It’s no surprise food prices have gone up, but the government reports they haven’t risen this much since 1990:
Food prices have risen 6.1 percent in the past three months on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. The one-month rise between March and April of 0.9 percent was the biggest since January 1990, according to the Bureau […]
U.S. foreclosures are up 65%.
Consumer prices rose only 0.2% in April. That wasn’t as high as expected due to unchanged energy prices.
Tom Meyers “likes” the new farm bill so much he’s thinking of planting soybeans, corn, and cotton in front of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s offices.
Dean Baker wishes the Wall Street Journal talked to […]
I hold my head in shame for missing Friedrich Hayek’s birthday. He only changed the way I look at economics and social science. He is my intellectual idol.
Don Boudreaux offered a quote from Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Vol. 1: Rules and Order. I’ll give you a passage from “The Use of Knowledge in Society“:
I […]
There’s plenty of talk about Sen. McCain’s cap-and-trade idea to reduce carbon emissions. So I devoted this edition to it.
Greg Mankiw wants the government to sell the credits to create a quasi-Pigovian tax.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board hates the idea.
Robert Lawson would prefer the government give the carbon credits away.
Larry Kudlow grimaces at the […]
The Law of Demand strikes oil. Oil’s high price caused Chinese imports to decrease.
Bond insurer MBIA reported $2.4 billion in losses for the first quarter.
So far, Super Bowl XLII has been an economic black hole for Glendale, AZ.
Arnold Kling has some research ideas for future economics grad students.
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Andrew Biggs clues us in on a dirty little Washington secret: tax revenues will go up even if President Bush’s tax cuts are made permanent. And I’m not speaking in supply-side mumbo-jumbo.
Arnold Kling notes, “What is truly frightening is that even these tax increases are not sufficient to pay for Medicare.”
Investors Business Daily calls the […]
Of the minority of economists asked by The Wall Street Journal 75% feels Sen. John McCain has the best fiscal policies. That’s despite opposition for his bad idea to nix the federal gas tax over the summer. Having a clear history of fighting wasteful spending has paid off.
I can’t recall a single Presidential campaign rolling […]
I must disagree with Robert McCain Stacy who writes, “At least for once in her life, Hillary’s on the right side of a tax issue.” Clinton isn’t right on pushing a summer gas tax holiday. Like I wrote previously I love tax cuts most of the time. But I’m not a gas tax holiday fan. […]
An Institute for Supply Management report shows the service sector finally growing in April. [via Real Time Economics]
The FBI and the IRS have created a task force to investigate “the role of mortgage lenders and brokers in low- or no-documentation loans” and “how the loans were bundled into securities.”
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s and Rep. Barney […]
Now, I’m usually all for more tax cuts. Individuals and corporations have better local knowledge and incentives to spend money better than politicians in state capitals and Washington, D.C. However, I’m not thrilled with a gas tax holiday. First, it isn’t going to happen. The only ones pushing it are Sens. Clinton and McCain on […]
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on the credit troubles: “We are closer to the end of this problem than we are to the beginning.”
Sen. Obama’s opposition to a gas tax holiday, while economically sensible, isn’t winning voters’ support.
In another example of prices changing behavior increased gas prices have boosted sales of more fuel-efficient cars. Increased CAFE […]
It’s a new month so I’ll try to make these linkfests more regular. Let me know of any good economics sites I can use to get material.
Today is May Day, the Communist holiday. Like last year, The Distributed Republic will “remember the plight of those lost lives to an ideology which promised to free the […]
The U.S. still isn’t in a recession, but it’s close:
Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2008, according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic […]
The federal government started electronically distributing economic stimulus checks this week. What will individuals (receiving up to $600) and families (getting up to $1200 plus $300/child) do with the money? Retailers are hoping they’ll go shopping (sounds a little like President Bush post-Sep. 11), but for many the rebates will pay off bills:
“I would love […]
Spiraling health care costs are largely due to third-party payments. A consumer has less incentive to economize health care spending if they know an insurance company is paying the costs. Hunting for a deal on yearly physicals or open heart surgery becomes pointless if the patient isn’t covering the bill. Because of wage controls from […]
