You’d think that the more trouble the US causes around the world, the weaker the dollar would trade. Who, after all, wants to own the currency of the country perceived by most to be the source of today’s long list of trade conflicts and dirty wars? Apparently everyone, in a dynamic that’s been defying logic […]
The Mixed Blessing Of Falling Birth Rates
The developed world is doing something unprecedented: It’s no longer reproducing. That’s great for the environment and very good for the work and housing prospects of the relative handful of kids that are being born (since fewer workers mean rising pay and fewer households mean cheaper real estate). But it’s bad for retirees who will […]
A Different Kind Of Wage Inflation Heralds This Cycle’s End
Towards the end of long expansions (this one is the longest on record) things get tight. Factories operate flat-out and start raising prices. Good workers become harder to find and companies start competing for them with higher wages and other perks. This story is about the “other perks” which, because they don’t show up in […]
The Lesson Of Argentina: You Can’t Stabilize A Bankrupt Economy
So the U.S. puts Republicans (the party of small government) in charge, and gets… trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see AND a revival of socialism among Democrats. Scary as this may seem, the real (and even scarier) lesson is that it’s all inevitable: Beyond a certain level of indebtedness, even pro-business, […]
Central Banks Soften Us Up For Higher Inflation
There was a time when “price stability” – that is, money that buys the same amount of stuff every year – was considered a good thing. But as debts began to pile up around the world, it became clear to policymakers that managing that debt required money that got a little less valuable over time, […]
Fed Tightening Is Over: Markets Now Expect Cuts In 2019
People who assumed the Fed, along with the rest of the government, would cave the minute the financial markets got a little choppy turned out to be right. A couple of bad months and the “normalization” of both interest rates and the Fed’s balance sheet have stopped cold. Now the markets expect falling rates and […]
Check Out This Lost Classic “Peter Schiff Was Right” Video
I thought I’d seen all the “Peter Schiff Was Right” videos, but just stumbled onto this 2006 CNBC classic pitting Schiff against a new cast of (in retrospect) clueless antagonists, including a “chief economist” with some quaintly credulous ideas. This was the peak of the subprime mortgage mania, so the Bubblevision talking heads still considered […]
The Cost Of Insurance Is About To Jump
The argument over whether we’re in for global warming or global cooling and whether what’s coming is natural or human-made is fun but totally irrelevant from a financial perspective. The fact is that for whatever reason and in whatever direction, the climate is getting more aggressive. Monster snowstorms and apocalyptic fires are clearly becoming more […]
Why Aren’t Widespread Labor Shortages Translating Into Roaring Wage Inflation?
Google “labor shortage” or “wage hikes” and the result is a picture of an overheating economy. Some examples from August 10: 911 Emergency: Call Centers Can’t Find Workers Why Disneyland’s $15-an-hour labor deal is a win for workers everywhere Colorado small businesses seek help with labor shortage Washington growers struggle with labor shortage Now hiring: […]
Inflation Is Back, Part 9: Two Sentences Say It All
Okay, one more look at wage inflation, followed by a short diatribe on the unfairness of life. As the labor markets get tighter, power is finally shifting from companies to workers. For some reason Iowa is leading the way (the promised two sentences are in bold): Say Hello to Full Employment — Want to know […]
Inflation Is Back, Part 8: Labor Shortage Reaches “Critical” Point
Economist Peter Bookvar recently analyzed the the anecdotal evidence of capacity constraints piling up in recent industry surveys, including the following: “Business is strong in all regions. Materials are tight. Trucking continues to be a major challenge.” (Chemical Products) “Strong economic growth continues to put pressure/strain on capacity, lead time, availability and pricing across a […]
Emerging Market Crisis Spreads To The Core, Central Banks Face Catch-22
One of the things giving “data-driven” central banks wiggle room on their pledge to tighten monetary policy is the fact that there are several definitions of inflation. In the US the thing most people think of as inflation is the consumer price index, or CPI, which is now running comfortably above the Fed’s target. But […]
Inflation Is Back, Part 7: Just Check Out This Chart
Monthly economic readings tend to be full of noise and are therefore unreliable. So it’s best to save the excited assertions for established trends. The US Consumer Price Index appears to have reached that point: As most readers probably know, the CPI is widely believed to understate the true rate of inflation because of statistical […]
Inflation Is Back, Part 6: More People Now Expect Higher Prices
Turning points in a financial system usually occur in discrete phases. At first, new information that contradicts existing preconceptions is dismissed as unimportant. But as more such data accumulates, a growing number of people come to expect the new trend to continue. In economist-speak, “expectations” change, and these become self-fulfilling prophecies, as people start behaving […]
Japan Shows Why — And How — All Fiat Currencies Are Doomed
A couple of decades ago, when the post-war baby boom generation was in its prime earning and tax-paying years, governments had a chance to guarantee the survival of their financial systems. But they blew it. Instead of controlling spending, running surpluses and banking the proceeds against the inevitable retirement of millions of boomers, most chose […]
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