Sep 172012
 
QE and financial repression

Say what you please about Ben Bernanke’s unconventional monetary policies (quantitative easing, QE for short, and Operation Twist), they’ve been good for the stock market. The first chart shows that stock prices have roughly doubled, give or take a few percentage points, since Dr. Ben launched the first round of [continue reading . . . ]

Sep 112012
 
Boeing backlog, Washington aerospace employment

I’ve just updated Boeing related charts for a presentation on September 13. A couple of things worth noting: Even after adjustment for the loss of Qantas 787 orders last month, Boeing’s backlog in units at the end of August was higher than at the end of March. It hasn’t been [continue reading . . . ]

Sep 042012
 

Fix Medicare, primarily by restricting end-of-life care, as insurance companies do now. Fix Social Security by minor changes to (1) the payroll tax, (2) the benefit formula for high-income beneficiaries and (3) the retirement age. Fix the hopeless hairball that is the U.S. tax code primarily by (1) broadening the [continue reading . . . ]