader but he says economists must address ‘real economic concerns in the heartland.’] 5-19-18
Economy. “A Looming NAFTA Debacle.” [The U.S. trade rep is setting Trump up for a major political failure.] 5-19-18
Economy. “Don’t Get Distracted by the Trade Deficit With China.” By Jason Furman. [Its external imbalances have been declining for a decade. The U.S. should seek more of the same.] 5-21-18
Economy. “Where Every Day Is Dollar Day.” (Bookshelf by Hendrik Meijer.) “My Father’s Business.” By Cal Turner Jr. with Rob Simbeck. [From a family startup in Kentucky to thousands of stores [Dollar General] across America serving towns too small for a Walmart.] 5-24-18
Economy. “Trump’s Trade Confusion.” [Auto tariffs, NAFTA bullying and China disarray, oh my.] 5-25-18
Economy. “America First Meets Mr. Market.” [Trump’s arbitrary trade policy and Italian turmoil pound markets.] 5-30-18
Economy. “Trump should Play the Long Game on Trade.” By Karl Rove. [While the U.S. fixates on steel, China seeks to dominate 21^st-century technology.] 5-31-18
Economy. “Auto Tariffs Mean Lost Jobs.” [Plenty of Trump voters will suffer with a 25% tax on imports.] 5-31-18
Economy. “Trump’s Steel Destruction.” [He starts a needless trade war with America’s best friends.] 6-1-18
Economy. “The Government Creates Another Housing Bubble.” By Paul Kupiec and Edward Pinto. [Loose mortgage terms are pushing home prices up. Underwriters need to tighten standards.] 6-1-18
Economy. “Why Trump’s Protectionism Is Futile.” (The Weekend Interview with Douglas A. Irwin by Tunku Varadarajan.) [The president I wrong to attribute industrial decline to foreign competition, and the rising dollar is likely to cause the trade deficit to rise.] 6-2-18
Economy. “The Rising Jobs Tide.” [Faster growth is drawing workers off the sidelines, but will tariffs interfere?] 6-2-18
Economy. “The Canard About Falling Incomes.” By Andy Kessler. [Don’t believe the government’s consumer-price index, which is obsolete.] 6-4-18
Economy. “The Economic Risks of Trump’s Premature Tweeting.” By Jason Furman. [Jobs data are closely held to prevent volatility and insider trading at the expense of the public.] 6-4-18
Economy. “Upgrade America’s 19^th-Century Electric Grid.” By Charles Bayless and Thomas Petri. 6-5-18
Economy. “Now Hiring – Everywhere.” [The tight labor market may soon become an obstacle to growth.] 6-6-18
Economy. “Short-Termism Is harming the Economy.” By Jamie Dimon and Warren E. Buffett. [Public companies should reduce or eliminate the practice of estimating quarterly earnings.] 6-7-18
Economy. “Congress vs. Trump on Tariffs.” [Democrats gave Presidents too much trade power. The GOP should take it back.] 6-8-18
Economy. “Friends Don’t Let Friends Impose Tariffs.” By Cecilia Malmstrom. [The administration’s trade policies will hurt the U.S. as well as its allies. To Europe, it’s sad and confusing.] 6-8-18
Economy. “It’s Trump’s Economy Now.” by Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer. [Liberals want to keep crediting Obama – never mind their own 2016 predictions of disaster.] 6-8-18
Economy. “What to Do When the Labor Market Stops Working for Workers.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Courts have now blessed mandatory arbitration clauses, but regulators and states don’t have to.] 6-12-18 (Blinder was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004)
Economy. “Tariffs and the Tax Cut.” 6-13-18
Economy. “Don’t Be So Sure the Gig is Up.” By Liya Palagashvili. [Contract work has fallen as a share of employment, a BLS study finds. But there are reasons to doubt it.] 6-13-18
Economy. “Who Unraveled the New World Order?” by David M. Smick. [It wasn’t Trump. The global economic consensus began falling apart years before he entered politics.] 6-13-18
Economy. “The Day the ‘Trade Deficit’ Almost Disappeared.” By Gerard Gayou. [If economists had courage in 1976, Trump might have been deprived of a trope.] 6-14-18
Economy. “Here’s a Tip: Waiters and Bartenders Like How They’re Paid.” By Michael Saltsman. [D.C. restaurant workers oppose a job-killing ballot measure. Surprisingly, local politicians agree.] 6-16-18
Economy. “Trump’s China Impulses.” [ZTE gets a pass but U.S. consumers will pay for new tariffs.] 6-16-18
Economy. “People Aren’t Rational, and That’s Why We Need Free Trade.” By Richard B. McKenzie. [It’s not only about comparative advantage. Consider the insights of behavioral economics.[ 6-16-18
Economy. “No Country for American Locker Makers.” [How the Trump steel tariff is harming a U.S. company and its workers.] 6-18-18
Economy. “Don’t Binge on Bridge-Building.” By David Siegel. [Predictable spending on infrastructure would vastly improve its quality.] 6-19-18
Economy. “The GOP’s Trade Abdication.” [Trump escalates his tariff war as Senators shrink from a debate.] 6-20-18
Economy. “Trump’s Tariffs Are a Defense Against China’s Aggression” by Peter Navarro. [Beijing seeks economic and military domination by taking U.S. technology and intellectual property.] 6-21-18
Economy. “General Electric’s Long Unwinding.” By Andy Kessler. [The company turned out to be a hedge fund masquerading as an industrial giant.] 6-25-18
Economy. Reckoning With the Robots.” (Bookshelf by Oren Cass) “The Future of Work” by Darrell M West. “Human + Machine” by Paul R. Daugherty and H. James Wilson. [Automation rarely outright destroys jobs. It instead augments – taking over routine tasks while humans handle more complex ones.] 6-25-18
Economy. “Robots Run the Farm, but You Can Eat Only so Much.” By Mark P. Mills. [Good news for future jobs: Unlike for food, there’s no limit on demand for goods.] 6-26-18
Economy. “Trump Rides a Harley – to Europe.” [The U.S. casualties of his trade war are starting to mount.] 6-26-18
Economy. “Another Antitrust Bust.” [American Express gets vindication at the Supreme Court.] 6-26-18
Economy. “A foreigner’s Guide to Trade War.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Celebration and symbols are what Trump wants. You should too.] 6-27-18
Economy. “Trump’s Motorcycle Club Revenge.” [Harley-Davidson wants to live to ride another day. Cue the rage.] 6-27-18
Economy. “Trump Boils Maine Lobstermen.” [A case study in how a tariff war will hurt small businesses and blue-collar workers.] 6-30-18
Economy. “Amazon the RX Disrupter.” [The pharmacy giants could use some PillPack competition.] 6-30-18
Economy. “Look Out, Bitcoin Has Lost Its Tether.” by Andy Kessler. [Even Issac Newton didn’t appreciate how the law of gravity applies to markets.] 7-2-18
Economy. Marketing. “If You Value My Opinion, Pay Me for It.” By Peter Funt. [Avis, Home Depot and even Donald Trump want free feedback.] 7-3-18
Economy. “Trump’s War on the WTO.” By Greg Rushford. [Economic nationalism is a threat to world-wide and American – prosperity.] 7-5-18
Economy. “Attack of the Killer Audis.” [There is no national-security case for auto-import tariffs.] 7-6-18
Economy. “The Fed’s Tariff Warning.” [Minutes from the June meeting show growing worry over trade harm.] 7-6-18
Economy. “The Use – and Abuse – of Tariffs.” By Martin Feldstein. [If Trump’s goal is to reduce the trade deficit with China, forget it. But the threat could be useful.] 7-6-18
Economy. “So Much Trade Losing.” [The tariff shooting begins with China, and where’s the deal-making?”] 7-7-18
Economy. “Workers Emerge From the Woodwork.” [Faster growth pulls the least skilled back into the private economy.] 7-7-18
Economy. “A Brief Introduction to Trade Economics.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Why deficits are normal, especially for a country like the U.S. and what is comparative advantage.] 7-9-18 (Blinder was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004)
Economy. “The Economy Is Growing Faster Than the Government says.” By Jason Furman. [The official top-line figure for the first quarter is 2%. A more accurate measure puts the rate at 2.8%.] 7-10-18
Economy. Tariffs. “Is Trump’s Car War a Bluff?” by Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Welcome to the Atlantic City moment when his ambition outruns his skills.] 7-11-18
Economy. Tariffs. “Tariffs Made America Great.” 7-11-18
Economy. “Dust Bowl Economics.” [Trump wants taxpayers to bail out farmers hurt by his trade war.] 7-12-18
Economy. “Don’t Take Me Out to the Ballgame – I Can’t Afford It.” By Joseph Epstein. [A day in the stands may cost a family of four $500. It’s almost un-American.] 7-13-18
Economy. “To Restore U.S. Competitiveness, Pass the JOBS Act 3.0.” by Jeb Hensarling. [Excessive regulation has stalled startups and IPO. The Senate should now act to get out of the way.] 7-16-18
Economy. “Tariffs Put a Frown on Pistachio Growers.” [California farmers are losing business in China to Iran.] 7-17-18
Economy. “People Are Worrying the Labor Market Is Too Good.” By Andy Puzder. [Removing roadblocks to growth by reducing taxes and regulations appears to be working.] 7-17-18
Economy. “For a Flat Monthly Fee.” (Bookshelf by Philip Delves Broughton. “Subscribed” by Tien Tzuo with Gabe Weisert.” Subscription businesses are proliferating because billions of digital customers are increasingly favoring access over ownership.] 7-18-18
Economy. “Trading Past America.” [Japan and the EU strike a deal that leaves U.S. companies in the cold.] 7-18-18
Economy. “Training For the Jobs of Tomorrow.” By Ivanka Trump. [A new White House initiative will tackle the challenges technology poses to the workforce.] 7-18-18
Economy. “Keep Politics Out of the Boardroom.” By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon. [Reforms intended to give a voice to small shareholders have instead let social activists hijack proxy votes.] 7-19-18
Economy. “Deer Isle in Twilight.” (Bookshelf by Heller McAlpin.) “The Last Lobster.” By Christopher White. [A $1.7 billion industry, and an age-old way of American life, is threatened by overfishing, warming waters and international trade wars.] 7-20-18
Economy. “The Trade Casualties Mount.” [Peter Navarro says the harm is a ‘rounding error.’ He’s out of touch.] 7-21-18
Economy. “The ‘Everything Handmade’ Trend Will Curb Job Losses.” By Jay W. Richards. [Automation will eliminate some jobs, but consumers will often pay a premium for the human touch.] 7-21-18
Economy. “Breaking Up Big Tech Is Hard to Do.” By William Rinehart. [Innovation depends on large companies’ teams and shared technologies.] 7-23-18
Economy. “Trump and Money.” [Monetary reform would help to avoid ‘beggar thy neighbor’ currency devaluations.] 7-23-18
Economy. “Zero Tariffs? There’s a Precedent.” By Bill Lane. [If Trump is serious about free and fair trade, he should follow the example of Caterpillar in 1988.] 7-24-18
Economy. “Does Everyone Have Two Jobs?” by Andy Puzder. [A critical look at the left’s latest economic talking point.] 7-25-18
Economy. “A $12 Billion ‘Rounding Error.’” [The Trump farm trade bailout won’t make up for lost markets.] 7-25-18
Economy. “The Global Order Will Outlast U.S. Leadership” by James Dobbins. [China and Europe will happily take the reins – to America’s detriment.] 7-25-18
Economy. “Some Good Trade News.” [Europe and the U.S. call a truce and pledge to negotiate ‘zero tariffs.’] 7-20-18
Economy. “The Markets Will Stop a Trade War.” By Roger C. Altman. [If the tariffs hurt growth, expect a major selloff. President Trump will be forced to reverse course.] 7-20-18
Economy. LTE. “In Defense of President Trump’s Trade Policy.” 7-27-18
Economy. “The Return of 3% Growth.” “Tax reform and deregulation have lifted the economy out of the Obama doldrums.” 7-28-18
Economy. “An Inverted Yield Curve May Not Portend Doom.” By Burton G. Malkiel. [Today’s global financial environment is highly unusual. The old rules don’t necessarily apply.] 7-31-18
Economy. “What Will Convince Trump on Trade.” By Karl Rove. [Deals passed under President Bush increased bilateral U.S trade surpluses.] 8-2-18
Economy. “When the Only tool You Have Is a Tariff.” By Chris Pratt. [The nail business is getting hammered by Trump’s steel levies.] 8-2-18
Economy. “A Trillion-dollar Apple.” 8-3-18
Economy. “Work Requirements Hurt Poor Families – and Won’t Work.” (for gov’t welfare assistance) By Jason Furman. [What beneficiaries lack is not motivation, but stable, consistent, decently paid jobs.] 8-3-18
Economy. “Legal Gambling Can Be Good for sports. – and Even for Opera.” By Reuven Brenner. [Betting keeps games honest. When fixing occurs, bookmakers notice and alert the authorities.] 8-4-18
Economy. “Trump’s Car Freedom Act.” [Easing fuel-mileage rules is a boon to auto makers and consumers.] 8-4-18
Economy. “Making America Work Again.” [With better incentives, millions on the sidelines could join the workforce.] 8-4-18
Economy. “The rocky Path to a New NAFTA.” By Mary Anastasia O’Grady. [The window of opportunity to ratify a revised agreement this year has closed.] 8-6-18
Economy. “The Trouble Is Trans-Atlantic.” (Bookshelf by marc Levinson) ”Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World.” By Adam Tooze. [The financial crisis was caused, in part, by the excesses of an undercapitalized international banking system – and it is not yet fixed.] 8-7-18
Economy. “Hardly Anyone Wants to Admit America Is Beating Poverty.” By Bruce D. Meyer and James X. Sullivan. [The White House tells the truth, but partisans on both sides are wedded to the idea of failure.] 8-7-18
Economy. “Tesla’s Private Test Drive.” [Would you lend $70 billion to buy a cash-needy car company?] 8-8-18
Economy. “I Won’t Ride the Trump Train Into a Trade War.” By Robert J. Barro. [Colleagues are appalled I support any of his policies. He may offset the good ones with reckless tariffs.] 8-9-18
Economy. “Interestate Sales-Tax Compliance is Killing My Business.” By Jay Steinmetz. [The Supreme Court has spoken. Now Congress should step in to impose uniform nationwide rules.] 8-9-18
Economy. “A Looming Trade Lesson.” [Tariffs threaten the jobs that Standard Textile brought back to the U.S.] 8-10-18
Economy. “The Myth of American Inequality.” By Phil Gramm and John F. Early. [Taxes and transfers in the U.S. put its income distribution in line with its large developed peers.] 8-10-18
Economy. “Better Data for a Better Economy.” By Erica L. Groshen and Robert M. Groves. [“..Most other countries have organized their statistical work to produce more harmony and integration…”] 8-10-18
Economy. “The proxy Advisers’ Veto.” [Glass Lewis and ISS say no, and Rite Aid and Albertsons fold.] 8-11-18
Economy. “Confidence Is High.” [Business owners don’t believe what they read about the economy.] 8-15-16
Economy. “Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders.” By Elizabeth Warren. [My new bill would require corporations to answer to employees and other stakeholders as well.] 8-15-16
Economy. “We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Truck.” [Congress should allow longer trailers on the highways.] 8-17-18
Economy. “Buyback Derangement Syndrome.” By Clifford Asness. [What sufferers accuse Apple of is a contradiction in terms – self-liquidating to a value of $1 trillion.] 8-17-18
Economy. LTE. “Tariffs Can Be Useful if They’re Used Wisely.” 8-20-18 (response to # 854 above)
Economy. LTE. “Warren’s Blast at Capitalism and Property.” 8-21-18 (response to # 861 above)
Economy. “Trump and Quarterly Capitalism.” [Regular corporate earnings reports enhance accountability.] 8-23-18
Economy. “Driverless-Car Legislation Is Unsafe at This Speed.” By Ralph Nader. [Congress seeks to exempt autonomous vehicles from federal safety regulation. Not so fast.] 8-23-18
Economy. “Operation Mother’s Attic.” [New Jersey conducts an elaborate sting targeting unlicensed movers.] 8-24-18
Economy. “The Good Times Can Roll On.” By Edward C. Prescott and Lee E. Ohanian. [The economy isn’t on a ‘sugar high.’ Pro-market policy improved incentives to work and invest.] 8-24-18
Economy. “Do You Have a License for That Bouquet?” by Danny Heitman. [Louisiana’s Republican Legislature bends to the will of the state’s powerful florists lobby.] 8-25-18
Economy. “A Trade ‘Security’ Safeguard.” [The Pentagon these days is less protectionist than Commerce.] 8-27-18
Economy. “Half a NAFTA.” [The revised U.S.-Mexico deal is a political gamble on big Labor and Democratic votes.] 8-28-18
Economy. “A Hair-Brained Veto.” [New Jersey’s Governor sides against immigrant entrepreneurs.] 8-28-18 (…vetoes legislation to remove licensing rules for hair braiders…)
Economy. “Keep Your Tariffs Off My Harley.” By Edward Lazear. 8-28-18
Economy. “Elon musk’s Public Reckoning.” [Tesla may be a wild ride, but everyone knows the financial risks.] 8-29-18
Economy. “The Oil Export Boom.” [Houston-Galveston exports exceed imports for the first time.] 8-31-18
Economy. “No NAFTA Redo Without Canada.” [Congress won’t pass a new deal if it excludes our northern neighbor.] 8-31-18
Economy. “Happy in their Work.” [A survey finds that blue-collar workers aren’t as glum as the stereotype.] 9-1-18
Economy. “How to Beat the High Cost of Working.” By Eric Brende. [The Amish taught me to live a frugal yet opulent life by running part-time home-based businesses.] 9-1-18
Economy. “Congress, Don’t Let Trump Usurp Your Power Over Trade.” By Robert B. Zoellick. [The law gives legislators the authority to hold onto NAFTA as it is or vote for a new deal.] (Mr. Zoellick is a former World Bank President, U.S. trade representative, deputy secretary of state under Pres. George W. Bush, and Goldman Sachs executive.) 9-4-18
Economy. “Detroit vs. Protectionism?” by Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Don’t rule out U.S. auto makers going squishy for Donald Trump’s tariffs.] 9-5-2018
Economy. “Bernie Sander’s Half-Truth on Wages.” By Andy Puzder. [Take-home pay has risen considerably thanks to tax reform.] 9-6-18
Economy. “Fannie and Freddie, mke Way for Ginnie Mae. “ by Jeb Hensarling. [The entities that caused the last housing crisis haven’t been reformed. My compromise would do so.] 9-6-18
Economy. “Real Wages Are Rising.” [More evidence that faster growth is flowing to workers.] 9-8-18
Economy. “Lehman: Political and Personal.” By Andy Kessler. [The man who led the firm after it collapsed says politics still reigns over policy.] 9-10-18
Economy. “Nailed by Steel Tariffs.” [Trump protectionism is driving a Missouri company to the brink.” 9-10-18
Economy. “Why the ‘Obama Recovery’ Took So Long.” By Peter J. Ferrara. [The economy should have roared back. Instead it crawled.] 9-11-18
Economy. “Trump’s Income Bump.” [The Census shows that faster growth is helping all income levels.] 9-13-18
Economy. “Bailouts Shouldn’t Be Only for Banks.” By Glenn Hubbard. [The government’s failure to help homeowners after the 2008 crisis fueled populist anger at finance.] 9-14-18
Economy. “Post-Lehman Sins of Transmission and Omission.” By Joseph C. Sternberg. [Economists and central bankers know surprisingly little about how their crisis policies really worked.] 9-14-18
Economy. “Get Ready for the Next Financial Crisis.” By Daniel J. Arbess. [The post-2008 fixes piled on more debt. And when rates rise and credit turns, equity won’t be far behind.] 9-15-18
Economy. “Stop Bezos From Hiring Poor People.?” By Andy Puzder. [Bernie Sanders’s latest brainstorm would make the transition from welfare to work more difficult.] 9-18-18
Economy. “What Really Happened in 2008.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [There was a housing shortage, not a bubble; the Fed was too tight, etc.] 9-19-18
Economy. “The Corporate Tax Cut Is Paying for Itself.” By Stephen Moore. [Faster-than-expected growth has produced a revenue windfall.] 9-19-18
Economy. “The New New Normal?” [“…Economic sentiment began to shift on Election Day in 2016, and economic policy shifted dramatically toward growth over the last 20 months. Coincidence?”] 9-21-18
Economy. “Wages Are Growing Faster Than You Think.” [A 0.1% annual rise turns into 1% when adjusted for inflation, benefits and the changing labor force.] 9-21-18
Economy. “The New New Normal?” [“…Economic sentiment began to shift on Election Day in 2016, and economic policy shifted dramatically toward growth over the last 20 months. Coincidence?”] 9-21-18
Economy. “The United States of Free Trade.” By John Steele Gordon. [In 1824 the supreme Court held protectionist state laws unconstitutional. Wild prosperity ensued.] 9-22-18
Economy. “The Company Implosion Pageant.” By Andy Kessler. [We’re late in the cycle and VCs are making some crazy bets. Who will fail hardest?] 9-24-18
Economy. “Throttling the 5G Internet.” [The FCC moves to override extortion by local politicians.] 9-26-18
Economy. “Lighthizer’s NAFTA Bluff.” [The U.S Trade Rep thinks he can pass a deal without Canada. Uh oh.] 9-26-18
Economy. LTE. “Time for Market-Based Interest Rates Again.” 9-26-18
Economy. “The Fault Lies in R-Star and in Ourselves.” By Kevin Warsh. [Central bankers should give up the search for the neutral interest rate.] 9-26-18
Economy. “Silicon Valley’s Supreme Salvation.” [Why Uber and Google should hope that Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed.] 9-27-18
Economy. “Another Recession Is Looming.” By Martin Feldstein. [And unlike in the past, the Federal Reserve has little room to encourage growth by reducing rates.] 9-28-18
Economy. “To Boost 5G, Keep the Industry Free.” By Robert McDowell. 9-28-18
Economy. “Time to Put Down the Bong, Elon.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Tesla’s CEO needs to steer the car maker toward a future that doesn’t depend on green politics.] 9-29-18
Economy. “Trump’s Instincts Triumph on Trade.” By Walter Russell Mead. [His unconventional methods didn’t lead to the catastrophe critics promised.] 10-2-18
Economy. “A New NAFTA Relief.” [The new deal is worse than the status quo, but disaster was avoided.] 10-2-18
Economy. “How GE Unraveled.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Missteps quickly compound, and then the stock market takes charge.] 10-3-18
Economy. “Amazon’s $15 Political Insurance.” 10-3-18
Economy. “Merging Onto the Belt and Road.” [Congress tries to counter China by aping its bad ideas.] 10-3-18
Economy. “A Trade War America Can’t Afford to Lose.” By Jeff Moon. [The stakes are so high, a NAFTA-like rewrite would be a disaster.] (Trade with China.). 10-4-18
Economy. “The Bond Market’s Signal. [“…The question is how much a washout in some frothy asset classes would affect the real economy…”] 10-5-18
Economy. “Good News Is Bad News?” [Faster growth keeps producing jobs despite 3.7% unemployment.] 10-6-18
Economy. “Lessons From an ‘80’s Trade War.” By Andy Kessler. [Good riddance to low-margin businesses. The U.S. invests up the margin chain.] 10-8-18
Economy. “To Bring Back U.S. Manufacturing, Get the World to Drop the Dollar.” [America’s role as provider of the international reserve currency has driven up the price of American goods.] 10-8-18
Economy. “The Dangers of Optimism.” (Bookshelf by Burton G. Malkiel.) “Mastering the Market Cycle.” By Howard Marks. [Just as prices fluctuate, so do attitudes toward risk. When prices are high, investors worry about it less – when they should be worrying more.] 10-9-18
Economy. “A Nobel Economics Prize for the Long Run.” By David R. Henderson. [Americans Paul Romer and William Nordhaus study growth and how to sustain it.] 10-9-18
Economy. “Japan’s Tsunami Recovery Holds Lessons for the World.” By Jonathan Kolatch. [It’s the largest engineering project ever undertaken, budgeted at $315 billion over 10 years.] 10-9-18
Economy. “America’s Economy Isn’t Overheating.” By Edward P Lazear. [It’s still recovering. The labor market has more room to expand before achieving full employment.] 10-10-18
Economy. “How Sears Lost Its Mojo.” [No amount of financial wizardry can make up for lost customers.] 10-13-18
Economy. “A New Kind of Street Smarts.” (Bookshelf by John Buntin.) “The Next American City.” By Mick Cornett. [Losing out in the contest for a corporate facility provided a lightbulb moment. Cities would have to transform themselves in some other way.] 10-15-18
Economy. “Revolt of the Tipped Masses.” [D.C. restaurant workers educate the City Council on economics.] 10-15-18
Economy. “Technology for Older People Doesn’t Have to Be Ugly.” By Joseph F. Coughlin and Luke Yoquinto. [‘Big, beige and boring’ is out. A new emphasis on aesthetics is in, and it could transform elder tech.] 10-15-18
Economy. “Tariff’s Are Like a Knife In a Gunfight.” By Zachary Karabell. [The laws that let Trump impose duties unilaterally were made for an era when the U.S. dominated trade.] 10-15-18
Economy. “The Entrepreneurial Paul Allen.” [He was the visionary behind the personal computing revolution.] 10-17-18Economy. “Mr. President, it’s Time for Zero Tariffs.” By “The Committee to Unleash Prosperity.” [Seize the high ground and give U.S. firms an advantage.] 10-18-18
Economy. “How to Make Highways and Airports Pay.” By Robert Poole. [‘Asset recycling’ lets investors profit while serving the public.] 10-22-18
Economy. “Trump’s Tariffs Give Democrats a Chance to Lead on Trade.” By Ed Gerwin. [Reclaim the tradition of global engagement sustained by FDR, JFK, and Bill Clinton.] 10-22-18
Economy. “Opportunity Is Comin to a City Near You.” By Steve Glickman. [The rollout of new tax incentives should prompt investment.] 10-24-18
Economy. “Pause Interest-Rate Hikes to Help the Labor Force Grow.” By Neel Kashkari. [The Fed can tolerate inflation slightly above its 2% target. I should take its foot off the brakes.] 10-26-18
Economy. “The Fantasy of ‘Democratic Socialism.’” By Tephen Miller. [If the state controls the economy, competition is replaced by rivalries among politicians.] 10-27-18
Economy. “3% Growth, If We Can Keep It.” 10-27-18
Economy. “Earl Bakken, Pacemaker.” [The medical device innovator who co-founded Medtonic.] 10-29-18
Economy. “Investors, Look Up From Your Algorithms.” By Daniel J. Arbess. [‘Virtualization’ means the old strategies may no longer apply. How to adapt? Use common sense.] 10-29-18
Economy. “Geopolitics Trumps the Markets.” By Walter Russell Mead. [America led a 30-year hiatus from history. It was nice while it lasted, but it’s over.] 10-30-18
Economy. “The Fantasy of Fiscal Stimulus.” By Edmund Phelps. [It turns out Keynesian polities are correlated with slower, not faster, economic growth.] 10-30-18
Economy. “The Big Tech Selloff.” [Why the fall from super-high values shouldn’t hurt the larger economy.] 11-1-18
Economy. “The Growth Dividend for Workers.” [The October jobs report shows the shared gains of a strong economy.] 11-3-18
Economy. “I Can’t See Berkshire’s Bottom Line.” By Donald E. Graham. [ A new accounting rule makes it difficult for investors to make sense of annual reports.] 11-8-18
Economy. “Government Motors is Back.” [GM floats a China-style plan to subsidize and promote electric cars.] 11-12-18
Economy. “The Anti-Manufacturing Tariff.” [Five months after seeking a waiver, Mid continent still waits.] 11-12-18
Economy. “Peter Navarro’s Politburo Playbook.” [The White House trade adviser calls private citizens ‘foreign agents’] 11-13-18
Economy. “Military Spouses Also Serve.” By Sidney E. Goodfriend. [Employers ought to make it easier to keep jobs when families have to move.] 11-13-18
Economy. “You Didn’t Get Amazon. Now What?” by Bradley Tusk. [Your investment doesn’t have to go to waste. Here’s how the losing cities can attract the next startup.] 11-14-18
Economy. “America Has a Surplus in Services.” By Michael L. Corbat. [Arguments about the balance of trade often focus only on goods. That misses half the equation.] 11-14-18
Economy. “Bezos Invades Trump’s Backyard.” By Daniel Henninger. [Amazon is the new king of Queens, where you-know-who got his start in real estate.] 11-15-18
Economy. “Amazon’s Golden Fleecing” [The rich company takes New York politicians for a subsidy ride.] 11-15-18
Economy. “The Dangerous Fantasy of a ‘Jobs Guarantee.’” By Max Gulker. [The latest progressive brainstorm would upend the labor market and be impossible to administer.] 11-15-18
Economy. “Economic Liberty Turns Vice Into Virtue.” By Stephen Miller. [Bernard Mandeville showed how envy and pride drove men to help themselves and society.] 11-15-18
Economy. “America is Not an Island.” [As the world economy shows, Trump and the Fed need to adapt.] 11-16-18
Economy. “A Trade Deficit Isn’t A Mortgage.” By Gerard Gayou. [Navarro’s odd analogy offers a glimpse into the protectionist mind.] 11-16-18
Economy. “Your Flying Car Will Be Here Sooner than You Think.” By Brent Skorup. [Electric air taxis could take you to the airport in minutes for less than the price of a regular cab.] 11-16-18
Economy. “Why Central Bankers Missed the Crisis.” (The Weekend Interview with Claudio Borio by Joseph C. Sternberg.) [The lesson of 2008, a top economist says, is that monetary maestros don’t pay enough attention to financial markets. Are they doing it again?] 11-17-18
Economy. “A Strong Dollar Is Good for America.” By Larry Harris. [Weak currencies don’t help countries become – or stay – wealthy.] 11-19-18Economy. “Alienated, Angry, In Need of a Job.” (Bookshelf by W. Bradford Wilcox.) “The Once and Future Worker.” By Oren Cass. “The Forgotten Americans” by Isabel Sawhill.” [Getting a monthly check from Uncle Sam is not likely to renew the family or the civic foundations of working-class America.] 11-20-18
Economy. “Sticking it to Pharma – With Competition.” [A record pace of generic drug approvals is reducing prices.] 11-20-18
Economy. “The Trade Canary.” [Global Trade Growth Soars.] 11-21-18
Economy. “Let’s Vote on the New NAFTA in the Current Congress.” By Sen. Pat Toomey. [I could support USMCA if the president adds some free-trade features to the implementing legislation.] 11-21-18
Economy. “Bad Trade Timing.” [New NAFTA lacks investor protections just when Americans need them.] 11-26-18
Economy. “Trump kicked the Sluggish Economy Into High Gear.” By Andy Puzder. [Obama wants credit for faster growth, but compare Obama’s last 21 months to Trump’s first 21.] 11-26-18
Economy. “The Climate Won’t Crash the Economy.” [A Worst-case scenario projects annual GDP growth will be slower by 0.05 percentage point.] 11-27-18
Economy. “The Deal America and China Need.” By Thomas J. Duesterberg. [It is in both countries’ interests to back way from the brink. Can Trump offer Xi a way to save face?] 11-27-18
Economy. “Trump’s GM Collision.” [Railing against the company can’t change car-market realities.] 11-28-18
Economy. “The Case for Pausing the Interest-Rate Climb.” By Jason Furman. [The Fed predicted another increase this year, but changing conditions should lead it to reconsider.] 11-28-18
Economy. “New NAFTA’s Bad Omens.” 12-1-18
Economy. “…And NAFTA Suicide Note.” 12-3-18
Economy. “Trump’s China Trade Truce…” [The key to a larger deal will be enforcement of Chinese promises.] 12-3-18
Economy. “Justice’s AT&T Vendetta.” [The government’s antitrust appeal gets weaker by the month.] 12-5-18Economy. “’I Am a Tariff Man.’” [It’s a bird, it’s a plane, No, it’s the President of the United States.] 12-5-18
Economy. “The Anti-Bill Gates.” (The Weekend Interview with William Easterly by Adam O’Neal.) [How do poor countries get rich? Not with World Bank help but by unleashing the talents of the poor, says an economist who defies the philanthropic consensus.] 12-8-18
Economy. “Let the Sun Shine In on the Art Business.” By Wm. G. Rich. [Subjective pricing and a tradition of anonymity make it attractive to money launderers.] 12-8-18
Economy. “No New NAFTA Until Tariffs Have Been Lifted.” By David McIntosh. [Trump made a promise, and Congress should hold him accountable for it.] 12-10-18
Economy. “The Trump Boom Is No Mere ‘Sugar High..’ [The tax cuts primed the productive economy for long-term growth, not a short-term buzz.] 12-10-18
Economy. “The Crisis of Good Intentions.” By Wm. McGurn. [It’s not capitalism that’s reducing living standards for workers around the world.] 12-11-18
Economy. LTE. “Protecting U.S. State-Regulated Insurance.” 12-11-18
Economy. “The Debt Threat to the Economy.” by Phil Gramm and Michael Solon. [As rates rise, paying back government borrowing will consume the credit needed to sustain growth.] 12-11-18
Economy. “The Trump Tax Cuts Boosted Growth and Jobs, but at What Cost?” by Jason Furman. (…chairman of the White House Council of Economic advisors from 2013-17) [The deficit has ballooned, and most of the benefits went to corporate profits rather than employees.] 12-19-18
Economy. “America Is Competitive Again.” By Gary D. Cohn. [The tax cuts of 2017 have boosted growth and job creation, just as the White House team intended.] 12-21-18
Economy. “China’s Hacking State.” [Indictments show cyber economic theft is a government operation.] 12-21-18Economy. “Stock-Market Volatility Can Be Good for the Economy.” By Amar Bhide. [Cheap, abundant capital doesn’t create good ideas. Scarce, expensive capital helps weed out bad ones.] 12-26-18
Economy. “Trump’s Broken NAFTA Promise.” [The U.S. still hasn’t lifted metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico.] 12-27-18
Economy. “The Electric Kool-Aid Subsidy Test.” [Tax credits for electric cars are a classic income transfer to the rich. Time to end them.] 12-31-18
Economy. “You Call That ‘Infrastructure’? [A bargain between Trump and Democrats may not be so easy.] 1-4-19
Economy. “Jobs for the Forgotten Man.” [Wage increases are reaching even unskilled corners of the labor force.] 1-5-19
Economy. “A Soda Tax and Consequences.” [As shoppers flee Philly, a supermarket closes and jobs disappear.] 1-5-19
Economy. “Rich Cities Created the Housing Shortage.” By Keven Erdmann. [‘Closed-access cities’ raise the cost of shelter and drive out the middle class.] 1-7-19
Economy. “America’s Lost Markets.” [The Pacific trade pact is up and running, and U.S. exporters are the losers.] 1-7-19
Economy. “Brexit Won’t Prevent a U.S. – U.K. Trade Pact.” By Antony Phillipson. [The deal with Brussels gives Britain the freedom to negotiate agreements with other countries.] 1-7-19
Economy. “Amazon Is No. 1, for Now.” [Not too long ago Apple was on top. The market is ruthless discipline.] 1-8-19
Economy. “Two Tacos and a B.A., Please.” [When the economy is good, even fast-food joints pay for college.] 1-14-19
Economy. “Debt Denial Is a Threat to America.” By Desmond Lachman. [‘Modern monetary theory’ rests on dangerous, false premises. The U.S. won’t grow its way out of the red.] 1-15-19
Economy. “The Real Cure for Economic Insecurity.” [Liberal economists admit they were wrong about the ‘gig economy.’] 1-17-19
Economy. “How China Exploits Anti-Soviet Money Policy.” By rich Danker. [The dollar’s role as the global reserve currency has let China become the world’s factory floor.] 1-22-19
Economy. “The Shutdown Won’t Stop Growth.” By Harold Furchtgott-Roth. [It’s painful for federal employees but has little effect on GDP. 1-23-19
Economy. “An ‘Old Testament Approach’ to Trade.” [A few Republicans want to give Trump unilateral authority on tariffs.] 1-24-19
Economy. “Sherrod Brown Sends Regrets.” [The Democrat was supposed to support new NAFTA. Guess not.] 1-26-19
Economy. “Tax Credits for Phantom Jobs.] [An audit of New Jersey’s business ‘incentives’ makes for grim reading.] California. 1-28-19
Economy. “FTC Has Qualcomm’s Number.” By Theodore B. Olson. [The chip maker demands licensing fees even for smartphones that don’t use its technology.] 1-29-19
Economy. “When Politicians Direct Capital.” [PG&E bankruptcy shows the peril of the public utility model.] 2-1-19
Economy. “Sorry for the Good News.” [A bang-up jobs report reveals underlying economic strength.] 2-2-19
Economy. “Steel Tariff Profiteers.” [American steelmakers post record earning – while others pay the bill.] 2-4-19
Economy. “A ‘Too Big to Fail’ Comedy of Errors.” By Steen A. Kandarian and Eugene Scalia. [The administration was right to stop defending a decision that would have unfairly burdened MetLife.] 2-5-19
Economy. “Appalachian Spring.” [West Virginia’s rebound is raising wages and reducing welfare.] 2-8-19
Economy. “Two Bills to Defend Free Trade.” [Congressional action to rein in presidential tariff power is overdue.] 2-8-19
Economy. “Jobs and Steel Tariffs.” [Border taxes produce small benefits for some, higher costs for many.] 2-13-19
Economy. “Discriminating Against Oracle.” [Why hasn’t Trump’s Labor secretary killed an Obama-era lawsuit?] 2-14-19
Economy. “Amazon Escapes From New York.” [$3 billion in subsidies couldn’t overcome the hostility to business.] 2-15-19
Economy. “Another Subsidy Letdown.” […General Electric…on Boston…] 2-16-19
Economy. “An Arizona Occupational Welcome.” [“…to recognize other state’s occupational licenses…] 2-19-19
Economy. “Amazon, New York and the End of Corporate Welfare.” By Mene Ukueberuwa . [Special tax breaks do little to spur the economy. Now they’re becoming politically unpopular too.] 2-19-19
Economy. “How to Liberate Amazon Workers.” By Andy Puzder. [A $150,000 salary goes a lot further in Virginia or Tennessee than it would in high-tax New York City.] 2-21-19
Economy. “Crash on the Autobahn.” [Europe can’t afford new car tariffs – so the U.S. President can’t either.] 2-23-19
Economy. “Startups Grow Up.” [Smart deregulation is helping more companies test the public markets.] 2-23-19
Economy. “Profiting From High Ideals.” (Bookshelf by roger Lowenstein) “The Enlightened Capitalists” by James O’Toole. [One chief executive thought that if he could get his workers to want to succeed as much as he did, they would prosper together – and they did.] 2-26-19
Economy. “The Obama-Trump Economic Boom.” By Alan S. Blinder. [The current expansion may soon be America’s longest, and neither inflation nor tariffs are likely to stop it. ] 2-26-19 (Blinder was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004)
Economy. “AT&T Wins by Knockout.” [Even the liberal D.C. Circuit doesn’t buy Justice’s antitrust case.] 2-27-19
Economy. “How Debt Makes the Market Volatile.” By James Piereson. “Stocks are becoming more sensitive to interest-rate hikes because the global economy is overleveraged.] 2-18-19
Economy. “Burger-Flipper Arbitrators.” By Michael Lotito and Michael Saltsman. [“…to make fast-food workers hard to fire…”] 3-1-19
Economy. “When the Robot Gets an Office.” (Bookshelf by Marc Levinson.) “The Globatics Upheaval” by Richard Baldwin. [New robotics and AI technologies may soon be coming or the jobs of those who until now have only know globalization’s benefits.] 3-4-19
Economy. “The Story of the Year.” By Daniel Henninger. [[You have to be obtuse to stare at this jobs record and pretend it isn’t happening.] 3-7-19
Economy. “Trump Has Been Bad for Farmers.” By Michael Bennet. [His policies have contributed to a huge rise in bankruptcies.] 3-7-19
Economy. “Trade Deficit Freak Out.” [The rising gap is the result of faster growth. There’s no need to panic.] 3-7-19
Economy. “Mario Draghi’s Last Try.” [Don’t blame the ECB for the recession menacing the eurozone.] 3-8-19
Economy. “Why the bull Has Room to Run.” By Jason DeSena Trennert.” [Euphoria kills economic expansions. The mood on the street now is best described as skepticism.] 3-8-19
Economy. “February Jobs Scare.” [Few new jobs for the month, but wages keep accelerating.] 3-9-19
Economy. “Impeachment and Your Investments.” By Andy Kessler. [How will the markets react as Democrats push to remove President Trump.?] 3-11-19
Economy. “the Stock Buyback Panic.” [Repurchases reallocate under-utilized capital to more efficient purposes.] 3-11-19
Economy. “American Capitalism Is Fine, Thank You.” By Bobby Jindal. [The real debate is whether to accept the creative destruction at the heart of the free-market system.] 3-12-19
Economy. “Trump’ Big Trade Opening.” By Robert Porter. [The impending deal with China is a chance for America to lead a new era of liberalization.] 3-15-19
Economy. “How Are Those Steel Tariffs Working?” [Let’s look at the evidence a year later in jobs and trade flows.] 3-18-19
Economy. “In Praise of Wild Ideas.” (Bookshelf by David A. Shaywitz) “Loonshots.” By Safi Bahcall. [Innovative proposals can be both imperfect and discomfiting – and are often rejected before they can develop enou8ght to prove themselves viable.] 3-19-19
Economy. “The Case for Big Business.” (The Weekend Interview with Robert D. Atkinson by Mene Ukueberuwa.) [Everyone loves the little guy, but this policy scholar argues large corporations are more innovative and better to employees.] 3-23-19
Economy. “Dueling Over Lyft’s IPO.” [Big investors want to stop dual-class shares, but they can always sell.] 3-23-19
Economy. “A ‘Tiny’ Tax on Trades Would Hobble Markets.” By Jon Hartley. [Intended to halt high-frequency swaps, the levy would discourage low-cost investing.] 4-1-19
Economy. “A Lesson in the Virtue of a Stable Currency.” By John Greenwood and Steve H. Hanke. [Speculators keep shorting the Hong Kong dollar, but they don’t understand how a currency board works.] 4-2-19
Economy. Illegals. “Blowing Up the Border.” [How to damage the economy and not solve the asylum crisis.] 4-3-19
Economy. “Trump Has a Plan to Stop Fake Goods.” By Peter Navarro. [When you buy online via Alibaba, Amazon or eBay, chances are high you’ll end up with a counterfeit.] 4-3-19
Economy. “Recession False Alarm.” [The job market shows underlying strength after February’s scare.] 4-6-19
Economy. “An Aircraft Bubble Epilogue.” [How cheap money and strategic gamesmanship helped give birth to Boeing’s 737Max.] 4-6-19
Economy. “What You Need to Know to Pick an IPO.” By Andy Kessler. [Dig up dirt on the competition and board members, and buy to hold long-term.] 4-8-19
Economy. “Pass a Law to Combat Rent-Seeking.” By Barton Swaim. [Congress could invoke the Commerce Clause to limit destructive competition over corporate subsidies.] 4-8-19
Economy. “If You Drive, You Should Pay.” By Robert Poole. [America’s roads are crumbling. The best way to save them is by imposing tolls.] 4-9-19
Economy. “What Socialism Gets Wrong.” (Bookshelf by George Melloan.) “Big Business by Tyler Cowen.” [It sounds almost sophomoric to say it, but big business has its virtues. It makes most of what we consume, and it gives most of us our jobs.] 4-9-19
Economy. “All Bernie’s Socialists.” [The candidate’s advisers want America to be more like Venezuela.] 4-9-19
Economy. “Get Ready for a Pileup, Tesla.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [The company braces for a $300 billion onslaught of money-losing breen cars.] 4-10-19
Economy. “Toll Roads Tax the Poor.” By Peter Funt. [Technology makes it easy to ding drivers. No wonder politicians are seeing dollar signs.] 4-10-19
Economy. “The Antitrust Avengers” [“…the government is now taking on the Hollywood cartel known as the Oscars…] 4-10-19
Economy. “A Private Jet May Break the Sound Barrier.” (The Weekend Interview with Tom Vice by Tunku Varadarajan.) [The Concorde last flew in 2003. Aerion plans a new 12 seat plane that can travel at Mach 1.4] 4-13-19
Economy. “Enemies of the Economic Enlightenment.” By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon. [Elizabeth Warren and others seek corporate ‘reforms’ that resemble medieval royal charters.] 4-16-19
Economy. “Justice Drops Another Call.” [The antitrust cops stall a T-Mobile – sprint merger without cause.] 4-22-19
Economy. “The Case for Monetary Regime Change.” By Judy Shelton. [Central bankers aren’t omniscient. A linked-currency system could improve economic growth.] 4-22-19
Economy. “The Tide Keeps Rising.” [The Trump policy mix continues to pay economic dividends.] 4-27-19
Economy. “A Japanese Gift for Trump.” [Prime Minister Abe and the U.S. President need each other on trade.] 4-27-19
Economy. “The falling Disability Rolls.” [Faster growth and less fraud draw more people into the workforce.] 4-29-19
Economy. “Arizona’s Licensing Liberation.” [Gov. Doug Ducey signs three reforms making it easier to work.] 4-29-19
Economy. “Trump’s Tariff’s End or His Trade Deal Dies.” By Chuck Grassley. [Congress won’t approve USMCA while constituents pay the price for Mexican and Canadian retaliation.] 4-29-19
Economy. “Tariffs Take You to the Cleaners.” [Washing-machine taxes launder money from consumers to Whirlpool.] 5-1-19
Economy. “Growth and the Working Class.” [Wages are growing faster for the less skilled than for supervisors.] 5-4-19
Economy. “Mind the Productivity Gap to Reduce Inequality.” By Edward P. Lazear. [It isn’t only an American problem, but the U.S. has lessons to learn from other wealthy countries.] 5-7-19
Economy. “Blue and White collars don’t fit Every Job.” By Andy Kessler. [From retail to coding and gigs, today’s work is varied in ways politicians overlook.] 5-6-19
Economy. “Airbnb Helps Slay Inflation.” By Todd Buchholz. [Tech gets more out of economic resources, bringing prices down.] 5-9-19
Economy. “Uber’s Risk Is Politics.” [The biggest worry for investors is government allied with unions.] 5-10-19
Economy. “Unemployment Isn’t What It Used to Be.” By Neel Kashkari. [The low rate doesn’t take account of low labor-force participation. Wages are a better indication of slack.] 5-10-19
Economy. “The China Trade Impasse.” [The tariff damage rises as Beijing backtracks on its earlier concessions.] 5-11-19
Economy. “Help Wanted in the US.A.” [More guest workers would ease the growing labor shortage.] 5-11-19
Economy. “Bernie and AOC Are A Credit Risk.” [They would cap interest at 15%, while letting the Post Office write loans.] 5-14-19
Economy. China. “The Cost of China Tariffs.” [Border taxes are an economic loss, as markets are saying.] 5-14-19
Economy. “Don’t Give Trump Too Much Credit for the Soaring Economy.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Tax cuts and deregulation are juicing GDP, but we’ll pay the price for his presidency in other ways.] 5-17-19 (Blinder was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004)
Economy. “Trump’s Trade War With China Is Taxing Missouri Farmers.” By Blake Hurst. [My patriotic friends and neighbors support the president, but they’ve given about all they can.] 5-18-19
Economy. “A Metals Tariff Reprieve.” [Good news for steel consumers, but border taxes could be re-imposed.] 5-18-19
Economy. “The Myth of ‘Wage Stagnation.” By Phil Gramm and John Early. [Usual measures of inflation don’t count the benefits of better products and more consumer choice.] 5-18-19
Economy. “Blessing the T-Mobile-Sprint Merger.” [The FCC approves with condition. Justice should be next.] 5-21-19
Economy. “Making room for Airbnb.” [A new study highlights the benefits of disruptive competitors.] 5-21-19
Economy. “What’s Missing From the Trump Economic Boom.” By Joseph C. Sternberg. [Growth and productivity are up, but investment is a soft spot, and neither right nor left has good answers.] 5-24-19
Economy. “Franchisees Like Me Are in Union Crosshairs.” [In Alabama, the SEIU and its trial-lawyer allies are pushing a bill that would upend our businesses.] 5-25-19
Economy. “ A Court’s Dangerous Antitrust Overreach.” By Christine Wilson. [Qualcomm licensed some of its chips 20 years ago. A judge says that obliges it to license all of them now.] 5-29-19
Economy. “A Tariff Issue on Which Free and Fair Traders Can Agree.” By Peter Navarro. [Flawed WTO rules allow other countries to charge significantly higher duties than America does.] 5-29-19
Economy. “Washington’s Anti-Growth Turn.” [Policies matter, and they’re changing for the worse in both parties.] 6-5-19
Economy. “You Can’t Trust a Chinese Audit.” By Marco Rubio. [A new bill would ensure that U.S.-listed companies comply with American financial reporting rules.] 6-5-19
Economy. “Magical Monetary Theory.” By John Greenwood and Steve H. Hanke. [Japan disproves the trendy notion that governments can run unlimited deficits in their own currencies.] 6-5-19
Economy. “A Jobs Warning for Trump.” [Weak hiring in May joins other signs of slowing economic growth.] 6-8-19
Economy. “A Merger Bet on a U.S. Strength.” [The Raytheon-UTC tie-up aims to exploit R&D in manufacturing.] 6-11-19
Economy. “Faster Growth Is Paying Off for Low-Skilled Workers.” By Andy Puzder. [Wage gains are rising the most in lower-paying industries, and without a $15 minimum mandate.] 6-14-19
Economy. “The Recovery Is Reaching Its End.” By Edward P. Lazear. [Recent slowing in job growth suggest that labor-market slack is almost eliminated.] 6-19-19
Economy. “The $15 Minimum Wage Will Put Me Out of Business.” By Larry Fox. [My employees already make the ‘living wage’ with tips. A new bill will force me to fire them all.] 6-22-19
Economy. “AT&T’s Government Distress Signal.” [Look who wants the feds to help with a price negotiation.] 6-22-19
Economy. “Bitcoin And Beyond.” (Bookshelf by Philip Delves Broughton) “Digital Cash.” By Finn Brunton.[The pioneers of digital cash were guided by philosophical and social commitments on authority, sovereignty and value. 6-24-19
Economy. “An Obama Housing Bust.” [The Quicken Loans case fizzles, while the FHA gets riskier business.] 6-24-19
Economy. “Tax Reform’s Remedy for Outsourcing.” [The AbbVie-Allergan tie is a bet on innovation, not tax arbitrage.] 6-26-19
Economy. “A Tale of Two Economies.” [Trump’s policies are helping workers more than Obama’s did.” 7-5-19
Economy. “The Key to the Long Expansion? Logistics.” By Andy Kessler. [The ability to control inventory and stop overinvestment has tamed boom and bust.] 7-8-19
Economy. “The Myth of Monetary Stimulus Is Unraveling.” By George Melloan. [Central bankers around the world are admitting that low interest rates can’t sustain real growth.] 7-9-19
Economy. “Democrats May Inflate Another Housing Bubble.” By Jason L. Riley. [Subsidies and regulations created the 2008 crisis. Guess what the 2020 candidates are proposing.] 7-10-19
Economy. “Why Vietnam Loves Donald Trump.” [Tariffs are changing supply chains, not cutting the trade deficit.] 7-11-19
Economy. “State Movie Subsidies Are a Flop.” By Jay Starkman. [Georgia should welcome a threatened studio boycott over its new abortion law.] 7-20-19
Economy. “The Wages of Rent Control.” [New York’s latest law, hardly a month old, is already chilling builders.] 7-20-19
Economy. “Aluminum Suppliers Kick Our Cans.” By Pete Coors. [Investigate companies like Alcoa, which kept prices high even after Trump lifted tariffs in May.] 7-23-19
Economy. “Trade Wars Are Sending Jobs Elsewhere.” By Matthew J. Slaughter. [Foreign investors are building fewer factories in the U.S.] 7-25-19
Economy. “The Trade-War Growth Slowdown.” [The damage from tariff uncertainty is all over second-quarter GDP.] 7-27-19
Economy. “A T-Mobile Sprint to Faster 5G.” 7-27-19
Economy. “The Race-to-the-Bottom Standard.” [Look who’s heeding Judy Shelton’s advice on exchange rates.] 7-31-19
Economy. The 99% Get a Bigger Raise.” [New data show much faster growth in wages and incomes.] 7-31-19
Economy. “The Power Of Numbers.” (Bookshelf by Jason Willick) “The Human Tide.” By Paul Morland. [The growth and decline of national populations can shape world events as dramatically as ideology or economics or political leadership.] 8-1-19
Economy. “Trade War Becomes Currency War.” [Exchange-rate shifts introduce a new risk to global growth.] 8-6-19
Economy. “A Navarro Recession?” [Trade and currency mistakes are eroding economic growth.] 8-8-19
Economy. “The Rest of the Economic Story.” By Matthew Hennessey. [ You’ve read about the rosy statistics. To make them real, check out the want ads in the local pennysaver.] 8-13-19
Economy. “Making Money Is a Patriotic Act.” By Nernie Marcus and John Catsimatidis. [The businesses we crated help Americans by providing jobs, growth, goods and services.] 8-14-19
Economy. “How Uber Makes Its Drivers Pay.” By Ken Wiles and Kep Sweeney. [The firm’s reported costs don’t include the cars’ lost value: almost $11 billion.] 8-14-19
Economy. “Modern Monetary Theory Is Ancient.” By Jason De Sena Trennert. [The Greeks and Romans tried it. Would that they had been the last.] 8-15-19
Economy. “The Navarro Recession, II.” [Evidence of a tariff-inspired slowdown spooks the markets.] 8-15-19
Economy. “The Kansas-Missouri Subsidy Armistice..” [Two states agree to quit shuffling jobs back and forth across the border.] 8-15-19
Economy. “A New Rule of the Trucking Road.” 8-16-19
Economy. “The Stakeholder’ CEOs.” [Executives who abandon shareholders won’t appease the socialists.] 8-20-19
Economy. “Trump Is Losing the Trade War With China.” By Jason Furman. [The markets doubt tariffs will bring about any major concessions. The U.S. needs a multilateral approach.] 8-20-19
Economy. “Free-Marketeers Have Taken Social Conservatives for Granted. By Ian Murray. [Capitalists need to make the case that prosperity is crucial for protecting tradition and security.] 8-20-19
Economy. “Recession Fears Are Overblown.” By Andy Puzder and Jon Hartley. [The yield curve is no longer a reliable predictor, and other economic indicators are strong.] 8-21-19
Economy. “Cut the Trump Uncertainty Tax.” [His best stimulus policy would be to end his tariff campaign.] 8-22-19
Economy. “Americans Are Richer Than We Think.” By Phil Gramm and John F. Early. [Our flawed measures of inflation understate wealth and improvements in consumer well-being.] 8-22-19
Economy. “Just Another Mani Friday.” [Trump and Xi see who can take the most trade pain. Everyone loses.] 8-24-19
Economy. “The Market Gets What It Wants.” By Andy Kessler. [Its recent drop is like a tantrum, screaming at President Trump to knock off the tariffs.] 8-26-19
Economy. “David Koch’s righteous Profits.” By Wm. McGurn. [Celebrating a businessman whose work in fossil fuels helped improve lives.] 8-27-19
Economy. “An Oklahoma Opioid Stickup.” [The $572 million ruling greatly expands product liability tort law.] 8-27-19
Economy. “Meet the Biggest ‘Stakeholders.’” [The SEC brings some needed transparency to the proxy duopoly.] 8-28-19
Economy. “Subsidize My Electric Car, Please.” [Auto Makers want Congress to expand this gift to the affluent.] 9-3-19
Economy. “Socialism Is for the Incurious.” By roger Kimball. [Human reality is drained of dignity and reduced to raw material for the schemes of utopian power.] 9-3-19
Economy. “How Bad Can A Trade War Get?” by Holman W. Jenkins Jr. [The Trump China policy has fixed no problem, but the recovery can survive it.] 9-4-19
Economy. “Trump’s Manufacturing SOS.” [Tariffs and trade uncertainty punish U.S. goods makers.] 9-4-19
Economy. “Economics Is Dismal, but Is It Science?” by Joseph Epstein. [A discipline that loves to challenge common sense makes me suspicious of its confident predictions.] 9-4-19
Economy. “The trade War’s Winners Don’t Include Us.” by Robert P. Zoellick. [Lost foreign markets, retaliation, higher prices, falling investment,. Where’s the upside?] 9-5-19
Economy. “Another Payoff for Ethanol.” [Trump hasn’t figured out that this lobby won’t stay bought.] 9-6-19
Economy. “Launch a pre-Emptive Strike Against Recession.” By Jason Furman. [Congress can blunt the effects of the next downturn by tying spending increases to the unemployment rate.] 9-6-19
Economy. “The Trade Uncertainty Principle.” [New evidence that tariff shocks have put economic gains at risk.] 9-7-19
Economy. “Trump’s Trade-Policy Double Fault.” By Johan Eliasch. [My U.S. firm pays tariffs on our tennis balls. Our Chinese competitor doesn’t.] 9-9-19
Economy. “Should AT&T Be Broken Up?” by Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [The ‘activist’ Elliot Management doesn’t say possibly because it doesn’t know.] 9-11-19
Economy. “Progressive Antitrust Paradox.” [Corporate collusion to build more electric cars gets Democratic pass.] 9-12-19
Economy. “A golden State Mayor Takes On the Nimbys.” (The Weekend Interview with Kevin Faulconer by Mena Ukueberuwa. [As the cost of living spikes, the only Republican leader of a major U.S. city wants to make housing affordable again – without crushing current homeowners.] 9-14-19
Economy. “Opportunity Zones Knock Where They’re Needed Least.” By Tony Mecia. []Places like Chapel Hill are poor areas on paper because they’re filled with jobless college kids. 9-14-19
Economy. “Time for a World Trade Organization 2.0.” by Karen J. Alter. [Rather than leave the WTO, the U.S. an update the existing one – and threaten to exclude China.] 9-16-19
Economy. “Labor Shortage May Imperil Growth.” [by Andy Puzder. [A lack of qualified workers boosts wages but makes it hard for businesses to expand.] 9-18-19
Economy. “The Roundtable’s Recipe for Confusion.” By Richard Shinder. [When companies try to do the government’s job, inefficiency and uncertainty result.] 9-18-19
Economy. “The Real Cure for Inequality.” [Income gains are now rising faster for low-wage workers.] 9-21-19
Economy. “The Lawyer Enrichment Act.” [Will Republicans be snookered by an anti-arbitration bill?] 9-21-19
Economy. “Trump’s Japanese Trade Judo.” [Repairing damage after U.S. withdrawal from the Pacific pact.] “The Ukraine Transcript Fizzle.” [The phone call evidence isn’t enough to annul a presidential election.] 9-26-19
Economy. “Latino Workers Save America From Stagnation.” By Sol Trujillo. [They’re the youngest U.S. ethnic cohort, growing at six times the rate of the total population.] 9-26-19
Economy. “States of Economic Comparison.” [Texas is booming, but Illinois still lags and California bears watching.] 9-28-19
Economy. “Trump’s Middle-Class Economic Progress.” By Stephen Moore. [A new study indicates median incomes are rising far faster than they did under Bush or Obama.] 9-30-19
Economy. “’Big Bad Trusts’ Are a Progressive Myth.” By Phil Gramm and Jerry Ellig. [Today’s tach titans, like yesterday’s industrial giants, will diminish in time thanks to competition.] 10-3-19
Economy. “Kentucky’s Ambulance Cartel Is Afraid of Phillip Truesdell.” By Anastasia Boden. [Legacy Medical Transport’s owner goes to court against a law protecting incumbent firms from competition.] 10-5-19
Economy. “A Sigh of Jobs Relief.” [Workers continue to gain, despite damage from trade policy.] 10-5-19
Economy. “Save the Planet With Capitalism.” (Bookshelf by David A. Shaywitz) “More From Less.” [Thanks to economic incentives and tech innovation, societies can’t dematerialize’ – make better stuff while consuming less material.] 10-9-19
Economy. “An $8 Billion Drug Heist.” [These days a drug company can be looted even if it follows the law.] 10-11-19
Economy. “The Electric-Vehicle Subsidy Racket.” [The $7,500 tax credit is going to many buyers who don’t qualify.] 10-12-19
Economy. “Costly Tales We Tell Ourselves.” (Bookshelf by James Grant.) “Narrative Economics.” By Robert J. Shiller. 10-16-19
Economy. “The Tariff Redistribution Act.” [Turning border taxes into another form of political largesse.] 10-16-19
Economy. “We Sent A Man to the Moon. We Can Send the Dollar to Cyberspace.” By J. Christopher Giancario and Daniel Gorfine. [Washington should edge out rivals with a regulated platform for trading greenbacks via blockchain.] 10-16-19
Economy. “Amazon’s Seattle Tax Revolt.” [It is spending big to defeat City Councillors hostile to business.] 10-28-19
Economy. “Adam Smith’s Revenge.” [Trade damage takes the economy down to Obama growth levels.] 10-31-19
Economy. “More good News for Workers.” [The resilient labor market continues to exceed expectations.] 11-2-19
Economy. “The Truth About Income Inequality.” By Phil Gramm and John F. Early. [The census fails to account for taxes and most welfare payments, painting a distorted picture.] 11-4-19
Economy. “In Praise fo Today’s Entrepreneurs.” By Joe rickets. [Fewer new businesses are starting, but minorities and women are founding more.] 11-5-19
Economy. “Stop the States’ Copyright Plunder.” By Adam Mossoff. [They claim protection for their own intellectual property while engaging in blatant piracy.] 11-5-19
Economy. “When Bigger Is Not Better.” (Bookshelf by Arthur Herman.) “The Great Reversal.” By Thomas Philippen. [Competition has declined in most sectors of the American economy. Where to look for a truly competitive environment? Europe, of all places.] 11-7-19
Economy. “Sticky Markets, Tricky Solutions.” (Bookshelf by Wm. Easterly.] “Good Economics for Hard Times.” By Abijit Banerjee and Ester Duflo. [Free-market advocates often assume the free mobility of labor. The truth is that people don’t move so fluidly. Markets can be sticky.] 11-18-19
Economy. “Let Proxy Advisers Do Their Work. By Carl Icahn. [Muzzling independent research firms would only reward underperforming CEOs and stifle oversight.] 11-19-19
Economy. “FedEx Delivers Billions to the Taxman.” By Frederick W. Smith. [The New York Times runs a misleading story on our 2018 tax return. Here’s the real story.] 11-21-19
Economy. “How Tariffs Lead to More Tariffs. “ [Steel makers asked for protection. A keg maker did next. Now brewers?] 11-25-19Economy. “Making Capitalism Great Again?” by Wm.
McGurn [Marco Rubio’s ideas for fixing our free-market system have a familiar ring.] 11-26-19
Economy. “The Five Traits of True Tech.” by Andy Kessler. [Every company wants the label, but real highly valued tech has defining features.] 12-2-19
Economy. “In Competition We Trust.” (Bookshelf by L. Gordon Crovitz. “United States v. Apple.” By Chris Sagers. [The government’s case against book publishers and Apple, pursued in the name of antitrust, ended up increasing prices and limiting choice.] 12-2-19
Economy. “Now Is a Good Time to Modernize the WTO. “ by Thomas J. Duesterberg. [The global trading order won’t collapse if an appellate body is suspended next week.] 12-2-19
Economy. “Mount Tariff Erupts Again.” [Trump hurts his re-election chances with more trade uncertainty.] 12-3-19
Economy. “Why Utah Has Become America’s Economic Star.” By Stephen Moore. [From Taxes to education to the business climate, the beehive State has its house in order.] 12-7-19
Economy. “The Labor Virtues of Growth.” [A bad jobs report for the anti-capitalists on the left and right.] 12-7-19
Economy. “American Innovation, A murder Mystery.” By Mene Ukueberuwa. [Line up the usual suspects: politicians, investors, and regulators. Then take a fresh look at the evidence, which strongly suggests it died a natural death.] 12-14-19
Economy. “Got Trade? Dairy Farmers Stand to Gain From the USMCA.” 12-14-19
Economy. “Bad Capitalism and Good socialism.” By Walter E. Block. [The real question is whether each is based in liberty or coercion.] 12-16-19
Economy. “North American Damage Control.” [New NAFTA is worse than the old deal but is at least a political relief.] Economy. 12-16-19
Economy. “Boeing’s Fatal Lessons.” [Harm from the company’s mistakes is spreading far and wide.] 12-18-19
Economy. “I’ll Vote Against This Antitrade Agreement.” By Pat Toomey. [It’s the first pact ever whose purpose is to discourage commerce between nations.] 12-19-19
Economy. “Big Business for Mandates.” [The BRT wants Congress to require paid leave for everyone.] 12-20-19
Economy. “Can Rubionomics Succeed? Boris Johnson Will Soon Find Out.” By Joseph C. Sternberg. [The British prime minister follows the Florida senator by clothing liberal policy in conservative rhetoric.] 12-20-19
Economy. “George Bailey Saw the Miracle of Capitalism.’ By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon. [The world owes its wealth to the likes of the thrifty lender, but today’s youth are tempted to give it all up.] 12-24-19
Economy. “Capitalism Isn’t a ‘System.’” By Barton Swaim. [Socialists err dangerously when they assume a market economy is a conscious project.] 12-26-19
Economy. “In Tech Years, 2010 Was Eons Ago.” By Andy Kessler. [Streaming, AI and other breakthroughs have kept the U.S. economy surging.] 12-30-19
Economy. “How Tariffs Hurt Manufacturing.” [A new Fed study shows the damage swamped any benefits.] 12-31-19
Economy. “Will Recession Hit in 2020?” By Burton G. Malkiel and Atanu Saha. [Even the best indicators of downturns are unreliable, but investors can take step to prepare either way.] 12-31-19
Economy. “Tech Will Rule These ‘20s, Too.” By Andy Kesler. [Breakthroughs in health and data could match the consumer boom of 100 years ago.] 1-6-20
Economy. “The Housing Shortage in Profile.” [Construction in Oregon dropped to the lowest level since World War II.] 1-6-20
Economy. “The FTC Acts as Both Prosecutor and Jury.” By rick smith. [Facing the abuse of he administrative state, my company decided to sue.] 1-7-20
Economy. “Bargain Shopping Across the Globe.” (Bookshelf by George Melloan.) “Trade Is Not a Four-Letter Word.” By Fred P. Hochberg. [Foreign competition brings about lower costs and better quality. Eve ‘American-made’ goods feature components from all over the world.] 1-8-20
Economy. “I Support Trump’s Tariffs But Need an Exemption.” By Robert s. Wetherbee. [His economic policies led me to reopen a steel plant. The Tax on imported steel may force me to idle it.] 1-8-20
Economy. “The Economy’s Inequality Dividend.” [Table: “Accelerating Incomes] 1-11-20
Economy. “Pumping the Brakes.” (Bookshelf by Edward Glaeser.) “Fully Grown.” By Dietrich Volirath. [The rate of economic growth has slowed over the past two decades. Structural changes in the labor force could be to blame.] 1-13-20
Economy. “Give Trump’s Tariffs a Fair Test.” By Peter Navarro. [Conventional economic models ignore how they boost investment and national security.] 1-14-20
Economy. “Larry Fink’s Latest Sermon.” [The BlackRock CEO auditions to be the next Treasury Secretary.] 1-18-20
Economy “How Many Tariff Studies Are Enough.” [The trade war hits consumers and exports, two more papers say.] 1-21-20
Economy. “Trump’s Pyrrhic Trade Victories.” By Robert B. Zoelick. [In search of easy wins, the U.S. is throwing away its best cards: fairness and the rule of law.] 1-22-20
Economy. “America’s Innovators Need Clear Patent Laws.” [The Supreme Court has muddled the standards for intellectual property, so Congress may have to act.] 1-24-20
Economy. “Phones That Can Read Your Mind.” By Andy Kessler. [Targeted ads may soon show you what you really want before you knew you did.] 1-27-20
Economy. “The Davos Crowd Embraces Big Global Government.” By Richard J. Shindler. [‘Stakeholder capitalism’ empowers unaccountable elites at the expense of free-market nationalism.] 1-27-20
Economy. “The Growth Cost of Tariffs.” [GDP growth fell to a 2% trend in 2019. Trade friction is the culprit.] Medicine. “Pharma to the Rescue.” 1-31-20
Economy. “Tesla’s Stock Goes to Heaven.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [In the automobile business, miracles are few and rightly suspect.] 2-5-20
Economy. “Rentals Everywhere, but No Place to Live. 2-6-20
Economy. “Big Business Is Driving America’s Smaller Cities,” by Chang-Tai Hsieh and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg. [From restaurants to clinics, national chains offer most new jobs and services in smaller markets.] 2-6-20
Economy. “Let the Trans-Atlantic Trading Begin,” by Mike Gallagher. [Seven key principles for building a bilateral bloc based on mutual prosperity and shared values.] 2-7-20
Economy. Labor Gains and Pains.” [A strong jobs report but manufacturers still aren’t hiring.] 2-8-20
Economy. “Currency Manipulator in Chief.” [Wilbur Ross creates a new political opening for U.S. protectionism.] 2-12-20
Economy. “Political Lobbying on Steel Tariffs.” [Ten House Members oppose this exclusion request, but 14 favor it.] 2-19-20
Economy. “America’s Disappearing Workers.” [Blue-collar wages are rising but employers still can’t fill open jobs.] 2-20-20
Economy. “Without an Independent Watchdog, Who Will Audit the Auditors?” by Arthur Levitt. [Congress should refuse Trump’s request to abolish the oversight board Sarbanes-Oxley created.] 2-20-20
Economy. “Morgan Stanley’s Middle-Class Bet.” [The bank’s E-Trade bid shows confidence in spreading prosperity.] 2-22-20
Economy. “A Market Pandemic.” [Investors get the coronavirus jitters, but please hold the panic.] 2-25-20
Economy. “The House That Jack Welch Rebuilt.” [The long-time CEO turned venerable GE into a greater success.] 3-3-20
Economy. “Bonds Aren’t as Safe as You Think.” By Seven Grey. [If interest rates rise, they’ll plummet in value, forcing investors to sell at a loss or stay trapped for years.] 3-5-20.
Economy. “The Case for a Big Coronavirus Stimulus.” By Jason Furman. [Congress should send you $1,000 – and another $500 for each of your children – as soon as possible. 3-6-20
Economy. “Fear and Hope Week.” [The jobs report shows the economy was strong before the virus shock.] 3-7-20
Economy. “How to Read the Myopic Market.” By Andy Kessler. [Today’s stock swings reflect the shortening of investors’ timeline for predicting growth.] 3-10-20
Economy. “And Now a Word for Laissez-Faire.” By Wm. McGurn. [Calling critics ‘market fundamentalists’ is meant to squash debate, not foster it.] 3-10-20
Economy. “Now Comes the Oil Shock.” [Putin shows again he’s not Trump’s friend. What about MBS?] 3-10-20
Economy. “Financing an Economic Shutdown. [You can’t close down an economy without a way to keep business and individuals liquid.] 3-17-20
Economy. “Trump and the Stock Market.” [:…Mr. Trump and his advisers need a plan to deal with the unprecedented economic shutdown caused by the virus…”] 3-17-20
Economy “Investors Keep Your Eye on the Long Run.” By Sarah Keohane Williamson and Mark D. Wiseman. [Markets always come back from major disruptions, though it takes a while.] 3-17-20
Economy. “A Reckoning for Indebted Companies.” By George Melloan. [Coronavirus volatility is prompting a stress test. Making credit still cheaper will make things worse.] 3-17-20
Economy. “The Fiscal Stimulus Panic.” [$1,000 checks won’t help the economy, but a new Fed backstop will.] 3-18-20
Economy. The Economic Rout Continues.” [The Fed and Treasury need to liquify business now or liquidate later.] 3-19-20
Economy. “The Gig Economy to the Rescue.” 3-19-20 [“…Uber and Lyft launched the so-called gig economy a decade ago…”] 3-19-20
Economy. “Rethinking the Virus Shutdown,” [No society can safeguard public health for long at the expense of its economic health.] 3-20-20
Economy. “Leaderless on the Economy.” [Markets aren’t getting a clear picture of what Treasury wants and why.] 3-21-20
Economy. Coronavirus. “How to Get America Working Again.” By Robert S. Kaplan and Mickey D. Levy. [Any sustainable strategy against the coronavirus has to balance public health and economics.] 3-31-20
Economy. “Pain in the Oil Patch.” [Borrowing from the Fed is the best of mostly bad rescue ideas.] 4-1-20
Economy. “Wars Aren’t Won by Government Alone.” [By Karl Zinsmeister. [Since the Revolution, private philanthropists have been crucial to U.S. national security.] 4-2-20
Economy. “Trump’s Oil Summit.” [Tariffs and quotas won’t solve a pandemic and political price shock.] 4-3-20
Economy. Coronavirus. “The Economy Will Survive the Coronavirus.” By Vernon L. Smith. [Don’t despair. Even amid the doom and gloom there are many things to be glad about.] 4-5-20
Economy. “It’s a Good Time to ‘Stock Up.’” By Burton G. Malkiel. [Amid market volatility, one thing is clear: Equities have become a good deal.] 4-8-20
Economy. Coronavirus. “Congress Can Still Save The Recovery.” [Lawmakers should correct incentives not to work, lest they slow the recovery after the economy reopens.] 4-8-20
Economy. Coronavirus. “Paycheck Protection Rejection.” [Democrats block a $250 billion refill of needed business loans.] 4-10-20
Economy. Coronavirus. “Insurers Can’t Cover Everything.” By Spike Lipkin. [But they’re uniquely suited to help distribute relief funds for businesses affected by coronavirus.] 4-10-20
Economy. Coronavirus. “Lockdowns Won’t Stop the Spread.” By Joseph A. Ladapo. [Stopping Covid-19 and protecting the economy are one and the same, but it’s too late to do either.] 4-10-20
Economy. “Reopening the Economy at Last.” [Governors and Trump can share credit if hey do this he right way.] 4-14-20
Economy. “The Art of an Oil Deal.” [Trump uses diplomacy to limit the harm to US. shale producers.] 4-14-20
Economy. “Give Relief to Small Businesses, Not Big Banks.” By Ali Wambold. [More money is crucial, but so are new rules to ensure that it helps the most vulnerable employees.] 4-14-20
Economy. “Small Business Loan Hold Up.” [The Paycheck Protection Program lacks enough clarity to help borrowers.] 4-15-20
Economy. “More ‘Stimulus’ Would Crush the Recovery.” By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon. [Federal borrowing this year is set to pass 20% of GDP. That will raise costs across the private economy.] 4-15-20
Economy. “Restore Laissez-Faire Capitalism.” By David Henninger. [Government ordered a bare-bones economy. What we need is bare-bones government.] 4-16-20
Economy. “The Lucky Stay-at-Home 37%.” [Most Americans do not have the luxury of working from home.] 4-16-20
Economy. Fed. “The Fed and Main Street.” [The central bank is setting itself up for a political backlash.] 4-17-20
Economy. “The Lockdown Protests Begin.” [As the economic pain builds, the public chafes at stifling restrictions.] 4-17-20
Economy. “Main Street Needs More Fed Help.” By Glenn Hubbard and Hal Scott. [Right now, getting aid to small businesses is more important than protecting the Treasury’s investment.] 4-17-20
Economy. “Suspend the Payroll Tax.” By Steve Forbes and Arthur Laffer. 4-20-20
Economy. “Sending Hospitals into Bankruptcy.” [The lockdowns are doing great unintended harm to medical providers.] 4-20-20
Economy. “Care to Store Some Oil? [The real price of West Texas rude hasn’t fallen below $0.] 4-21-20
Economy. “Get Ready for the Return of Inflation.” By Tim Congdon. [Fed actions have increased the quantity of money in the U.S. economy at a blistering rate.] 4-24-20
Economy. “What Shape Will the Rebound Take.?” By Andy Kessler. [Don’t count on a V-shaped recovery. Up, down, up and then flat is more likely, alas.] 4-27-20
Economy. “Doing It For Themselves.” (Bookshelf by Randall Stross) “The Soul of an Entrepreneur. “ by David Sax. [In the 1980s, 20% of Americans were self-employed. By 2016, the number was 10%. What’s become of the entrepreneurial spirit?] 4-27-20
Economy. “Ruth’s Chris Political Backlash.” [“…all this bodes ill for the economic recovery, as politicians blame business for their own coronavirus mistakes.”] 4-27-20
Economy. “The Government Economy.” [GDP shrinks 4.8% as private spending and investment plunge.] 4-30-20
Economy. “Democrats Should Support America’s Oil Industry.” By Walter Russell Mead. [The alternative is giving more power to Putin and a deeper U.S. entanglement in the Middle East. ] 4-30-20
Economy. “An Allied Plan to Depend Less on China.” By Paula J. Dobriansky. [The U.S., Australia, Japan and India already have a forum for coordination.] 5-1-20
Economy. “Phase Out, Don’t Bail Out, the Post Office.” By Gary MacDougal. [Nostalgia shouldn’t keep alive an agency that is obsolete.] 5-6-20
Economy. A New Standard for Free Trade.” By Phil Gramm and Pat Toomey. [The U.S. and U.K., united in their devotion to liberty, should abolish tariffs, quotas and set-asides.] 5-6-20
Economy. “Containing China Will Be Complicated.” By Eldridge Colby and A. Wess Mitchell. [Expect Beijing to grow more assertive as the West rethinks its economic attachments after Covid.] 5-8-20
Economy. Air Travel. “An Industry Both Grounded and Up in the Air.” (The Weekend Interview with Robin Hayes and Joel Peterson by Tunku Varadarajan.) [JetBlue’s chairman and CEO on how the pandemic has racked the business and how flying will be different once it’s over.] 5-9-20
Economy. “The Economic Lockdown Catastrophe.” [The worst jobs report in history shows why the economy must reopen.] 5-9-20Economy. “A Trillion Here, a Trillion There.” [It appears that we are all modern monetary theorists now.] 5-9-20
Economy. “Spinning The Flywheel.” (Bookshelf by Marc Levinson.) “Bezonomics.” By Brian Dumaine. [How Amazon and its ‘one in a billion’ chief executive, through various ventures, envelop customers in the company’s ecosystem.] 5-11-20
Economy. “Finally the Low Prices We Deserve.” By Andy Kessler. [The economic crash is ‘unflating’ decades-old bubbles in several stagnant industries.] 5-18-20
Economy. “Who’s Looking Out for Main Street.” by Glenn Hubbard and Hal Scott. [Treasury and the Fed seem more convened about not losing money than getting relief to small businesses.] 5-18-20
Economy. “Treasury Secretary Warren.” [Mnuchin and Powell fear Democratic attacks on business loans.] 5-20-20
Economy. “Cleaning Up a Chinese Coffee Spill.” [NASDAQ moves to delist a company with accounting problems.] 5-20-20
Economy. “How to Keep Workers Off the Job.” [More evidence that the $600 jobless benefit will slow the recovery.] 5-22-20
Economy. “Three Economic Comorbidities for Covid-19.” By Joseph C. Sternberg. [How much devastation is self-inflicted, not caused directly by the virus? Voters are right to wonder.] 5-22-20
Economy. “The Recovery Needs a Supply-Side Push.” By Kevin Warsh. [The status quo before the pandemic won’t return. New investment for new opportunities is crucial. 5-26-20
Economy. “Get Ready for the ‘Careful’ Economy. By John R. Cochrane. [Reopening has costs for businesses, employees and consumers. Good thing Americans ae adaptable.] 5-27-20
Economy. “Marxist Economic Policy – as in Groucho. [The unemployment bonus is straight out of ‘Animal Crackers.’] 5-28-20
Economy. “Unrigging the Poverty Trap.” [What do struggling workers lose when they make an extra buck?] 6-4-20
Economy. “The Economy Rises From the Dead.” [The job market heals faster than expected as the lockdowns ease.] 6-6-20
Economy. “Party Like It’s 1983.” By Andy Kessler. [Larry Kudlow’s plan for the next G-7 meeting is to roll out the Reagan Playbook.] 6-8-20
Economy. “Don’t Cut Off Unemployment Benefits Now.” By Alan S. Blinder. [The economy is still at risk. Here are two options for repurposing the additional $600 benefit.] 6-9-20
Economy. “Calpers Prepares for the Long Haul.” By Ben Meng. [By investing in private equity and credit, we expect to be able to achieve 7% returns.] 6-15-20
Economy. “The Federal Resurrection Board.” [Why investors are betting on the shares of bankrupt companies.] 6-15-20
Economy. “Reopen the Economy, More Open Than Ever.” By Anders Fogh Rasmussen. [For Western democracies to flourish, they must first reject statism as the model for post-Covid governance.] 6-18-20
Economy. “A Message to America’s Corporate Executives.” By Sherrod Brown. [Feel-good commercials are fine, but put your money where your mouth is and do right by your employees.] (Mr. Brown, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Ohio.) 6-19-20
Economy. “Bad Economy? Unleash Private Equity.” By Mohamed A. Desoky. ‘Firms maligned as ‘vampires’ in fact save jobs and businesses.] 6-22-20
Economy. “America Doesn’t Need an Industrial Policy.” By Thomas J. Duesterberg. [But there are several things Washington could do to make the economy more resilient and secure.] 6-23-20
Economy. “Welcome to The ‘Hotel Seattle.’” By F. Vincent Vernuccio and Michael Saltsman. [Your business can check in, and it’ll have to pay the new premium, but the city won’t let it leave.] 6-23-20
Economy. “Exports And Angst.” (Bookshelf by George Melioan.) “Trade Wars Are Class Wars.” By Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis. [Globalization was supposed to achieve great things for a vast range of countries, not least for their working-class citizens. Has it done so?] 6-24-20
Economy. “I’m Leaving Seattle for Texas So my Employees Can Be Free.” By Peter Rex. [The West Coast’s high cost of living is measured not only in dollars but in stifling conformity.] 6-27-20
Economy. “All Hail the Lobster King.” [Re: Maine lobster industry.] 6-29-20
Economy. “Populists Don’t Know Much About Private Equity.” By M. Todd Henderson and Steven N. Kaplan. [Conservatives who lampoon investment firms misunderstand wealth creation and social value.] 7-1–20
Economy. “Seattle’s Tax on Job Creation.” [“…large new tax on employment…’] 7-11-20
Economy. “Your 2020 Econ Crash Course.” By Andy Kessler. [The laws of supply and demand have been at work in the pandemic and the protests.] 7-13-20
Economy. “Another Loan Forgiveness Scheme.” [A legal and political strategy to nullify debt sold to third parties.] 7-13-20
Economy. “Your Sunny Fiscal Update.” [Spending hit a record $5.005 trillion over the last nine months.] 7-14-20
Economy. “Bringing the Factories Home.” By Arthur Herman. [Any new industrial policy has to make the U.S. less vulnerable to Chinese suppliers.] 7-20-20
Economy. “’Main Street’ Program Is Too Stingy to Banks and Borrowers.” By Glenn Hubbard and Hal Scott. [Designed to save midsize businesses, it will work only with greater backing and more generous terms.] 7-21-20
Economy. “Government Rules for Restaurants.” [“…Meanwhile,…found that up to 85% of independent restaurants are at risk of closing by the end of the year.”] 7-22-20
Economy. “Shareholders Should See How Votes Are Swayed.” By Jay Clayton. [Proxy advice businesses are shaping outcomes for ordinary investors. Any conflicts must be visible.] 7-23-20
Economy. “Too Interconnected to Fail.” By Jonathan Welburn and Aaron Strong. [The next systemic crisis may start not in a bank or other financial institution but in the cloud.] 7-24-20
Economy. “Free Markets and Meaning in life.” By Clay Routledge and John Bitzan. [‘Existential agency’ is correlated with belief in capitalism and entrepreneurship.] 7-31-20
Economy. “Moonlighting Could Lift A Threat To Uber.” By Sean Higgins. [Letting drivers work for competitors demonstrates that they’re contractors and not employees.] 7-30-20
Economy. “Remote Control.” (Bookshelf by Belinda Lanks.) “The New Corner Office.” By Laura Vanderkam. [When your home doubles as your office, work can bleed into what should be personal time. The trick is in establishing effective routines.] 8-3-20
Economy “Economists vs. common Sense.” [If you pay people not to work, fewer will work. Except at Yale, it seems.] 8-3-20
Economy. “The Tesla Secret.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Why don’t Wall Street and the press talk about how the EV business really works?] 8-5-20
Economy. “So Much for Trump’s Trade Promise.” [He slaps Canada with a 10% aluminum tariff despite the USMCA.] 8-7-20
Economy. “’Stakeholder’ Capitalism Seems Mostly for Show.” By Lucian Bebchuk and Roberto Tallarita. [If CEOs really intended to amend their companies’ purpose they’d at least consult their boards first.] 8-7-20
Economy. ‘The New ‘Gold Rush in space.’” (The Weekend Interview with Mikkail Kekerich by Tunku Varadarajan. [A Russian immigrant talks about America’s edge in the new era of private exploration, and his own plans for a water-fueled space transport.] 8-8-20
Economy. “States of Unemployment.” [The jobs market is getting better, but some states lag far behind.] 8-8-20
Economy. “Innocent Aluminum Bystanders.” [No surprise, Canada retaliates against Trump’s new 10% tariffs.] 8-10-20
Economy. “On Capital Gains, Joe Biden Is No Jack Kennedy.” [by Mark A. Bloomfield and Oscar S. Pollock. [JFK knew the importance of encouraging investors to take risks and start companies.] 8-10-20
Economy. “Matching Homegrown Talent to Local Jobs.” By Jamie Dimon and Felix V. Matos Rodriguez. [Our new CEO Jobs Council will open doors for New Yorkers.] 8-11-20
Economy. “Get Ready for the Biden Stock Boom.” By Ed Finn. [Expect some turbulence, but 15% annual returns are possible even with the threat of higher taxes.] 8-11-20
Economy. “America’s Surprising Recovery After V-J Day.” By Richard Vedder. [Keynesians expected 15% unemployment in 1946. The Actual figure was 3.9%.] 8-14-20
Economy. “Stock Scenarios for a Madcap Year.” By Andy Kessler. [Despite the strong market, investors are plotting the ‘what-ifs.’ Here are four to watch.] 8-17-20
Economy. LTE. “Mulling Joe Biden’s Capital-Gains Tax Hike.” 8-18-20
Economy. “A Good Year for Stakeholder Capitalism.” By Joshua Bolten. [Business Roundtable CEOs are living up to their commitments.] 8-19-20
Economy. “How to Set World Trade Straight.” By Robert E. Lighthizer. [Bilateral pacts promote protectionism. The WTO needs to return to the vision of equal rules for all.] 8-21-20
Economy. “Remember the Trump Economy?” [His pre-Covid-19 record gives him a clear edge over Obama-Biden.] 8-26-20
Economy. “Trump’s Unforced Drug Error.” [“…the GOP is damaging its own case against a government takeover of health care with President Trump’s enthusiasm for price controls on drug prices.”] 8-26-20
Economy. “Low Rates Forever!” [The Federal Reserve takes a leap into the monetary unknown.] 8-28-20
Economy. “The Jobs of August.” [The economy creates another 1.4 million jobs, defying the pessimists.] 9-5-20
Economy. “Newton’s Law of Stock Momentum.” By Andy Kessler. [As Sir Isaac learned, market pile-ons follow the same pattern. Investor, beware.] 9-14-20
Economy. “New Ways of Going Global.” (Bookshelf by Matthew Rees) “Outside the Box.” By Marc Levinson. [changes in technology, ownership and broadly accepted ideas led to far-flung trade and cross-border integration. More change is under way.] 9-14-20
Economy. “Help Still Wanted, Believe It or Not.” [Job openings in July were close to those available in December.] 9-14-20
Economy. “Pandemic Unemployment Will Soon Bring Tax Hikes.” By Mark Duggan and Andrew C. Johnston. [Levies will rise as workers return, hindering the recovery. Two reforms would ease the problem.] 9-14-20
Economy. “An Aluminum Tariff Reprieve.” [The U.S. lifts penalties on Canada, at least through Election Day.] 9-17-20
Economy. “The Age of the ‘Unknown Unknowns.’” by Richard J. Shinder. [The big lesson of 2020: Companies can’t count on government to deal with unanticipated risks.] 9-18-20
Economy. “If You Lived in Bristol You’d Be Home by Now.” By Salena Zito. [Real-estate professionals in America’s suburbs and rural areas are having a very good year.] 9-28-20
Economy. “The Wealth Gap shrinks.” [The three years before the pandemic saw big gains for lower earners.] 9-30-20
Economy. “Uber Adapts to Covid and ‘Laborism.’” (The Weekend Interview with Dara Khosrowshahi by Allysia Finley.) [Its food -delivery business is booming but lawmakers threaten its model with restraints on independent contractors. Are self-driving cars the answer?] 10-3-20
Economy. “More Jobs Momentum.” [The labor market continues to recover despite state closures.] 10-3-20
Economy. “The Best Stimulus: 0% Income Tax.” By Stephen Moore. [Instead of collecting and spending $2 trillion, why not cut out the middleman?] 10-7-20
Economy. “Trump’s Economic Dream Come True.” By John F. Cogan and John R. Taylor. [The coronavirus-induced recession is no reason to abandon economic policies that proved their worth.] 10-7-20
Economy. “Government Cheese for Wealthy Moms.” By Julie Gunlock. [How to have lunch at taxpayer expense and feel virtuous about it.] 10-8-20
Economy. “To Serve the Public, Seek Profits.” By Andy Kessler. [Producers capture only 4% of the value they create, and all of society enjoys the rest.] 10-12-20
Economy. “Biz Doesn’t Stop for the Election.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [How Ford’s electric pickup truck and Hollywood’s digital fate got on the ballot.] 10-14-20
Economy. “The Trump ‘Jobs Boom’ Is a Convenient Myth.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Voters credit him for the pre-Covid economy, but unemployment declined steadily.] 10-22-20 (Blinder was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.)
Economy. “The Trump Boom Is Real.” By Lawrence B. Lindsey. [The post-2009 recovery may look continuous, but Trump beat expectations while Obama fell short.] 10-26-20
Economy. “The Man Who Made Milton Friedman a Star.” (The Weekend Interview with Bob Chitester by Wm. McGurn. [The 1980 PBS series ‘Free to Choose’ helped make capitalism popular. Can markets make a comeback in the era of AOC?] 10-31-20
Economy. “The Economy Can’t Wait Until January.” By Jason Furman. [Families and states need relief now. The lame-duck Congress should act fast to alleviate the suffering.] 11-12-20
Economy. “State Tax Revenue Rebound.” [Sales and income receipts are coming in better than expected.] 11-17-20
Economy. “Trade Truths Will Outlast Trump.” By Douglas A. Irwin. [The president’s failed experiments with tariffs and bilateral deals helped validate old best practices.] 11-20-20
Economy. “The Dividend Tax Canary.” [Investors have tough calls ahead of the Georgia Senate runoffs.] 11-23-20
Economy. “GM Drives in Political Reverse.” [Mary Barra drops support for a Trump suit against California.] 11-27-20
Economy. “Beware the Dow 30K Euphoria.” By Andy Kessler. [The market always dives en route to long-term rises. And tech stocks look wobbly.] 11-30-20
Economy. “Return of the Obama Economists.” [Biden’s advisors were in charge during the secular stagnation era.] 12-1-20
Economy. “Whole Foods Capitalism.” [“…Mr. Mackey is right to worry that socialism may win the argument even as in practice it always proves a disaster…”] 12-2-20
Economy. “More People, Fewer Problems.” (Bookshelf by Barton Swaim.) “One Billion Americans.” By Matthew Yglasias. [To stay on top, says a progressive writer, the U.S. must triple its population. Maybe so. But does he mean it?] 12-7-20
Economy. “The Perils of Aging.” (Bookshelf by William White.) “The Great Demographic Reversal.” By Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan. [As workers become fewer in number and global wages rise, we may see less inequality but more inflation and higher interest rates.] 12-8-20
Economy. “The Fannie and Freddie Conundrum.” [A regulator’s plan to recapitalize the firms is the least worst option.] 12-9-20
Economy. “Profit Keeps Corporate Leaders Honest.” By Aexander William Saiter. [‘Stakeholder capitalism’ allows the Davos crowd to obfuscate what counts as success for a business.] 12-9-20
Economy. “The Economy Needs a Little More PPP.” By Glenn Hubbard and Michael R. Strain. [The next version of the Paycheck Protection Program should focus on helping smaller firms.] 12-9-20
Economy. “The High-Tax End Run Around the Arizona Constitution.” By Dan Quayle and Jon Kyl. [Out-of-state groups drop millions in support of a job-killing ballot measure to soak small businesses.] 12-12-20
Economy. “Another Green Subsidy Bust.” [An Obama-era solar failure could cost taxpayers $510 million.] 12-12-20
Economy. “Your New Climate 401(k).” [Senate Democrats lay out their green agenda for financial markets.] 12-15-20
Economy. “A Reckoning Looms for Commercial Real Estate – and Its Lenders.” By Brian Graham. [The composition of their portfolios makes small community banks especially vulnerable.] 12-15-20
Economy. “The Fed’s Stimulus Paradox.” [The central bank again revises its growth forecasts upward.] 12-17-20
Economy. “Want to Move to the Countryside?” by Kerry Thomson. [The pandemic offers a unique opportunity to fix the housing crisis plaguing rural America.] 12-26-20
Economy. “How Tariffs Deepened the D.C. Swamp.” [Will the GOP stand up on trade once Joe Biden is picking winners?] 12-29-20
Economy. “America Is Willing to Pay for Change.” By Stephen Moore. [Covid-19 worsened a shortage of coins. Capitalism is solving the problem.] 12-30-20
Economy. “The Oil Industry Us Stuck in Virus Alley.” By Daniel Yergin. [Prices won’t break out of the $40 to $50 range until consumption gets back to normal sometime next year.] 12-30-20
Economy. “2020 Hindsight and a Look Ahead.” By Karl Rove. [The Chiefs win again, and at least two Biden cabinet nominees don’t get confirmed.] 12-31-20
Economy. “The Policy Lessons of the ‘Trump Economy.’” By Jason Furman. [Presidents are often at the mercy of unpredictable factors like the business cycle – and pandemics.] 12-30-20
Economy. “What Isn’t the Matter With Hartford?” [Once famous as the insurance capital of the world, Connecticut’s capital city is falling apart.] 1-2-21
Economy. “States of Growth and Decline.” [The latest population statistics show a shift from blue to red.”] 1-2-21
Economy. “In 2021, All the World’s a Stage.” By Peggy Noonan. [We got through 2020 with pictures of normality in our heads. In a few months they’ll start to come true.] 1-2-21
Economy. “The Future Turns 50 This Year.” By Daniel Casse. [From computers and money to relations with China, 1971 changed the world in many ways.] 1-2-21
Economy. “The Era of Nonstop Stimulus.” By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon. [Spending didn’t speed the last recovery, but Biden’s team is keen to keep the money flowing endlessly.] 1-4-21
Economy. “How the Fed Stifles Lending.” By Andy Kessler. [Quantitative easing hoovers up bonds, leaving less collateral for eager borrowers.] 1-4-21
Economy. “Trump Proved the Stagnationists Wrong.” By Casey b. Mulligan. [The Obama-era idea that the economy was stuck in a cycle of low or no growth hit an iceberg in 2017.] 1-6-21
Economy. “Still Free and Alive.” (Bookshelf by Andrew Stutteford.) “Foretelling the End of Capitalism.” By Francesco Boldizzoni. [Belief in capitalism’s impending demise is as old as capitalism itself, and is rooted in an even older philosophy of utopian thinking.] 1-7-21
Economy. “Corporate Debt ‘Relief’ Is an Economic Dud.” By Sheila Bair and Lawrence Goodman. [Most companies benefiting from the Fed’s bond buys didn’t need the cash and didn’t spend it well either.] 1-7-21
Economy. “The SPAC Bubble May Burst – and Not a Day Too Soon.” By Michael Klausner and Emily Ruan. [The hot new way to take companies public hurts most investors, and its track record is now clear.] 1-7-21
Economy. “The Lockdown Jobs Slump.” [The economy is posed for a boom in 2021 after a December setback.] 1-9-21
Economy. “Big Business’s Sharp Left Turn.” By Kimberley A. Strassel. [Corporations’ new political role carries serious political and legal consequences.] 1-15-21
Economy. “Those $2,000 Checks Won’t Boost the Economy.” By John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor. [Politicians love direct payments, but people spend more only when long-term income rises.] 1-15-21
Economy. “If Corporate Diversity works, Show Me the Money.” By Arthur Levitt Jr. [Nasdaq wants to mandate wider representation on its companies’ boards but has little proof of the benefits.] 1-21-21
Economy. “Biden’s Stimulus Should Stay the Course.” By Jason Furman. [Spending packages need triggers to sustain aid when the recovery lags and cut it off when things improve.] 1-26-21
Economy. “Electric Car Quotas Have a High Cost.” By C. Boyden Gray. [California wants to do it, and Biden wants to help – even though it will violate the law and cost us all.] 1-26-21
Economy. “Closing Time for Bars and Restaurants.” By Robert St. John. [Few industries have been harder hit by Covid. We need relief.] 1-26-21
Economy. “How Economics Lost Itself in Data.” By Alexander William Salter. [Today’s Researchers have tossed out price theory and don’t realize they’ve been politically compromised.] 1-28-21
Economy. “The Reddit Wolves of Wall Street.” [A social-media stock bubble is a new version of an old phenomenon.] 1-29-21
Economy. “The Economy Keeps Growing.” [Biden inherits a decent recovery that should surge as the pandemic eases.] 1-29-21
Economy. “The Robinhood Non-Conspiracy.” [A margin call is not a Wall Street plot to fleece Reddit traders.] 2-2-21
Economy. “Why Brokers Had to Restrain Trading in GameStop Shares.” By David Battan. [They were minimizing their own financial and regulatory risk, not trying to bail out hedge funds.] 2-2-21
Economy. “Investing Has a PR Problem.” By Holman w. Jenkins, Jr. [Robinhood might remind its customers that business is about something real.] 2-3-21
Economy. “The Risks of Too Much ‘Stimulus.’” By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon. [Disposable real per capita income rose 5.5% in 2020, the highest rate since 1984, due to transfer payments.] 2-3-21
Economy. “Wrong Stimulus, Wrong Time.” [Biden wants twice the spending of 2009, though the economy is far stronger now.] 2-6-21
Economy. “Woke Capital’s Political Warning.” [“,,,In 2020, 57% of Republicans said they were satisfied with big business. This year the number plummeted to 31%…] 2-6-21
Economy. “Junk Has Never Been So Valued.” [The average yield on low-rated bods falls below 4% for first time.] 2-10-21
Economy. “The NYSE Isn’t Moving – Yet.” By Stacey Cunningham. [A revived stock-transfer tax that is moving in Albany could force us to find a new home.] 2-10-21
Economy. “States of Budget Surplus.” [The Biden spending bill will have governors swimming in cash.] 2-11-21
Economy. “Bitcoin Can Be a Good Investment, But Be Wary.” [Cryptocurrency is rising on a wave of enthusiasm. Yet its fundamentals have genuine value.] 2-11-21
Economy. “Everybody Calm Down About GameStop.” By Ankush Hardori. [Like the 2010 ‘flash crash,’ the media overreaction will probably produce a government overreaction.] 2-12-21
Economy. “What Inflation Debates Miss: Inflation.” By Joseph C. Sternberg. [Focusing on consumer prices allows economists to miss all the other social danger signs of bad prices.] 2-12-21
Economy. “The Pandemic Spending Hangover.” [Federal debt has reached 100% of GDP even before Biden’s plans.] 2-13-21
Economy. “The Risks of Skimping on Covid Relief.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Some economists warn about too much spending, but too little could hurt the economy more.] 2-18-21 (Blinder was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.)
Economy. “A Stock-Trading Dupe Is Born Every Minute.” By Andy Kessler. [The recent hearings on Robinhood missed the basics of how pump-and-dumps work.] 2-22-21
Economy. “’Stimulus’ Does Little For Jobs.” By Andy Puzder. [Companies won’t make permanent investment in new employees based on temporary revenue.] 2-22-21
Economy. “The Money Boom Is Already Here.” By John Greenwood and Steve H. Hanke. [Since February 2020, the M2 supply has increased 26% – the largest one-year jump since 1943.] 2-22-21
Economy. “An Open Mind Is the Key to the Post-Covid Economy.” By Gerard Baker. [What do you do when the facts change? If policy makers stick to their priors, they risk inflation.] 2-23-21
Economy. “The Markets and Mr. Powell.” [The 10-year Treasury resumes its rise and stocks hit the skids.] 2-26-21
Economy. “How Many Jobs Will the ‘Stimulus’ Kill?” by Casey B. Mulligan and Stephen Moore. [As many as eight million by our estimate, in part by gutting many of Clinton’s successful welfare reforms.] 2-26-21
Economy. “NASDAQ Amends Its Diversity Plan.” By Adena T. Friedman. [We’ve listened to critics made allowances for their needs and concerns.] 3-1-21
Economy. “Trump’s Protectionist Failure.” By Phil Gramm and Pat Toomey. [Tax cuts and deregulation spurred the boom. Tariffs delivered neither economic growth nor key states.] 3-3-21
Economy. “A Chip Problem of Detroit’s Own Making.” By Rupert Hammond-Chambers. [Sen. Stabenow scapegoats Taiwan for a miscalculation by U.S. car makers.] 3-5-21
Economy. “Oh, No, the Labor Market Is Recovering.” [Democrats play down good news to pass their spending blowout.] 3-6-21
Economy. “When the boom Turns to Bust.” By Andy Kessler. [You haven’t seen a real bear market until you’ve lost 90% of your money.] 3-8-21
Economy. “Those One-Click Woes.” (Bookshelf by Marc Levinson.) “Fulfillment.” By Alex MacGillis. [Amazon’s breakneck expansion has left much social wreckage in its wake. But it wasn’t the first retailer to do so, and it won’t be the last.] 3-8-21
Economy. “An Airbus-Boeing Tariff Truce.” [Biden deserves credit for limiting harm over the subsidy dispute.] 3-9-21
Economy. “Fed Policy Is Smothering Privat Lending.” by Judy Shelton. [Banks, leery of making risky loans in the real economy, do business with the central bank instead.] 3-9-21
Economy. “The Semiconductor Shortage.” [Do we really want government getting into the chip business?] 3-13-21
Economy. “Small-Business Loans Are MIA.” By Andy Kessler. [There’s a reason the Fed’s Main Street Lending Program came up well short.] 3-15-21
Economy. “America Doesn’t Need More Stimulus.” By Alexander William Salter. [The spending package is the wrong tool to fix what’s still broken from Covid: the supply side.] 3-15-21
Economy. “Europe’s Gang That Couldn’t Shot Straight.” [A string of vaccine bungles threatens health and the global economy.] 3-20-21
Economy. “After Covid, Services Are Where the Trade Action Is.” By James Bacchus. [The pandemic showcased the digital economy, where the U.S. has enormous comparative advantages.] 3-23-21
Economy. “The Christian Baker Who Said ‘No.’” by Wm. McGurn. [Jack Phillips is again in court for refusing to bake a cake with a message he objects to.] 3-23-21
Economy. “It Shouldn’t Cost the Farm to Fix a Tractor.” by Kevin O’Reilly. [New ones require software that only authorized dealers are allowed to use.] 3-24-21
Economy. “Incredible Shrinking Income Inequality.” By Phil Gramm and John Early. [Its rise is an illusion created by the Census Bureau’s failure to account for taxes and welfare.] 3-24-21
Economy. “The Coming Demand Surge Brings Back Memories of 1970s Inflation.” By Wm. N. Walker. [The lifting of lockdowns and easy monetary and fiscal policy will likely lead to much higher prices.] 3-25-21
Economy. “You Can Bet on the Vaccine, Literally.” By Max Raskin. [Prediction markets offer an important tool for hedging risk.” 3-26-21
Economy. “Inequality by Way of Government.” By Andy Kessler. [Capitalism is blamed, but ‘opportunity gaps’ are more often the fruit of state policies.] 3-29-21
Economy. “The Trade Pact Waiting to Happen.” By Mike Lee and Iain Duncan Smith. [Friends – like the U.S. and the U.K. – are invaluable in a pinch.] 3-29-21
Economy. “Build Infrastructure With Private Cash.” By Robert Poole. 4-1-21
Economy. “How to Answer the ‘Trap Question.’” By Andy Kessler. [A business’s purpose is to increase profits? Change that to ‘find profitable solutions.’] 4-5-21
Economy. “Xerox Is an Inspiration to Late Bloomers.” By Gregg Opelka. [A tiny photography company eventually beat Eastman Kodak.] 4-5-21
Economy. “Mundell on Money: Wisdom of a Nobel Laureate. (1932 – 2021).” [The economist on gold vs. the ‘paper standard,’ the 1980s debt crisis, and his hopes for the euro.] 4-6-21
Economy. “Why Are Home Prices Soaring?” [One reason is tariff on Canadian lumber that Biden can kill.] 4-8-21
Economy. “The Permanent Housing Crisis.” [Continuing bans on eviction and foreclosure are hurting the recovery.] 4-8-21
Economy. “A Better Corporate Tax for America.” By Janet Yellen. [Our plan reverses the mistakes of 2017 and puts the U.S. on a path to sustainable prosperity.] 4-8-21
Economy. “Inflation Arrives. Is It ‘Transitory’?” [Producer prices rise 1% in March as supply-side constraints bite.] 4-12-21
Economy. “Politics Is Risky Business for CEOs.” By Harvey Golub. [It’s imprudent to weigh in on issues that don’t directly affect the company.] 4-13-21
Economy. “When CEOs Zoom for Democrats.” By Daniel Henninger. [Some 100 of them did a Davos by laptop to vilify Republicans and validate their status.] 4-15-21
Economy. “Why Struggling Cities Should Cut Property Taxes.” By Thiru Vignarajah. [It’s the perfect time to reboot urban economics and help the country’s poorest homeowners.] 4-17-21
Economy. “Investment Options for the Unwoke.” By Daniel Grant. [Our funds choose firms that don’t let politics distract from their mission of serving shareholders.] 4-17-21
Economy. “When to Invest in a Stupid Idea.” By Andy Kessler. [When no one believes in the future, that’s an opportunity. When everyone does, sell.] 4-19-21
Economy. “Biden ‘Stimulus’ Will Deaden Innovation.” By Alexander William Salter. [Keynesians have it backward: Growth is driven by production, not consumption.] 4-19-21
Economy. “A Shipping Crisis Waiting to Happen.” By Elisabeth Braw. [Enormous container vesels move goods efficiently – but a lot could go wrong.] 4-21-21
Economy. “Tax Hikes Will Stifle the Recovery.” By Rob Portman. [Biden’s proposal would make American companies less competitive overseas, resulting in lost U.S. jobs.] 4-21-21
Economy. “Welcome to Joe Biden’s Boom Economy.” By Alan S. Blinder. [The economy is recovering at a rapid clip, thanks in large part to a $5 trillion infusion from the feds.] 4-22-21
Economy. “Biden Wants to Spend, Not Invest.” By Glenn Hubbard. [His plan draws down private capital to fund current consumption, not actual infrastructure.] 4-22-21
Economy. “The Permanent Truth About Temporary Inflation.” By Joseph C. Sternberg. [Reduced living standards aren’t an accident. They’re the whole point of today’s economic policy.] 4-23-21
Economy. “Government Won’t Fix Chip Shortage.” By T.J. Rodgers. [The semiconductor and auto industries will resolve the issue before politicians finish assigning blame.] 4-29-21
Economy. “The Chamber’s Bill Comes Due.” By Kimberly A. Strassel. [The business lobby backed 23 Democrats, who will likely back Biden’s business taxes.] 4-30-21
Economy. “The Post-Pandemic Boom.” [Biden inherited a very strong recovery, not a house ‘on fire.’] 4-30-21
Economy. “Basecamp and the Political Bullies.” [The company wants an apolitical workplace. Cue the outrage.] 5-4-21
Economy. “The Left vs. the Biden Jobs Boom.” By Homan W. Jenkins, Jr. [The economy may be golden for Democrats if they can keep their activists distracted.] 5-5-21
Economy. “Montana to Feds: No More No-Work Bonus.” [The Treasure State will refuse extra federal jobless payments.] 5-5-21
Economy. “America’s Growing Baby Bust.” 5-6-21
Economy. “The Supply-Side Jobs Slowdown.” [When you pay people not to work, guess what? Many people don’t.] 5-8-21
Economy. “The Trade Two-Step as Part of Biden’s Diplomatic Dance.” By Robert B. Zoellick. [The president can’t afford to ignore trade, lest friends in Asia conclude they should work with China.] 5-10-21
Economy. “Joe Biden, Labor Economist.” 5-11-21
Economy. “A Jolt for White House Economists.” [A Labor Department survey rebuts their jobless benefit claims.] 5-12-21
Economy. “Is the Work Ethic Dying?” by Daniel Henninger. [Covid laid off the country. Now Biden Democrats are paying people not to work.] 5-13-21
Economy. “Who Really Pays for ESG Investing?” by Andy Puzder and Diane Black. [BlackRock and others bill the cost to middle-income investors, in the form of lower returns.] 5-13-21 (ESG = Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance)
Economy. “Are Fannie and Freddie Ready for the Next Housing Crash?” by Mark A. Calabria. [A new rule requires them to make ‘living wills’ for surviving a downturn without taxpayer bailouts.] 5-14-21
Economy. “Automated Luxury Communism?” by Andy Kessler. [Even when consumer paradise seems near, there’s always more work to be done.] 5-17-21
Economy. “The Rise of Inflation Expectations.” [Consumers are doubting that prices will remain ‘well-anchored.’] 5-17-21
Economy. “How Trump’s Steel Tariffs Failed.” 5-18-21
Economy. “AT&T’s Ride may Get Bumpier.” By Holman W. Jenkins, jr. [The perfect can be the enemy of the good, but the Discovery deal is far from perfect.] 5-19-21
Economy. “Biden’s Plans Are Already Hurting the Recovery.” By Phil Gramm and Rich Scott. [As anti-production policies take hold, supply and worker shortages appear and inflation looms.] 5-20-21
Economy. “Gretchen Whitmer’s Pipeline War.” [Michigan’s Governor assaults Canada and the Midwest economy.] 5-22-21
Economy. “Industrial Policy, Same Old Politics.” “Interest groups carve up a bill meant to meet the China challenge.] 5-26-21
Economy. “Biden’s Plan Encourages True Supply-Side Economics.” By Alan S. Blinder. [Preschool and paid family leave are investments in the future in a way tax cuts for the rich aren’t.] 5-26-21 (Blinder was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.)
Economy. “Reopening Is Inflation’s Cure, Not Cause.” By James M. Thomas. [Expect prices to moderate as demand shifts to travel and other experiences from consumer goods.] 5-27-21
Economy. “Get Ready for $5 Gasoline if You Live in California – or if You Don’t.” by Allysia Finley. [Golden State laws drive up prices at the pump, and the Biden administration aims to take them national.] 5-29-21
Economy. “Yes, It’s Still the Economy, Stupid.” By Karl Rove. [Swing voters dislike big spending. The GOP can’t focus only on the culture war.] 6-3-21
Economy. “Behind Your Long Wait for Packages.” By Peter Tirschwell. [American ports aren’t productive enough to weather disruptions and increased demands.] 6-3-21
Economy. “Powell’s Dollar, China’s Problem.” 6-4-21
Economy. “Tax Incentives for Film Production? We’ve Seen This Movie Before.” By Garofalo and Michael Lafaive. [When will state lawmakers learn that throwing money at Hollywood producers is a policy guaranteed to flop?] 6-5-21
Economy. “A Good Worker Is Hard to Find.” [The subsidies for not working continue to hurt the labor market.] 6-5-21
Economy. “Unfortunately ‘Big is Bad’ Is Back.” By Andy Kessler. [The antitrust standard should still be consumer harm, if courts can fin it.] 6-7-21
Economy. “Crypto Needs Regulation, but It Doesn’t Need New Rules.” By Jay Clayton and Brent McIntosh. [Identify the function a new financial instrument is performing, then apply the existing framework to it.] 6-7-21
Economy. “The Great American Labor Shortage.” [The $300 weekly subsidy for not working was a terrible blunder.] 6-9-21
Economy. “A Made-in-Washington Inflation Spike.” [Congress feeds demand but constricts supply, and the Fed stays easy.] 6-11-21
Economy. “The Making of an Electric-Vehicle Fiasco.” [Free credit, taxpayer EV subsidies, and political cheerleading.] 6-15-21
Economy. “The Pay is Generous, the Work Nonexistent.” By E. J. Antoni and Casey B. Mulligan. [The federal unemployment bonus was a bad idea to begin with. It needs to go – immediately.] 6-15-21
Economy. “Erratic Data Is an Economic Symptom of the Pandemic.” By Alan s. Blinder. [Among the conundrums: How do you seasonally adjust for a socially distanced Christmas?] 6-22-21
Economy. “Antitrust Can Hurt U.S. Competitiveness.” By Robert D. Atkinson. [Actions against RCA, AT&T and Xerox gave a leg up to European and Japanese firms.] 7-6-21
Economy. “Lina Khan’s Power Grab at the FTC.” [The new Chair snatches unilateral authority and drops Obama standards.] 7-6-21
Economy. “Don’t Worry Too Much About the Inflation Surge.” By Alan S. Blinder. 7-8-21 (Blinder was an adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry during their respective presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.)
Economy. “Warning to the Real-Estate Cartel.” By Michael Toth. [“The Justice Department backed out last week of a proposed settlement …to take a fresh look at the notoriously high commissions consumers pay real-estate agents…”] 7-9-21
Economy. “Lina Khan’s Gift to Netflix.” [Blocking the Amazon-MGM deal would help the streaming giants.] 7-13-21
Economy. “Joe Biden’s Antitrust Paradox: Where’s the Consumer Welfare? By Robert H. Bork Jr. [It’s new competition policy is a power grab that will hurt economic growth and investment. 7-13-21
Economy. “Innovation Moves to Middle America.” By Steve Case. [Migration of entrepreneurs may yield fewer photo-sharing apps and more practical solutions.] 7-14-21
Economy. “Joe Biden’s Inflation Guide.” [He says more spending lowers prices by…well, you figure it out.] 7-20-21
Economy. “Too Much Money Portends High Inflation.” By John Greenwood and Steve H. Hanke. [The Fed should pay attention to Milton Friedman’s wisdom.] 7-21-21
Economy. “A Tale of Two Recoveries.” [Why is the jobless rate so much higher in Democratic-run states?] 7-23-21
Economy. “Why Space Tourism? Because it Operates Outside of NASA.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [But fans of space exploration know big government will always take the lead.] 7-24-21
Economy. “Bezos, Branson and the Vikings.] by Arthur Herman. [They risk their lives to venture into uncharted territory in search of opportunity for the world.] 7-24-21
Economy. “Growth With Caution Signs.” “Higher prices and slow investment mar a strong second quarter.” 7-30-21
Economy. “The Electric Vehicle Welfare State.” [Car makers back the Biden climate agenda in return for subsidies and higher consumer prices.] 8-6-21
Economy. “Amtrak’s $66 Billion Ticket.” [The government can’t run a railroad, but it sure can subsidize one.] 8-7-21
Economy. “The Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Bill Will Fuel Inflation.” By Stephen Miran. [Policy makers are leaning forward with stimulus as favorable economic winds blow at their backs.] 8-9-21
Economy. “A guaranteed Income At Work.” [The worker shortage grows more extreme, which was predicted.] 8-11-21
Economy. “Biden Has an Inflation Problem.” [Real average hourly earnings have declined for seven months.] 8-12-21
Economy. “Inflation Punishes the Unprotected.” By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon. [Government shields its employees and beneficiaries, but not ordinary workers, from higher prices.] 8-12-21
Economy. “You’re Already Paying for That $4.5 Trillion.” By Joseph C. Sternberg. [Taxes haven’t gone up yet, but inflation and lost productivity amount to financial repression.] 8-13-21
Economy. “Will Biden Bring an End o Reagan’s Era of Prosperity?” by Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore. [Forty years after the 1981 tax cuts, America needs to relearn the lessons of the supply-side revolution.] 8-13-21
Economy. “Biden Jabs at Pharma.” [Drug prices are falling, but the president needs a foil for inflation.] 8-14-21
Economy. “Nixon Taught Us How Not to Fight Inflation.” By William N. Walker. [His price controls led to an exponential increase in demand, which caused a shock when they ended.] 8-14-21
Economy. “‘Stakeholder’ Talk Proves Empty Again.” By Lucian A. Bebchuk and Roberto Taliarita. [Two years after signing the Business Roundtable statement, companies still prioritize shareholders.] 8-19-21
Economy. “The High Price of Federal Marijuana Legalization.” By Kevin Sabet. [A better way would be decriminalization with heavy regulation and no role for Big Tobacco.] 8-25-21
Economy. “Federal Unemployment Bonus Holds the Recovery Back.” [The Help Wanted signs came down in my town only when Arkansas opted out of the $300 supplement.] 8-29-21
Economy. “Why the Dow 36,000 Forecast Was right.” By Kenneth Rogoff. [Hassett and Glassman were mocked in 1998 but have been vindicated by rising stocks. The anger now? Rising interest rates.] 9-9-21
Economy. “Saving Our Urban Future.” (Bookshelf by John Buntin.) “Survival of the City.” By Edward Glasser and David Cutler. [Insiders have captured control of how American cities operate – and used that control to enrich themselves.] 9-10-21
Economy. “The Market Fails a Breathalyzer.” By Andy Kessler. [Beyond Meat, with pea protein, is worth more than the global market for peas.] 9-13-21
Economy. “A Four-Day Workweek Is No Holiday.” By Erika Komisar. [For most parents with young children, shorter – not fewer – workdays is a better deal.] 9-14-21
Economy. “Defining Inflation Down.” [Voters know how much prices are rising even if politician don’t.] 9-15-21
Economy. “Super Bowl Ads and Capitalism.” By Andy Kessler. [When Tom Brady won this first ring, AOL, and Blockbuster were huge U.S. companies.] 9-20-21
Economy. “For Auto Makers, the Chip Famine Persists.” By Daniel Yergin and Matteo Fini. [Pandemic lockdowns, a drought and a winter storm have broken links in the supply chain.] 9-23-21
Economy. “America Risks an ‘Evergrande Moment.’ “ by Joseph C. Sternberg. [Like China, most of the developed nations have relied too much on property to fuel growth.] 9-24-21
Economy. “Joe Biden Wants to Undo a Rail Success.” By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. [Deregulation was a historic bipartisan triumph.] 9-25-21
Economy. “Robinhood Users Come Under Attack.” By Vlad Tenev. [Some critics say the app is ‘gamified,’ but building wealth should be fun not complex and difficult.] 9-28-21
Economy. “Joe Biden’s Economic Fantasy World.” By Gerard Baker. [He seems to think that if you pay for something it doesn’t cost anything. Hold on to your wallet.] 9-28-21
Economy. “Comptroller of the Economy.” [Biden’s nominee to regulate banks really, really hates …banks.] 9-30-21
Economy. “Judges Prevent a Covid Insurance Raid.” By Randy Maniloff. [Business-interruption policies clearly don’t cover losses from lockdown restrictions.] 9-30-21

Issue Headlines

1. Economy. “Two-Tier Economy reshapes U.S. Marketplace.” Wall Street Journal 1-29-15, page A1. [With graph: “For Richer, for Poorer.” Change in average U.S. household consumer spending adjusted for inflation, since 1989: “Top 5% of Households” vs. “Other 95% of Households.”]

2. Economy. Free Trade. Drudgereport.com 5-23-15

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-wins-trade-victory-in-the-senate/2015/05/22/1cb6958e-00c7-11e5-8b6c-0dcce21e223d_story.html

Obama wins trade victory in the Senate

…A coalition of 48 Senate Republicans and 14 Democrats voted for Trade Promotion Authority late Friday…

3. Economy. June 1, 2015 10:38 p.m., EDT., “Glut of Chinese Goods Pinches Global Economy. ”

Subhead: Plants in China keep producing as growth falls, fueling deflationary pressure world-wide. By LINGLING WEI, BOB DAVIS and JON HILSENRATH. WSJ p. A1

4. Drudgereport.com 6-12-15 Trade Authority vote

HOUSE DEFEATS TRADE BILL [FOR NOW]…

DRAMA OBAMA! REPUBLICANS PUSHED FAST-TRACK WITHOUT PUBLIC CONSENT…

SESSIONS WARNED: ‘Elites Who Dream Of Writing Rules In Foreign Capitals’…

Silicon Valley oligarchs made last minute push…

Gave Immigration Powers To ‘Unelected Corporations And Foreign Governments’…

O RACED TO HILL; FELL SHORT OF VOTES!

Economy. Free trade. Drudgereport.com 6-13-15

SNEAK: REPUBLICANS PLAN NEW OBAMATRADE PUSH…

PAUL RYAN VOWS: THIS IS NOT OVER YET! STILL HIDES TEXT FROM PUBLIC VIEW…

Pact could limit access to generic drugs..

.Economy. Drudereport.com. 6-18-15 Obamatrade resurrected by Republicans…

House Passes… Could encompass up to 90% of world GDP… SESSIONS: ‘Members did not know that when they voted’…

Economy. Drudereport.com. 6-18-15 Obamatrade resurrected by Republicans…

Economy. Airlines cutting back. “Where Airlines Cut the Most Flights” [Subhead] Carriers have whacked schedules to smaller hubs, especially in the Midwest and South; bad news for Memphis, Milwaukee and Cleveland. [“…Airlines flew 11,475 fewer domestic flights the third week of July this year compared with the same week in 2011…”] Wall Street Journal, 7-23-15, p. D1.

Economy. ADA. “Despite reform, ADA lawsuits still squeeze small businesses” subhead: “New bill aims to help owners who act to provide access for disabled.” Sacramento Business Journal, 7-24-15:

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/print-edition/2015/07/24/despite-reform-ada-lawsuits-squeeze-small-business.html?ana=e_ph_prem&u=kG2EmeX2cYz+oelDrS35YCqoMgm&t=1437793609

Economy. News. Wall Street Journal: “Four Things That Could Go Wrong Now: How to survive if tech, foreign leaders, the Fed or bod ETFs let us down.” By Gregory Zuckerman. 8-10-15, Section R1.

Economy. Drudgereport.com 10-2-15

JOBS DRY UP…

Record 94,610,000 Americans Not in Labor Force…

Participation Rate Lowest Since 1977…

Record 56,647,000 Women Not Working…

Jobs Up ONLY For IMMIGRANTS; Down 262,000 For ‘Native-Borns’…

Economy. Drudgereport.com 12-3-15 <<<<<

Crash of magazine sales speeds up, Time Inc. down 13% in just 3 months

By PAUL BEDARD (@SECRETSBEDARD) • 12/3/15 11:50 AM

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/crash-of-magazine-sales-speeds-up-time-inc.-down-13-in-just-3-months/article/2577535

Economy. Low U.S. Labor Force participation rate

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/labor-force-participation-improves-slightly-94446000-americans-not-labor

By Susan Jones | December 4, 2015 | 8:44 AM EST

“…In November, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population, consisting of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 251,747,000. Of those, 157,301,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one. The 157,301,000 who participated in the labor force equaled only 62.5 percent of the 251,747,000 civilian noninstitutional population. The last time the labor force participation was as low as 62.5 percent was in October 1977. As Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has explained it, the drop in the labor force participation rate since 2008 can be attributed to four factors: a greater number of retiring Baby Boomers as well as an increase in the disability rolls, an increase in school enrollments and general “worker discouragement.”

Economy. Drudgereport.com 1-16-16 <<<<

RETAIL COLLAPSE WALMART TO SHUT 100S OF STORES

STOCKS DIVE DEEPER

Economy. Drudgereport.com 1-20-16

Global stock markets dive…

World faces ‘wave of epic debt defaults’…

Economy. “Obama Readies A Wave of Rules.” WSJ. 4-8-16, p. A1.

[“The Obama administration is racing to make final a flurry of regulations affecting broad swaths of the economy, further riling U.S. businesses…]

Economy. Inflation vs. Deflation. See: Whole Lotta Flation: Where Is It? Perfect Storm? 4-14-16

https://mishtalk.com/2016/04/14/whole-lotta-flation-where-is-it-perfect-storm/

Global Economic Trend Analysis

[““Flation” remains one of the key debates of the day. Some expect huge inflation. Others expect stagflation (a rediscovered buzzword) and still others hyperinflation (yes, some still hang their hats on that one), or even deflation.

Meanwhile, the Fed and other economists have a spotlight on inflation expectations…”] Includes key economic charts.

Economy. Drudgereport.com. 4-14-16:

ANOTHER TAXPAYER-FUNDED SOLAR-ENERGY COMPANY FAILS…

Economy. Drudgereport.com 7-31-16 <<<

USA IN WEAKEST RECOVERY SINCE 1949… [Wall Street Journal 7-30-16]

Seven Years Later, Recovery Remains the Weakest of the Post-World War II Era

Despite longevity, total growth during this economic expansion is lower than for much shorter business cycles

Economy. Aluminum Over-production / malinvestment Drudgereport.com 9-10-16

http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-billionaire-linked-to-giant-aluminum-stockpile-in-mexican-desert-1473356054?mod=trending_now_4

Economy. Wall Street Journal 12-31-2016 p R1

“New Era for Rates, Regulation Dawns For Investors.” (Sub head: “Financial shares rallied on hopes that higher rates, lower taes, fewer constraints and a stronger economy will grow bank profits.”)

“Central Banks Loosen Their Grip.” By Jon Sindreu.

“Europe’s Growth Caught Between Politics, Policy.” By Mike Bird.

Economy. “U.S.’s Blueprint for NAFTA Feeds Concerns.” Wall Street Journal, 3-31-17, P. A2

Economy. Drudgereport.com 4-12-17

Bigger, Faster, More Lavish: Americans Crave SUVs…

Economy. Drudgereport.com 6-2-17

STOCKS HIT ALL-TIME HIGHS
WAVE OF OPTIMISM

Economy. Drudgereport.com 8-23-17

BANKS WARN DOWNTURN COMING…

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-22/wall-street-banks-warn-winter-is-coming-as-business-cycle-peaks

Economy. Drudgereport.com 11-12-17

Global credit market flashes early warning… THE BUBBLE…

Economy. Drudgereport.com 11-12-17

PAPER: Turns out Trump DIDN’T ruin America’s economy…

http://nypost.com/2017/11/11/turns-out-trump-didnt-ruin-americas-economy/

Economy. Drudgereport.com 11-12-17

Global credit market flashes early warning…

THE BUBBLE…

Economy. Drudgereport.com 11-27-17

GREAT AGAIN: New home sales rise to 10-year high…

STOCKS CONTINUE RECORD RUN…

Economy. Drudgereport.com 8-3-18

Hispanic unemployment record low…

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/hispanic-unemployment-again-hits-new-record-low-in-july
Hundreds line up for gushing oil jobs…

Economy. Drudgereport.com 8-20-18

BUST: Luxury Apartment Sales Plummet in NYC…

https://www.wsj.com/articles/luxury-apartment-sales-plummet-in-new-york-city-1534770001

Economy. Income and jobs. Drudgereport.com 9-11-18

Middle Class Income Rises…

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/09/11/middle-class-income-2016-2000-pay-economy/

Job openings climb to record 6.9 million…

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-job-openings-climb-to-record-69-million-2018-09-11

Campaign Consideration

Economy. [[The Great Unraveling: A Wall Street Journal series examining the economic roots of America’s populist discontent.]] First in the series. “Unkept Economic Promises Drive Stormy Election: U.S. leaders in 2000 saw rising prosperity; much went wrong in ways few foresaw.” By Jon Hilsenrath and Bob Davis. 7-8-16

Talking Points

FTC. 8-14-15 Wall Street Journal, p. B3: “FTC Defines Unfair For the First Time.” [Rules consider harm to rivals, consumer welfare and adherence to antitrust law.]

Economy. Special Wall Street Journal Report, 6-8-16 Section R: “Future of Manufacturing.” “How to Revitalize U.S. Manufacturing.”

The Keynesian House Of Denial

STOCKMAN’S CORNER

The Keynesian House Of Denial

by David Stockman • April 16, 2016

We use the term “Keynesian” loosely to stand for economic interventionists of all schools. The followers of JM Keynes and Milton Friedman alike fit that category. So do some of the more rabid supply siders who claim the power to stimulate ultra-high economic growth with the tools of tax policy alone.

The common denominator is economic statism. That is, the assumption that the state, including its central banking branch, is indispensable to economic progress and prosperity.

As the various denominations of the Keynesian economic church have it, capitalism is always veering toward the ditch of under-performance and recession when left to its own devices and natural tendencies; and, if neglected by the wise policy-makers of the central state too long, it lapses toward outright depression and collapse.

Our purpose here is not to correct the particular philosophical and analytic errors associated with each of these Keynesian or statist variants. On any given day we make it pretty clear the central banking based mutation of modern Keynesianism is predicated on two cardinal errors. Namely, the myth of demand deficiency and the false presumption that central bank pegging of interest rates, yield curves and other financial prices will enhance macro-economic performance while not harming the efficiency, stability and efficacy of money and capital markets.

That’s completely wrong. The very worst thing the state can do is meddle with and falsify financial market prices. Sooner or later cheap debt, repressed volatility, stock market “puts” and artificially inflated asset prices drain the genius of markets out of capitalism. What remains in the financial system is raw speculation for the purpose of rent gathering and leverage for the purpose of supercharged gambling.

On the other hand, what gets lost is true capital formation, honest price discovery and allocative efficiency. These are the building blocks of true macroeconomic expansion and rising wealth…”

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Defending Capitalism. Wall Street Journal, 8-3-2019, p. A11

“When the Market Meets Morality.” (The Weekend Interview with Robert Sirico by Wm. McGurn) [The Acton Institute’s founder has spent decades defending Capitalism from the left. Today the attacks come from the right too.] 8-3-19

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