Category Archives: Musings

Thoughts, musing, and random comments

Personal Income and Consumption

Summary September personal income figures released yesterday show an increase in spending relative to income. This is not good news because the higher spending means savings rates are down and household de-leveraging and spending adjustments are not proceeding. In my … Continue reading

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Personal Income and Consumption

Summary July personal income figures released today show an increase in spending relative to income. This is not good news because the higher spending means savings rates are down and household de-leveraging and spending adjustments are not proceeding. Furthermore, revisions … Continue reading

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Personal Income and Consumption

Summary Personal income figures released today are some of the best economic news to come out recently, contrary to what most commentators have claimed. The headlines report that spending and income has stagnated, but the real news is in the … Continue reading

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Household Debt and Spending

My fear is that the current recovery is storing up problems for the future. Household debt continues to decline, and the savings rate has increased. This should be good news for the recovery of the economy: much of the recent … Continue reading

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Inflation Background and Current Situation

As Milton Friedman said, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” Bernanke in his textbook says “The existence of a close link between the price level and the money supply in an economy is one of the oldest and … Continue reading

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Thoughts on the Current Macroeconomic Environment

The current macroeconomic environment may appear complicated but is much simplified by focusing on two issues: First, the recent speculative boom and bust and the consequences following there from; Second the increases in spending (fall in “savings rate”) over recent … Continue reading

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