Monthly Archives: June 2020

Actions Speak Louder Than Words.  Economic Leaders Are Terrified. We Should Be Too.

We are one or two policy errors from something pretty awful.  The massive policy response so far tells us we face a massive threat and a massive risk of a policy error. Maybe it all works out.  But never lose … Continue reading

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The Fed isn’t Saving Us. The $600/Week Unemployment Benefit Is. It Lapses July 31. Does Congress Screw it Up? I Fear They Will.

Next month, Congress risks making an epic policy error.  Will they let the $600 a week unemployment benefit lapse in July? It only require a failure to act.  And politicians are pretty good at failing to act… That extra $600 … Continue reading

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The Bezzle – “an Inventory of Undiscovered Embezzlement.” Is Declining Velocity A Rough Measure?

I’ve been musing about monetary velocity because it points to a possible diagnosis on a that nasty feeling in a lot of guts today.  How much of our current prosperity is built on false hopes?  I’m not the first and … Continue reading

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Diminishing Velocity => Increasing Impotence

Monetary velocity has been steadily declining, with increasing deceleration after every Fed intervention (see chart going back to 1959 here).  That gnaws at me (see prior post here).  Why does it worry me so much? “How did you go bankrupt?” … Continue reading

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“Don’t Fight The Fed” Assumes The Fed Is Actually In The Fight…

The Fed’s recent interventions may have had more moral effect than practical effect. The Fed has huge impact on Keynes’s “Animal Spirits.” But it might be more placebo effect than anything else.  Fed Chair Ben Bernanke made a joke out … Continue reading

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Discretionary Retail Dynamics Will Look Like 1st Class Carriages on The Paris Metro – Less Crowded and More Expensive.

Summary:  Facing a grinding, random virus threat, people will self-regulate to keep crowd density at “comfortable” levels.  Meaning sparse retail traffic.  Meaning anemic economic activity.  Continuing until an effective vaccine has been widely administered (not just invented). The Virus Will … Continue reading

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