The American Enterprise Institute’s Francis Boyer award was established in 1977 by pharmaceutical firm SmithKline Beecham in memory of its former CEO. The purpose of the honor is to recognize those who have given significant contributions to government policy and social welfare. As sponsored through an erstwhile conservative think tank, the award, presented up until 2002, was given to prominent [...]
Last summer was perhaps the most pivotal period of the past two years for the economy in a number of ways. It was that moment stuck in between what was supposed to be, even if acceleration and liftoff were delayed by the “rising dollar” of late 2014, and, of course, what has become accepted that it never will. Less than [...]
The entire idea of quantitative easing is supposed to be exceedingly simple. As I showed here, in the middle of 1917 it was. The US economy and the global monetary system moving into 2017 is nothing like that one, yet the intellectual foundations for monetary policy remain as if it was. Even in operation, QE was more PR than money; [...]
After two months of “unexpected” weakness, the ISM Manufacturing Index rebounded in November. With both September and October below 52, after August’s reading was less than 50, the increase to 53.2 is being welcomed as another sign of distance from the start of the year, if not reflation and growth itself. That belief, however, is and has been misplaced throughout [...]
Nominal personal spending grew by just over 4% in October 2016, a number that sounds impressive by virtue of what we have become used to in this economy. That was much less than the 5.2% in spending growth from the middle of 2014 just prior to the effects of the “rising dollar”, which was itself a low point for a [...]
The headline writers for this morning’s payroll reports can’t really help themselves. In a clickbait world, any kind of record or new high or low is bound to make its way into every article title. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in November, the lowest since 2007, therefore it isn’t surprising to see reporting on the labor statistics to have [...]
Rumors persisted in China of new foreign currency restrictions from state authorities now trying to crack down on corporate activity. The story was picked up in many news outlets all over the world, but will remain unconfirmed as it is based on reports from the South China Morning Post and others inside the country that have only claimed to have [...]
Like CNY in the afterglow of still another intervention, there are some things that you can easily forecast with good accuracy. This is no great insight on my part, of course, but two days ago I wrote: The media being what it is, this will very likely be the last time the data so diverges from the narrative. I have [...]
Talking with my colleague Joe Calhoun yesterday, he was eager to share with me something he found in the (virtual) pages of the Wall Street Journal, a perfect sign of the times. In a story about a group of nuns in Germany taking their financial future into their own hands, Joe couldn’t help but shake his head at what surely [...]
While certain markets continue to dream of the economy that might be, we continue to be stuck with the economy that continues to be nothing like it. Last week the Census Bureau reported that exports fell slightly year-over-year in September 2016 after rising slightly in August for the first positive number in two years. On the import side, marginal US [...]
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