NFIB Small Business Optimism – A Few Comments

On April 13, the NFIB put out a notable press release. Although the entire press release is worth reading, here are some notable excerpts: “The March reading is very low and headed in the wrong direction,” said Bill Dunkelberg, NFIB chief economist. “Something isn’t sitting well with small business owners. Poor sales and uncertainty continue …

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Tax Increases – Cumulative Impact

It strongly appears as if many taxes will increase at all levels (Federal, State, Local) in the near future. We, as a nation, are in a quandary as taxation needs to increase if we hope to narrow deficits and debt; yet at the same time the adverse economic effects of these increases may be large, …

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BusinessWeek Article: “The Case For More Stimulus”

The April 19 BusinessWeek has a story titled “The Case for More Stimulus,” along with this interesting accompanying chart (pdf), “Stimulus That Makes a Difference.” Of course, those familiar with this blog know that I tend to disagree with this type of article on various fronts. One question (among many) that supporters of further stimulus …

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Food Stamps

I came upon some statistics with regard to food stamps.  The program is called “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” or SNAP. The figures are impressively large, unfortunately.  As well, the growth rates are brisk. Here is a table showing the Number of People Participating; as of January the figure is 39,430,724 up 22.4% from year-ago levels. …

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Asset Bubble Speech By William C. Dudley

Yesterday William C. Dudley, President and CEO of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, gave a speech titled “Asset Bubbles and the Implications for Central Bank Policy.” Although there are many parts of this speech with which I disagree, I found this speech noteworthy and interesting. I could make exhaustive comments about many parts …

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The Threat Of Rising Interest Rates

As seen on the following 10-year daily chart, the 10-Year Treasury Yield has been rising as of late: chart courtesy of StockCharts.com There is very little general expectation for a significant rise in interest rates.  In fact, the average economist forecast (as seen for the March 2010 Wall Street Journal Economist Survey) for the 10-Year …

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Productivity – A Few Comments

Over the years, the topic of productivity has often been mentioned. I’ve had thoughts on the matter for years.  An example is this “Letter To The Editor” I wrote concerning a BusinessWeek story back in 1995 (3rd letter down). Here is a March 31 Washington Post story on productivity. As the article says, “One of …

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Stock Market Capitalization As A % Of GDP

Recent statistics indicate that the stock market capitalization as a percentage of GDP appears to again be over 100%. This is an elevated level from a historical perspective. I’ve written of this metric before in an article titled “Does Warren Buffett’s Market Metric Still Apply?” I feel that for many reasons this is an important …

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Consumer Metrics Institute Charts

Pursuant to the last post, here are some charts from The Consumer Metrics Institute that I find noteworthy: As I indicated in the last post, I plan on including updated information from The Consumer Metrics Institute in my frequent updates of economic indicators… back to <home> SPX at 1170.51 as this post is written

The Consumer Metrics Institute

In the previous blog post I wrote of the issues and implications regarding the current economic growth rate. There are a variety of sources and methods one may use in trying to gauge current and future economic growth.  In this blog I frequently highlight and discuss many I feel are prominent and/or noteworthy.  However, I …

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