Maybe after a couple generations the Japanese have finally had enough. Perhaps QQE was large enough so as to leave no doubt that not only did it fail, but that it was the same result registered time and again before. The Bank of Japan has promulgated eleven QE’s dating back to 2001, but this last one might have done so [...]
The poor and impoverished state of the world is no true wonder given those that have claimed for themselves the “duty” of exceedingly routine disruption and wholesale distrust of markets in favor of their own very narrow interests and abilities. These are the people that give us such incompetence passing as expert and "useful" central planning: https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/666301870521102336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Nothing like another [...]
It seems as if the PBOC is doing a whole lot and getting very little from it. That is actually expected at least to anyone not caught up in the cult of QE and the like, as that is the very nature of central banks dating back to the original at the Bank of England. Even though the focus has [...]
Japanese household spending increased 5.5% in nominal terms in May; 4.8% in real spending growth. That was the first monthly increase since November and since it was a positive number, and not as typically close to zero, it is being hailed as another great sign of QQE success. With Q1 GDP revised up to nearly 5%, economists are back to [...]
There was a reason FDR’s administration in its first 100 days took the order it did. Contrary to some assertions, Executive Order 6102 was not a lawless expansion of executive privilege and prerogative. It had a very lawful basis, underwritten by the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 which itself was based on (and no part of this fact should be [...]
Leave it to a self-described socialist to undermine his own argument. Decrying the apparent overabundance of personal hygiene and fashion, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took to confounding as to how many ways evil capitalism could produce odor-altering products but leave so many so hungry. You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs [...]
It has been lost to history now, but the first stirring of rational expectations theory was something like daylight savings time. “Experts” posited that there could be calendar effects lurking in behavior that might be exploited with the right kind of regulatory agenda and even interference in something so established as Thanksgiving itself. As Pat Horan at RealClearHistory details, FDR [...]
With an election looming it is no surprise that efforts to sway voters via economic framing have been heightened. There are, however, the usual and predictable responses, and then there is what can only be called epic trolling (as the kids say). Publishing in Forbes, of all places, Adam Hartung quotes somebody named Bob Deitrick: President Obama has achieved a [...]
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but that is not the only ingredient in the asphalt used to make the highway to Perdition. Typically, intent is augmented (or actually degraded) by a degree of incompetence that masquerades as complexity. The breadth of that observation is staggering in the current circumstances as Japanification has seemingly gained [...]
With retail sales this week bringing an “unexpected” shock to those forecasting a robust economic rebound (outside of inventory, anyway) in the US, further confirmation has been offered pretty much everywhere else. WalMart’s quarterly report was as it has been since the end of 2012 with continuing slow erosion. US same store comparables were flat, which is something of an [...]
Stay In Touch