Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Bernanke "Fed Prepared to Respond as Necessary" to Support Economic Recovery and Price Stability / Economics / US Economy
By: Asha_Bangalore
A likely threat of inflation following the Fed's extraordinary monetary accommodation and rising commodity prices is the most discussed topic in recent days. Chairman Bernanke addressed concerns about inflation in lucid terms in his semi-annual testimony this morning. First, he noted that the "rate of pass-through from commodity price increases to broad indexes of U.S. consumer prices has been quite low in recent decades, partly reflecting the relatively small weight of materials inputs in total production as well as the stability of longer-term inflation expectations." Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
U.S. Manufacturing “Red Hot”? Dream On / Economics / US Economy
By: Ian_Fletcher
There is an article in the Huffington Post today which, before apparently being retitled, asserted in its headline that U.S. manufacturing is now "red hot," and whose text quotes a financial analyst (apparently approvingly) who asserts that it is.This is based on a report from the respected Institute for Supply-Chain Management which reports that manufacturing output in the U.S. has expanded for 19 months straight.
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Tuesday, March 01, 2011
U.S. Government Proposed Spending Cuts and Current Energy Price Increases / Economics / US Economy
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
Effect on Total Economy-Wide Spending from a Cut in Government Spending
Suppose that the federal government cuts its current spending on goods and services. Assuming nothing is done to tax rates, this means that the government's current borrowing will fall commensurately. (This represents a shift in the demand curve for credit, not a movement along it.) All else the same, the interest rates, with the exception of the one-day federal funds rate, which is targeted by the Federal Reserve, will decline as the demand for credit declines.
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Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Deflation Confusion: Money Is Not Credit / Economics / Deflation
By: Robert_Blumen
The end is near. The end, that is, of the current monetary system. But inflation or deflation? Dow 1,000 or wheelbarrow money? While the arguments on the deflation side are not entirely without merit, they rely on conceptual errors that result in exaggerating the magnitude of a possible deflation.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
China's Five-Year Economic Plan Calls For Slower Growth / Economics / China Economy
By: Money_Morning
Don Miller writes:
China will take steps to cool off its red-hot economy in the next five years largely by increasing domestic consumption and de-emphasizing exports, Premier Wen Jiabao announced in an online chat with the country's citizens on Sunday.
Wen, China's leading economic official, said the government's official target for average gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the next five years will be reduced to 7% annually, down from a target of 7.5% in the past half decade.
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Tuesday, March 01, 2011
U.S. Consumer Spending Disappoints, But Partly Weather-Related / Economics / US Economy
By: Asha_Bangalore
Real consumer spending fell 0.1% in January after a 0.3% increase in the prior month. Purchases of durable goods increased 0.3% but this strength was offset by declines in purchases of non-durables (-0.2% vs. +0.1% in December) and services (-0.1% vs. +0.2% in December).
Monday, February 28, 2011
Trade Solutions That Won’t Work / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Ian_Fletcher
Americans in recent decades have not, of course, been entirely unaware that America has a trade problem. This has drawn into public debate a long list of proposed solutions. Unfortunately, many will not work, some are based on analytical confusions, and a few are outright nonsense. If we are to understand the true scope of our problem and frame solutions that will work, these false hopes must be debunked forthwith.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Why a Flat Tariff on All U.S. Imports Would Work / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Ian_Fletcher
I advocate protectionism. But one standard criticism is that this would just result in politically connected industries getting tariffs raised on the products they produce. This would corrupt our economy, force consumers to pay higher prices, and serve no legitimate economic logic. Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Economic Booms, Busts, and Food Prices / Economics / Food Crisis
By: Gary_North
Maybe you have heard about rising food prices. It is happening all over the world. We hear of Third World rural populations that are trapped by rising food prices.
Why are food prices rising? Simple: because urban people in formerly Third World nations are getting richer. India and China are the obvious examples. As these economies are freed from the regulations that once burdened them, the growing urban middle class bids up the price of food. People with money in their pockets like to eat more and better food. In the bidding war between rural people with little capital and therefore low incomes vs. urban residents with more capital and higher incomes, rural people lose.
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Saturday, February 26, 2011
In Praise of Mercantilism, or Why Economic History Isn’t Boring / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Ian_Fletcher
Does economic history hold a giant clue for getting America out of its present trade mess? Yes, because it debunks the idea that free trade is how nations become prosperous. Instead, it shows that nations win at international trade by playing a 400-year-old game called mercantilism.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, February 26, 2011
U.S. Real Growth GDP for Q4 2010 Revised Lower to 2.8% from 3.2% / Economics / US Economy
By: Asha_Bangalore
Downward revisions of consumer spending (4.1% vs. 4.4% advance estimate) and state & local government outlays (-2.4% vs. -0.9% advance estimate) were the two major sources of revisions accounting for the reduction in the pace of growth of real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 2.8% from 3.2% in the advance estimate. In addition, spending on equipment and software and residential investment expenditures were reported to have advanced at a slower clip in the fourth quarter (see table below).
Friday, February 25, 2011
The Economic Recovery that Never Was / Economics / US Economy
By: Andy_Sutton
It is my belief that as the headlines continue to roll in about fiscal woes from sea to shining sea that we are going to get a full appreciation for the fraud that has been perpetrated on the American people in the form of the ‘economic recovery’ that the media has been stumping for since the middle of 2009. This ‘wag the dog’ type undertaking has been about confidence, perceptions, and little else. Absolutely, there are pockets of the nation where people have found work. After all, when your government dumps nearly a trillion dollars into the economy it is going to have SOME effect. Our goal from the beginning of these hyperstimulation maneuvers was to point out the unsustainability of this course of action and more importantly to predict the consequences thereof.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Top 12 Countries at Extreme Risk of Economic Collapse / Economics / Global Economy
By: Dian_L_Chu
Risk analysis firm Maplecroft just released its new fiscal risk index ranking of 163 countries. Europe trumps all other regions with 11 out of twelve courtiers rated as "extreme risk." However, quite surprisingly, only one PIIGS country--Italy which takes the top spot--is in the top 12.
Friday, February 25, 2011
World Economy Returns to Pre Financial Crisis Levels / Economics / Global Economy
By: Pravda
The year 2010 ended with considerable growths in the volumes of global trade. This index reached the pre-crisis level in December. The volume of trade increased by 15.1 percent during the year. The world economy demonstrated a stable improvement after the critical year of 2009, when the volume of global trade dropped by 13 percent. The commodity circulation is expected to increase as well, experts believe.
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Thursday, February 24, 2011
Inflation Is Here, and It Is Going to Get Worse / Economics / Inflation
By: Frank_Shostak
As compared to September last year, the growth momentum of price indexes shows visible strengthening. Year on year, the rate of growth of the consumer price index (CPI) rose to 1.6 percent in January from 1.5 percent in the month before and 1.1 percent in September last year. Also the growth momentum of the consumer price index less food and energy has strengthened in recent months. The yearly rate of growth climbed to 1 percent from 0.8 percent in December and 0.6 percent in October.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Why Have Nations at All? The Case for Economic Borders / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Ian_Fletcher
Why have nations at all, economically speaking?This question is provoked by the fact that every few months, without fail, somebody writes to me and asks why, if the protectionism I advocate between the U.S. and the rest of the world is rational, why isn't it rational to have tariffs between the various states of the U.S.? And since it clearly doesn't make any sense to have tariffs on trade between, say, California and Oregon, it follows that nations shouldn't practice economic protectionism either.
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011
U.S. Consumer Confidence Moves Up, Largely From the Expectations Component / Economics / US Economy
By: Asha_Bangalore
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose 5.6 points to 70.4 in February, the highest reading in three years (see Chart 3). The Current Situation Index (33.4 vs.31.1 in January) and the Expectations Index (95.1 vs. 87.3 in January) both posted gains, with the latter climbing to the highest level since December 2006 (see Chart 4).
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Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Chinese Workers Surplus Value Makes China A World Economic Power / Economics / China Economy
By: Submissions
Prof. (Dr.) Raju M. Mathew writes: Karl Max, when developed the Theory of Surplus Value, might have never imagined that by using Communism, China would put the same Theory of Surplus Value in to practice more effectively than the Capitalists. Marx believed that the very basis of capital was keeping the workers at subsistence level and making them work at full capacity and taking away their surplus value.
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Address Structural Economic Problems of Unemployment, Debt, and Inflation With Chicanery / Economics / US Economy
By: D_Sherman_Okst
Structural Economic Problem #1: Unemployment
Seventy percent of our economy is driven from private sector employment:
- Without consumers the economy is finished
- Without jobs and with maxed out debt loads the consumer is finished
Monday, February 21, 2011
Commerce Is a People's Revolution / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Douglas_French
The big-box book business has begun to crumble with the bankruptcy filing of book-selling behemoth Borders. The Chapter 11 filing indicates the company is looking to restructure its debts and continue on. But as in the case of bankrupt Blockbuster, there may not be anything to restructure, with both of these old-technology companies destined for liquidation and futures of little more than Wikipedia entries chronicling each company's past glories.