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Stop Tricking Us, Kid Tells McDonald’s CEO

Morning Business Memo… A 9 year-old girl has chewed out the top executive at McDonald’s for “tricking kids into eating your food.” The rare confrontation happened as CEO Don Thompson answered shareholders’ questions at the fast food company’s annual meeting in Oak Brook, Ill., Thursday....

Amenity Value

Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, otherwise known as Dr. Beach, is a coastal scientist and professor at Florida International University who evaluates 650 public beaches along the U.S. coasts and creates a Top 10 list every year. His report is based on 50 criteria that include sand softness, rip currents, pollution,...

Martin Feldstein, then and now

Here’s Martin Feldstein in 2011: Until the fourth quarter of last year, the US economic recovery that began in the summer of 2009 was decidedly anemic. Annual GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2010 averaged only about 2.6% – and most of that was just inventory building. Without the inventory investment, the growth [...]

It’s even worse than Yglesias believes

Here’s Matt Yglesias: Ben Bernanke’s appearances before Congress are usually a parade of clueless questions, but Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota just asked him a great one. Noting that some members of Congress think the Fed should drop its dual mandate on inflation and unemployment and just focus on price stability, she asked Bernanke to [...]

It's a "Trade" Pact not "Free-Trade" Pact

I've always been told that newspapers are pressed for space and like to eliminate any unnecessary wording. Why then do they insist on calling trade pacts, like the proposed deal between the European Union and the United States "free-trade"...Show More Summary

Zero fiscal multiplier: Example # 213

From today’s news: The marked improvement in the labor market since the U.S. central bank began its third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, has added an edge to calls by some policy hawks to dial down the stimulus. The roughly 50 percent jump in monthly job creation since the program began has even won [...]

Why Aren't We Hearing Stories About Doctor Shortages in the Immigration Debate?

That's what readers of Uwe Reinhardt's blogpost on doctor's pay are probably asking. Reinhart shows the pay for doctors by speciality, which makes everyone look pretty well paid in my book. The median in several of the higher paying specialities is over $500,000 a year. Show More Summary

Mexico and China

I wrote this a while ago and probably shouldn’t post it. “Not scientific.”  But I will anyway.  Don’t have time for anything new. During the week of turmoil in Boston, I was on vacation in the Yucatan.  It was slightly surreal watching CNN and seeing the police stake out an area just a mile from [...]

Links 5/24/13

The Fed Has Painted Itself in a Corner

I welcome readers telling me I've missed something, but looking at the Fed's problem from 50,000 feet, it appears that the the monetary authority appears to have set boundary conditions for its QE exit that it can't meet.

Another Look at Bernanke's Employment Recovery in Chart Form

Reader Tim Wallace took note of Bernanke's testimony on jobs (see Bernanke's Semi-Annual Tap-Dance of Distortions, Half-truths, Lies, and Hypocrisy to U.S. Congress) and sent me the following chart. April Employment vs. April Employment...Show More Summary

Paul Krugman: Japan the Model

If Abenomics works, it could help to overcome the "economic defeatism" that has overtaken policymakers in the US and other countries: Japan the Model, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: A generation ago, Japan was widely admired — and feared...

Fed Watch: More Fed - It Never Ends

Tim Duy: More Fed - It Never Ends, by Tim Duy: Bloomberg is carrying an interview with San Francisco President John Williams. Williams reiterates the possibility that future policy moves may be up or down: “Even if we do adjust...

Your Humble Blogger Appears on RT’s Truthseeker

We discuss how outsourcing and offshoring are more about transferring income from low-level workers to middle and senior level managers than cost savings.

Coase on a Plane: My Answer

(May 24, 2013 01:44 AM, by Art Carden) Thanks to everyone who offered excellent comments on my last post. Most people were thinking about it the way I do. To recap, here were the questions I someday want to ask on an exam or in a job interview:... (0 COMMENTS)

Wolf Richter: Government By Eurocrats: The Olive-Oil Dispenser Debacle

Yves here. This post illustrates a chief reason why regulation has become a bad word.

France Private Sector Implosion Continues

Here's some news that caught my eye earlier today when I was on the road: The Markit Flash France PMI® shows French private sector output continues to fall at marked rate in May. Key points: Flash France Composite Output Index unchanged...Show More Summary

A World of Debt

Asian nations are amassing debt, according to an article in today's Journal, but the whole world has boosted borrowing in the past decade.

Friday: Durable Goods (and a comment on housing driving the recovery)

Several people have asked me about this article at CNBC by Jeff Cox: Why Housing Won't Drive the Recovery Despite data points that in some cases are at multiyear highs, Robert Shiller, Karl Case and David Blitzer believe there are multiple...Show More Summary

Column: Revenge of the markets – James Saft

By James Saft (Reuters) – For months, markets have been dancing to central bankers’ tune, but that may now be changing. It must have been fun to be a central banker in the early part of 2013: You say “jump” and Mr. Market says “how high?” That seems to have ended rather abruptly in the [...]