Electric vehicles (EVs) are touted as a remedy to high gasoline prices – unfortunately, the math doesn’t support this. An EV costs, on average, $10,000 or more than a gasoline powered car. A 2022 Hyundai Ironiq 5 electric SUV costs approximately $15,000 more than 2022 Hyundai Tucson, a similar-sized vehicle. An at-home charger adds another

Real gross domestic product (GDP), which is the inflation-adjusted final value of all goods and services produced in the United States, declined by 0.9% in the second quarter after declining by 1.6% in the first. Two consecutive quarters of GDP decline is the definition of a recession found in any “introductory economics” textbook, despite the

President Biden recently proposed a three-month gas tax “holiday” during which the federal government would not collect the 18.4 cents/gallon Federal Gas Tax. Unfortunately, it is unlikely this would cause the price of gas to fall. Gas prices are rising because of a disruption in supply due to the shutdowns and the Russian-Ukrainian war. The

As of this article’s writing, inflation is 8.2%, imposing an unavoidable tax on all Americans. A tragedy of this is that this inflation could have easily been avoided. Recent research from the San Francisco Federal Reserve District Bank found that the March 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP), which sent most Americans $1,400 and state and

Suppose a President of the United States proposed raising taxes on everyone, rich and poor, by 8.5%. And suppose this would not be a one-time 8.5% tax increase; taxes would be increased by 8.5% every single year. Such a plan would be hard to take seriously, as the standard of living would quickly fall if

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was included in the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act and intended to hold up to 700 million barrels of oil in the event of an emergency. The SPR was created following the 1973 Middle East Oil Embargo, when the price of crude oil tripled over six months, leading to

Hopefully by the time this is published, the war will be over and peace will prevail in Eastern Europe. At the time of this column’s writing, the conflict is escalating. In addition to the horrific humanitarian crisis, the war threatens substantial harm to the U.S. economy. Russia is the third largest oil producer in the

The “Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act” named after Senator Hubert Humphrey and Representative Augustus Hawkins, was signed into law on October 27, 1978. It charges the Federal Reserve to pursue monetary policy to promote low rates of unemployment and inflation. This is the Federal Reserve’s so-called “dual mandate.” Humphrey-Hawkins charges the Federal Reserve to obtain a

Labor market shortages do not appear to be improving and in fact, might be getting worse. Labor force participation, defined as the percentage of the population either working or actively looking for work, is at a 44-year low. Only half of the decline in labor force participation experienced during the 2020 shutdown has been recovered.

If the 2021 economy could be summarized in one word, I would say it is “disappointing.” Vaccine development and deployment has far exceeded expectations since the pandemic began; anyone who wants a vaccine can get one! The economic recovery in the face of this, however, is far below expectations. Gross domestic product (GDP), which is

In October, inflation was running at 6.2%, which is three times higher than its 25-year average. How does it get back to 2%, like it was pre-COVID? Some will claim that the Federal Reserve just needs to raise interest rates. Unfortunately, this is not so easy. To “break the back” of the 1970s inflation, the

In the March 2019 issue of My City Magazine, I discussed the debt ceiling and the government shutdown that spanned December 22, 2018 to January 2019. Now, less than three years later, we face the prospect of another shutdown. The national debt ceiling was recently increased by approximately $450 billion, which prevented a shutdown in