Archives: August 2009

Get It Straight: Consumer Spending is *not* 70% of GDP

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 29, Categories: Macro

Ok, now I'm getting aggravated. On the front page of the NYT this morning, Peter Goodman wrote: Given that consumer spending has in recent years accounted for 70 percent of...

One Clap for Bernanke Reappointment

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 26, Categories: The Fed

I'm a bit late to the party here, partly because I don't view Bernanke's reappointment as a particularly important economic event. The central bank did what it was supposed to--when...

Needed: Cash for Clunker Computers

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 19, Categories: Innovation

It warms my tough old economist heart to see the new General Motors bringing back workers and adding overtime in response to the "cash for clunkers" initiative. As Americans get...

End the Fed?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 17, Categories: Financial markets

There I was on Sunday, strolling down the (small) main street of my (small and quiet) suburban town. And when I say quiet, I mean it--the dog days of August,...

Consumer Spending is *Not* 70% of GDP

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 14, Categories: Macro

I opened up this morning's NYT and see the big headline "Retailers See Slowing Sales in a Key Season." And I just know that we are about to have another...

Me and Twitter

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 14, Categories: Blog

Alas, I have succumbed to the twitterness of it all. You can find me on Twitter at @MichaelMandel. I cannot promise how regular I will be, but I'm going to...

A Good News Stat: The Non-Oil Trade Deficit

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 12, Categories: Trade

I've been fairly grumpy this past week, dissing the employment and the productivity stats. But this morning I saw a number that I liked: The non-oil trade deficit, which shrunk...

Productivity: Don't Watch the Latest Number

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 11, Categories: Macro

The second quarter productivity numbers came out today, and they were a mixed bag. On the good side, nonfarm business productivity looked like it jumped at a 6.4% annual rate...

The Lost Decade:GDP

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 07, Categories: Growth

Oh guess what? You won't be surprised at this. The last decade has the slowest economic growth rate in the postwar period. From the second quarter of 1999 to the...

My Portfolio....

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 07, Categories: Investments

Not that anyone cares...but I try to align my portfolio with my views on the economy and the markets. So before the jobs report came out this morning, I shifted...

The Calm before the Storm?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 07, Categories: Labor Market

This morning's jobs report seemed to show a firming-up of the labor market, with the unemployment rate dropping a tad, from 9.5% to 9.4%. Job losses have slowed too, down...

My Take on Healthcare Reform

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 04, Categories: Health

Imagine that you are heading down a path, and there's a brick wall in front of you--10 feet tall by 10 feet wide. The only way you can get to...

Does Executive Comp Cause Big Recessions?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 03, Categories: Financial Crisis

A new academic paper makes a credible argument that stock option contracts for executives can cause excessively large swings in the economy. The paper, which I think is destined to...

Faster Swimsuits:A Counterrevolution against Technological Progress?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on August 03, Categories: Innovation

The point of competitive swimming is to go faster, right? So why ban form-fitting high-tech swimsuits which help competitors go faster? Here's an excerpt from a Newark Star-Ledger piece on...