Instapopulist

The 3.1% Drop in January Wholesale Sales, Stagnant Business Inventories, and Widespread Lower Prices

The most widely watched release the past week was on retail sales for February from the Census Bureau; but there were also two Census reports on January inventories which will contribute to that major component of first quarter GDP: January wholesale trade and January business inventories.

It's the game dummy !!!!!

The Economy! Jobs! Peace! The elephant in the room is embarrassed he is so big and nobody sees him. NFL, MLB, NBA and NASCAR. They are the answer. Make it about the game and not winning. You make it about the game and everybody wins. You make it about winning and the game is over. What does major entertainment have that eludes the best economic and political minds. They realize you have too keep it interesting to keep it alive. You do that by making it a level playing field. No one participant is allowed to use unbridled power to sweep the table. The game is the economy.

Choosing between jobs or income.

If jobs did not sustain life they would have no value worth considering. They do and I will. As financiers find cheaper, faster and easier ways to make money jobs related investments become increasingly less desirable. Making money has increasingly chosen non entrepreneurial investments. Investing in derivatives and similar types of hedging has become a very streamlined non labor source of income. Labor problems, workers compensation, long duration for return on investment and similar complications are making product and service sources of money unattractive.

An Engineer's Critique of Keynesianism

Though Keynes raised many good questions, and made a critical observation regarding wage formation which I've adopted, I will argue he ultimately fumbled at the one yard line. Complicating such a claim is the fact that there are numerous interpretations as to what Keynes "really really" meant. As a result, I will restrict myself to a couple core concepts that are generally treated as traditional Keynesian.

Supply-Side Economics' Maraschino Cherry

If you want to get a liberal's blood boiling, simply mention the phrase Supply-Side Economics at the next cocktail party. Be extra careful not to toss in additional synonyms, such as Reaganomics, Voodoo or Trickle-down economics, because his fuse might pop. Should I find myself at such a party, I would try to play peacemaker by asking the party attendees to consider the possibility that both the Left and Right share the same core economic defect: free trade. In other words, nearly all schools of economics amount to Voodoo.

Rig Count Keeps Falling, Oil Production and Crude Inventories Keep Rising

US oil and gas drilling operations continued to shut down at an unprecedented rate last week, as Baker Hughes reported the rig count on February 13th was at 1358, down by a record 98 rigs from February 6th, with oil rigs down 84 to 1056, gas rigs down 14 to 300, and rigs classified as miscellaneous unchanged at 2.  This follows last week's report when total US drilling rigs in use fell by 87,

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