Update 854 – February Core PCE Up 2.8%; Increase from 2.7% Gain in January Data released this morning shows that the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation remains sticky above its target of two percent. Meanwhile, GDP growth for the fourth quarter of last year was revised up slightly. The new data comes as the Trump administration’s …
Update 841 — Much Ado about Tariffs:For Border Security or Optical Illusion? Donald Trump pulled the North American economy away from a gratuitous self-imposed mutually-assured disaster this week — for the time being — averting a trade war that would have threatened key American industrial sectors, supply chain dislocation, unemployment, and inflation for the sake …
Update 840 — Week of Chaos, Confusion; GDP Growth Slows in 4th Quarter 2024 The country was plunged this week into a frenzy of chaos and confusion amid the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again freeze on federal grants and loans spending. The broad and vague memo released by the OMB Monday was rescinded on Wednesday but …
Update 838 — Trump’s Barrage of EOsInvite Legal Challenge; Many Infeasible Immediately following his presidential inaugural on Monday, Donald Trump signed dozens of Executive Orders this week, many with drastic economic and fiscal implications, including several drawing legal challenges and others that may simply be infeasible without Congressional funding that Democrats may be able to …
Update 837 — Key Nomination Hearings,CPI Report, CTC Bill Lead Week Roundup This week, Trump’s nominees for Treasury Secretary, HUD Secretary, and OMB Director faced pointed questioning by Democratic Senators ahead of coming confirmation votes by the committees of jurisdiction and the full Senate. The three nominees addressed a broad range of economic issues with …
Update 837: Nomination Hearings Lead Week’s Roundup Read More »
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 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 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, …
Update 820 — All but Tied: Polls in Bell Lap;Global Leaders Worry About Trump Tariffs The final New York Times/Siena poll of the 2024 election cycle published yesterday shows, for the first time, a flat-footed tie at 48 percent each for presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. In all of the seven battleground states …
Update 773 — Supplemental’s Status, Roundup of Week’s Other Developments It isn’t the express train but the long-lingering local that the $95 billion international assistance package, originally requested by the administration over six months ago, is riding en route to the finish line in Congress. Once enacted, the White House will sign and herald most …
