At the start of this month, I joined others in predicting that U.S. gasoline prices would soon be below $2.50 a gallon. The price has already dropped 20 cents to $2.60 a gallon since then, and it now appears likely to go down at least another 30 cents from here.
Monthly Archives: September 2006
The July 2006 Trade Release
How surprising?
“Job Creation Continues: More than 5.7 Million Jobs Created Since August 2003” — White House
Following up on Floyd Norris’s article on how slow employment growth has been during the current expansion, as well as numerous other comments on the Web, I examine other dimensions of labor market performance.
Ex post versus ex ante benefit-cost analysis: Iraq 2003-
Now that the long-delayed Senate report on pre-Iraq War intelligence has finally put the Republican imprimatur on the well-established fact that the case for Iraqi WMD’s had been hyped (as well as the absence of a Iraq-al Qaeda link), we can return our attention to a rational benefit-cost assessment for the invasion and subsequent occupation, ex ante as well as (quasi) ex post.
Big Oil takes on a Big Job
Chevron Corporation announced on Tuesday a promising test from a well deep below the Gulf of Mexico, a project in which Devon Energy Corporation and Statoil each also hold 25% interest.
Trade Deficit Watch: 2006q2
Stabilization in the non-oil trade balance arrives. What needs to happen for adjustment to continue without a recession?
House prices still climbing
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) today released its house price indexes for 2006:Q2, which continue to show house prices climbing in all but five states, though with a significantly slower rate of increase than previously.
The labor market and the incipient slowdown
Some other aspects of the employment release in context.
Autos remain weak
Auto sales still a weak spot for the economy, but no big plunge yet.
Gasoline prices coming down
U.S. gasoline prices have been dropping and will likely fall further.