Inflation/Shminflation
Barron’s agrees with our assessment that, CPI not withstanding, there is actually some inflation out there. Add Oil and Fed...
CPI versus Core Inflation
This will be the last in our series on inflation for today (hopefully). As we noted earlier, there is historical precedent for Central...
The History of Inflation ex-inflation
Erik points us to this fascinating history of the core rate of inflation (aka Inflation ex-inflation), via the Economist: "Stephen...
LEIs Dip Again
You know the drill: The (modified) leading indicators come out yesetrday — weak once again; The excuse making should begin...
Rita’s potential path
Glad this was downgraded to a category 4: click for larger graphic Courtesy of WSJ Source: With Refineries in Rita’s Path, Sector...
Thinking the unthinkable, predicting the unpredictable
The spin these days is that all of these disasters — 9/11, Iraq Insurgency, New Orleans flood — were both unthinkable and...
Compare & Contrast: FEMA vs Wal-MART
There are certain things I expect for my tax dollars: Schools, Police services, Military protection, Infrastructure, etc. This is...
Parsing the Fed
The WSJ: The Sept. 20 statement announced that the Fed was raising its key short-term interest rate by one-quarter point to 3.75%, its...
The Fog of Katrina
The task of calculating the enormous damage from Katrina – in Human lives, in property damage, and in economic terms – continues. As...
No Confidence . . .
Yesterday’s Preliminary U of Michigan Consumer Confidence number stunk the joint up yesterday. How bad was it? The survey saw a 14%...