This article explores the concept of the Great Decoupling, or the supposed discrepancy between increased labor productivity and higher worker wages. Prior to 1970, increases in labor productivity translated into wage increases, just as economic theory dictates. However, it appears that since the 1970s, wages have barely increased or have increased much slower than productivity. What is the reason for this?
Inflation is skyrocketing in practically the entire world. Central banks are getting scared and beginning to announce the end of expansionary measures, also known as tapering.
Why do central banks find themselves in a dilemma? Why has inflation risen so much? What is a bottleneck? What does tapering mean, and how could it affect us? The objective of this article is to answer these, and other, questions.
More and more economists and finance specialists are warning of the potential arrival of a new “Minsky moment.” The last time this term was used with such conviction was in 2008 at the onset of the Great Recession. It seems that 2021–22 could have some parallels with the world’s last severe recession.
In the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA), savings are established as the difference between disposable money income and monetary outlays. Disposable income is defined as the summation of all personal money income less tax payments to the government. Personal income includes wages and salaries, transfer payments, income from interest and dividends, and rental income.
After more than a decade of subdued consumer price inflation despite gigantic monetary and fiscal stimuli, last year’s surge in consumer prices took most central banks by surprise. First, they tried to dismiss it as “transitory” and caused by pandemic-related supply bottlenecks.
On November 15, 2021, the Austrian government ordered a lockdown for the unvaccinated. This drastic step occurred after citing low vaccination rates and the goal to decrease the risk of transmission by unvaccinated people. Just a few days after the vaccination mandate, the Austrian government ordered a full lockdown for everyone, vaccinated and unvaccinated.
With Associate Justice Stephen Breyer’s impending retirement from the Supreme Court, President Biden jumped at the chance to deliver on his 2020 pledge to nominate its first Female Black Justice. And he defended the seeming affirmative action pick by saying “The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity.
The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future
by Stephen Marche
Avid Readers Press, 2022; 238 pp.
With the approval of Biden’s infrastructure bill, it now turns out the US government is even in control of a “kill switch” that could disable your car if you are deemed “impaired.” Likely few voters realized the 2020 election was essentially a referendum on whether or not the feds allow you to drive your car.
