The Unemployment rate for May just dropped to a historically low 3.8%, its lowest since 1969! This is great news, or is it? The business cycle phenomenon is an interesting short run economic proposition that posits that modern economies go through bouts of growth and stagnation explainable by alternative theories. Real GDP grows positively over some time period hits a peak in economic activity and then starts to experience negative growth, hits a trough, and repeats. What is

The jobs report for January has been released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the labor market continues to reflect the ongoing economic boom as we begin 2018. Unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% while 200,000 jobs were added to the economy. Another important statistic showed a historic rise - wage growth accelerated to its fastest year on year pace since June 2009. This is good news and lends credence to the narrative of the US economy operating at full employment

The US House of Representatives passed in November the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” bill and the Senate followed with its own version shortly after Thanksgiving. Both bills intend to provide comprehensive tax reform and are premised on meeting three objectives: Reduce Taxes on Americans and American businesses in general. Simplify the tax code simple so that most filers can file it as easily as on a postcard. Grow the economy through the underlying economics of job growth through

The US House of Representatives passed in November the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” bill and the Senate followed with its own version shortly after Thanksgiving. Both bills purport comprehensive tax reform and are premised on meeting three objectives: Reduce Taxes on the middle class and on Americans and American businesses in general. Make the tax code simple enough so that most filers can file it on a postcard. Grow the economy through the underlying economics of job growth thro

When talking about Tax Reform it is trite to put forward the ideal, and while this is often good in helping clarify our thinking about the issues and the "what ifs" in a perfect world, we economists often get caught up in that world and mistake it every so often for the real world. We forget our origins that we came from a philosophy of thought that was originally meshed with political reality. So while today we watch as Congress mulls over the prospect of what bill will come

The Trump Administration seeks to reform tax policy by making it simple, easy to file, and less of a tax burden on the middle class. The House has recently passed a Tax reform bill and Senate is set to attempt to pass the one that cleared the Finance Committee this week. The three important questions I ask are: 1. What is the true cost of tax reform? 2. Do the bills in their current form achieve the intended objective on face value? 3. What exactly does economics project will