From The Hill:
If you’re looking at the CBO for accuracy, you’re looking in the wrong place,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday.
Wisconsin Benchmarked Employment through January: Flat since April
Today, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development released establishment data benchmarked to data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages through September of 2016. Briefly, Wisconsin employment continues to lag the Nation, and its neighbor Minnesota.
National Security and Trade Deficits
National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro writes in the WSJ:
The national-security argument that trade deficits matter begins with this accounting identity: Any deficit in the current account caused by imbalanced trade must be offset by a surplus in the capital account, meaning foreign investment in the U.S.
“GOP Economist Concerned Data Quality May Be Hurt Under Trump”
That’s the title of an article in Bloomberg yesterday.
“I remain concerned, particularly in an environment where you’re talking about cutting the budget, that a victim in that exercise could be the production of good data,” Glenn Hubbard, who served as chairman of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2001 to 2003, said Monday in Washington.
Kansas Employment Decline Continues
I know this is exactly the same title as this December post, but it still applies. The comparison to its neighbor Missouri throws in sharp relief the enormity of the Kansas catastrophe.
Econbrowser Preservation of Government Records: Environmental Edition
As the Administration contemplates deep cuts to scientific data acquisition, and deleting or restricting public access data sets, I thought it useful to post the global temperature anomaly data, accessible as of today, before it disappears.
Do You Feel Lucky?
The Administration rolled out a new trade strategy yesterday (The President’s 2017 Trade Policy Agenda, part of this document). Like many things the Administration has put forward, it is heavy on rhetoric, light on policy specifics. That being said, if the Administration pursues a trade agenda that invites trade retaliation, while implementation of stimulative macro policies (e.g., infrastructure investment, tax cuts) are delayed, then we may very well get an economic slowdown before a boom.
Personally, I Prefer the Term “Asian”
Not an economics post, but I cannot resist.
What If China Gave Mr. Trump What He Says He Wants: A Stronger Chinese Currency
Well, given the trilemma, and limits to capital control efficacy, it’ll mean more PBoC decumulation of US Treasurys, and holding all else constant, higher long term interest rates.
Guest Contribution: “Identifying State-Level Recessions”
Today we are pleased to present a guest contribution written by Jason Brown, Senior Economist and Regional Executive at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. This post is based on the article by the same title. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City or the Federal Reserve System.