Why the Economy Isn’t working for Anyone but...

Short answer: structural incentives that redistribute income upwards, taking money from the less affluent and siphoning it to the ultra rich. And among those mechanisms, few have more of a negative impact than stock buybacks. Are Stock Buybacks Starving the Economy? From the article: “The new Roosevelt Institute and NELP research examines public firms in three major but notoriously low-wage industries— food production,...

On Interpreting Economic Statistics

The economy grew at an annualized rate of 4.1% last quarter. Why, we haven’t had that level of economic growth since Obama was President (4Q 2011, for those wondering, and also Q4 2009). But the more important question for the average person is not how well “the economy” has been doing, but how this growth has affected him or her. This level of economic growth only tells us that more economic activity is...

Subsidizing Agribusiness while Harming Farmers

Why do people keep repeating that Trump gave an unsolicited $12 billion bailout to “farmers”. Like the regular farm subsidies, you can expect that 75% of that money will go to the top 10% of “farms”. Really it is just a taxpayer giveaway to big agribusiness. And it is the most blatant of political bribes, coming in an election year, wrapped up in mom-and-apple-pie symbolism and papering over a huge...