President Trump recently announced “the greatest deal in the history of the U.S.,” the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). He is promoting it as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that had been in place since 1994 and that Trump had called “a really bad deal.” Putting aside Trump’s recurring penchant for extreme…
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The Pew Research Center just released an interesting report on the state of the American middle-class. In 2016 (the latest data available) about 52% of American adults lived in middle-class households. This represents a turnaround in this important demographic group. Previously its size had been steadily declining since 1971 when it was over 60%. If…
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You’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measure of inflation. Considering that this metric is the fundamental driver of government programs ranging from the setting of short-term interest rates to Social Security’s cost of living increases, its importance in our lives cannot be overstated.…
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Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s top economic advisor, announced that “the deficit… is coming down, and it’s coming down rapidly” in an interview on the Fox Business Network two weeks ago. He was on the show to promote the positive effects of the tax reduction law that was signed late last year. Unfortunately, his statement was…
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