Update 825 — Lame-Duck Session PreviewEcon. Issues on 118th’s Must-Pass Agenda The 118th Congress may turn out to be one of the least productive ever, but a few precious weeks remain before the books are closed and it can be evaluated. Between now and adjournment late next month, several economic policy must-pass items are on …
Update 835 – 256K Jobs Added in Dec. Too Much of a Good Thing for the Fed? This morning’s Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report that the U.S. added 256,000 jobs and unemployment ticked back down to 4.1 percent in December shows the American economy closing 2024 on a surprisingly strong note. The report — …
Update 834 — Reconciliation and Beyond: Econ. Policy Agenda in Congress, Part 1 The legislative priorities and strategic approach regarding the nation’s major economic policy issues facing the 119th Congress, sworn in last Friday, and the debate around them, are coming into view. Over the next few weeks and months, the GOP majorities in both …
Update 834: Econ. Policy Agenda in Congress, Part 1 Read More »
Update 832 — Fed Again Cuts Rates 25bp.Econ. Expansion Seen Likely to Continue With today’s 25 basis point interest rate cut, no surprise to most observers, the Fed has now brought rates down by a full percent in the last four months. But the inflation dragon has not been slain — recent PCE and CPI …
Update 833 — Continuing Irresolution:Speaker Still ISO Plan to Avert Shutdown Mike Tyson once remarked that boxers have a plan going into every fight — until they get punched in the mouth. Speaker Johnson had a viable, bipartisan plan A this week to keep the government funded through mid-March and avert a shutdown via a …
Update 831 — CPI’s Elusive Soft Landing;FTC Pick Named; FSOC, SEC’s Stalled Out This week’s CPI report for November showed the road back to the Fed’s two percent target inflation rate remains bumpy – but the new data is unlikely to push the Fed to readjust its downward interest rate trajectory – though Donald Trump …
Update 830 — Lame Duck Finish Line: Remaining Business of 118th Congress This morning’s November CPI report, showing overall inflation ticking up to 2.7 percent last month, shows that the steep price increases of the past two years have eased but far less than the Federal Reserve would prefer. The new data comes ahead of the …
Update 829 — Jobs Gains Up Again in November; Crypto Friendly SEC Pick among New Trump Noms. This morning’s jobs report, showing 227,00 jobs added to the economy and unemployment ticking up to 4.2 percent in November, indicates that the labor market remains strong after labor action and extreme weather led to low job gains in …
Update 828 — Musk’s “Delete CFPB” Tweet:Defending Against the Uninformed Attack A set of online comments last week by business figures Mark Andreessen and the heads of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk laid bare the reflexive and uninformed hostility of leading industry supporters of Donald Trump to a government body …
Update 827 — Trump Floats Major Tariff Plan;Bessent is Treasury Pick; DOGE Days Ahead President-elect Trump has now named all of his Cabinet-level nominees — including his pick for Treasury Secretary — as well as choices for other critical economic policy positions, which we cover below. Not among these are Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, …
