A few weeks ago, the Harris campaign proposed using price controls to address the high cost of groceries. The cost of groceries is indeed 25% higher than at the start of the pandemic. Addressing this through price controls would be counterproductive and damaging. The price of groceries, like everything else, is set by supply-and-demand. COVID

In the world of baseball cards, the most valuable is Honus Wagner’s rookie card that sold at auction for $6.6 million in August 2021. Known as the “Flying Dutchman,” Wagner played for the Louisville Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates from 1897-1917. His 3,420 career hits put him 1,000 hits behind Pete Rose. It is not immediately

There is only one cause of inflation: federal deficit spending financed by new money creation. The 40-year high inflation the United States has experienced post-COVID has resulted in substantial hardship for Americans. Rising prices have reduced Americans’ purchasing power and standard of living. President Biden and other commentators have blamed “corporate greed” for inflation. The

In last month’s column, I discussed how trust in government is at an all-time low. The Gallup Organization finds that trust in private institutions is similarly low. The only institution that enjoys widespread trust is small business, where 68% of Americans’ trust it a “great deal” or “quite a lot.” Trust substantially decreases for other

An underappreciated risk in the U.S. economy is that Americans have lost confidence in the federal government. The Gallup Organization has tracked Americans’ trust in government since the 1970s. It is striking how much Americans used to trust the government compared to now. When Richard Nixon was president in 1972, 75% of Americans had a

My March column discussed the challenges involved in balancing a federal budget that is currently $1.5 trillion or so in deficit. The necessary tax increases and spending cuts would far exceed what Americans have ever experienced. A natural question might be why the budget deficit and the national debt, which is the accumulation of all

At the end of 2023, inflation appeared to be falling to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Inflation was 3.3% in December 2023 and was expected to be below 3% in January. However, inflation was higher than expected at 3.1% in both January and February. There is a strong possibility that inflation will continue to run

The federal government is set to add another $1.5 trillion to the national debt this year. To put this in perspective, note that one trillion is a thousand billion. A billion seconds is roughly 32 years – thus, a trillion seconds is 32,000 years. The national debt currently stands at $34 trillion. Counting to $34

Higher interest rates usually result in falling house prices, as the higher mortgage interest rate increases the monthly payment. Consider a $250,000 house purchased with a 20% downpayment. When the 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 3%, as it was in 2021, the monthly payment is about $850. When this interest rate rises to 7.5% as

On November 30, President Biden posted on X (aka Twitter): “Let me be clear to any corporation that hasn’t brought their prices back down even as inflation has come down: It’s time to stop the price gouging.” This post confuses deflation – or prices falling – with disinflation, a reduction in the rate of inflation.

The economy in 2023 was resilient. The unemployment rate is currently 3.9%, marking 21 consecutive months below 4%. An average of 239,000 new jobs per month were created in 2023 and the economy grew by a whopping 4.9% in the third quarter. Inflation is currently at 3.7%, which is down from its peak of 8.2%

Hopefully, the UAW strike will be settled by the time this column goes to print. It is worth taking a step back and asking why General Motors, Ford and Stellantis did not just give the UAW what it wanted to avoid the strike. The likely answer is that the 2009 bankruptcies of General Motors and