Are we moving to a world with 5 or 6 companies controlling whatever and however we read, see, drive, eat and wear? It seems that way and the government hasn’t worried yet about monopolies. Read the full story in The New York Times
Kari Firestone was on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning to talk about how Aureus feels about the economy as we move through 2017. Watch the full video on CNBC’s website
This article, recently posted in The Upshot section of The New York Times, discusses the worldwide glut of oil, steel, and workers and the implications this glut has on inflation. Inflation expectations in recent months have come back down since the election surge. Read the full article in The New York Times
Kari recently wrote a piece for CNBC about the recent divergence between “soft” data (economic surveys and sentiment indicators) and “hard” data (actual economic data points like jobs numbers and the unemployment rate). The data tells two different stories. Read the full article on CNBC.com
The benefits to pro-business policies result from coordinated and thoughtful design and implementation, not just intent. Read the full article in The Wall Street Journal
By Greg Ip As expected, some price pressure from higher wages and commodities is starting to increase inflation. Not such a bad thing if companies can pass on some cost increases. Read the full article in The Wall Street Journal
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM The Fed needs to tread carefully before pushing up rates and Yellen has a solid argument for her case. Read the full article in The New York Times
If US middle class income rose 5% in 2015, will we see an impact in retail and other spending soon or is the excess going to housing, healthcare and phone/cable bills? American GDP growth depends on consumers so we’ll find out the answer soon. Read the full article in The Washington Post here.