With a remit of keeping inflation at 2%…. Halving inflation is the top item on Sunak’s wish list below. Of course his personal target of halving inflation should be a sure fire winner as the prices of same period in the previous year end up gradually nearer to those of ‘today’ – the inflation has... Read more
economics
It seems reasonable to hope that a successful explanation of wage rigidity would contribute to understanding the extent of the welfare loss associated with unemployment and what can be done to reduce it … Many theories of wage rigidity and unemployment include partial answers to these questions as part of their assumptions, so that the […]
The Little Secret About Corporate Profits
Have you noticed that when workers get better wages, the media blames them for rising prices, but when corporations rake in record profits, there’s silence?
That’s because corporate profits aren’t tracked nearly as closely as worker wages. And the reason why comes down to power.
Every month we get measurements of prices, jobs, and wages — these are the three economic variables we hear repeatedly because they are released each month like clockwork.
Economics today has — as we all know — become a “the model is the message” discipline. But as long as it does not seriously argue and assess the compatibility of those models and their real-world target systems, the belief that those models in any essential way enhance our possibilities to understand or explain what […]
I have argued that in order for a mathematical modeling exercise to illuminate its target the following two conditions must be met:(1*) the objects under investigation must plausibly be stable, modular, and quantitative, with no qualitative differences among instantiations of each type; and (2*) the relations between them must be fixed and law-like throughout the […]
The Truth Behind “Self-Made” Billionaires
Why do we glorify “self-made” billionaires?
Well, being “self-made” is a seductive idea —it suggests that anybody can get to the top if they’re willing to work hard enough. It’s what the American Dream is all about.
If Kylie Jenner can become a “self-made” billionaire at age 21, so can you and I!
Even as wages stay stagnant and wealth inequality grows, it’s a comfort to think that we’re all simply one cosmetics company and some elbow grease away from fortune.
The Fed’s Inflation Mistake Continues
The Federal Reserve has been hellbent on raising interest rates to slow the economy. It’s a huge mistake.
You know who bears most of the pain of these rate hikes?
Most of the pain is borne by people who are already struggling to keep up with rising prices: lower-wage workers and the poor.
While the Fed has signaled that its interest rate increases might not be as drastic moving forward, the important thing to remember is that these hikes already fail to address a major driver of inflation — powerful corporations that are ratcheting up prices to pad their profit margins.
Apologies – the recent period of inactivity is caused by a period for me – of what the Americans would call ‘off grid’. For those that follow, the unfortunate details are that my mother, a widow, died at the respectably young age of 102¾… Having informed British Gas, they told me to do nothing (by... Read more
I was rather intrigued by the understanding of The Western Traffic Commissioner’s decision not to fine Stagecoach South West for their utter incompetence in running a bus service. He says (and I’m quoting directly): Without having made a decision, I remarked to the operator that this appeared not to be a case where a formal... Read more
Is riddled with the inconsistency that is the hallmark of this so-called government. We have train fares going up by ‘only’ 5.9% in March – less than the the usual ‘in line with inflation’ increase because actual inflation would dictate a rise of double that. So we have rail workers offered a 4% pay increase... Read more