The Last of the Baby Boomers Are Turning 65, And…
Between now and 2030, nearly 30 million Americans born between 1959 and 1964 will turn 65, the tail end of the Baby Boom generation. As the largest cohort on record to reach retirement age, they are often called the “peak boomers.” In a new study supported by the Alliance for Lifetime Income, my co-author Luke Stuttgen and I found that… Continue reading
Conventional Wisdom is Wrong: Americans Are Better Off Even AFTER…
According to conventional wisdom, inflation has left most Americans poorer. It’s an odd view, given that the number of people with jobs jumped by 4.7 percent in 2021, and the economy grew by 5.7 percent after inflation. It was the U.S. economy’s best performance in decades. If people are poorer, why did household spending jump by 8.8 percent in 2021,…Continue reading
Americans Should Celebrate the Best Jobs Market in Generations
Last Sunday on Meet the Press, James Carville offered Democrats good advice: “Quit being a whiny party and get out there and tell people what you did … the exact truth.” On the vital issue of jobs, they should be cheering, because the Biden administration has helped create and sustain a remarkable employment boom. When it comes to what’s been…Continue reading
It’s a Biden Boom—and No One Has Noticed Yet
If the current high levels of economic, job, and income growth continue, the 2020 midterms could look different than most are predicting. While many people are uncomfortable communicating bad news, Democrats have a problem these days talking about good news, especially on the economy. Based on the data, President Biden and the Democratic Congress are set to preside over the…Continue reading
Why Your Mail Now Comes So Late
The frustrating deterioration in on-time mail delivery has become part of the ugly partisan brawls that animate Washington these days. From the left, many see it as part of a plot by Donald Trump and his hand-picked Postmaster General to depress mail-in voting by sabotaging the postal system. On the right, many view the U.S. Postal Service as a prime…Continue reading
Post-Pandemic, a Strong Expansion Needs Less Personal Saving or More…
For two generations, economists and other custodians of financial propriety have chastised Americans for not saving enough. Getting the public to pay attention took a pandemic. Facing a real possibility that COVID-19 and the resulting economic havoc might leave them unable to pay their mortgages and feed their families, moderate- and middle-income Americans began saving as much as they could—and…Continue reading
$900 Billion in COVID Spending for Everyone Is Just What…
Both progressives and conservatives criticized the three major COVID-19 relief laws enacted over the last 12 months for giving away too much of their $4.85 trillion in new spending, tax credits and sweetheart loans to businesses or city and state governments that don’t need the help. While attracting fewer complaints, the three relief Acts—the CARES Act of March 2020, the…Continue reading
What’s Really Going on with GameStop
The investors’ struggle over the videogame retailer GameStop has been cast as David versus Goliath story. Allegedly, this is the tale of scrappy, small online day traders buying shares of a beleaguered company to thwart a hedge fund scheme to take it down. Like GameStop’s stock, this narrative is mostly speculation, because the facts about the buyers and sellers and…Continue reading
Biden Opts for Growth and Equity While Republicans Whine
Congressional Republicans who eagerly supported massive increases in the budget deficit under Donald Trump have been quick to resuscitate their deficit concerns so they can denounce President Joseph Biden’s $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan.” In the words of Florida Senator Rick Scott, the plan is just “massive spending … with no accountability.” So, let us apply another dormant standard to…Continue reading