ECONOMICS

Authored by Artis Shepherd via The Mises Institute,

It has become popular, especially in certain fields and among certain crowds, to glorify failure. So-called entrepreneurs and social influencers often brag about their failures. Multinational corporations publish poems encouraging failure. Vapid mottos rejecting the fear of failure are ubiquitous on motivational posters and T-shirts.

These efforts are apparently meant to convey an enterprising spirit and a fearlessness about trying (more…)

Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com,

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) drives markets and motivates policy, but it is nothing but speculation, estimation and wild guesses.

A recent “tweak” to the health insurance CPI reveals the formula is basically a scam.

As I’ve emphasized over and over, the CPI generally understates rising prices. The formula is designed to do so, and in the 1990s, the government made it even worse.

In 1998, the Bureau of Labor (more…)

Led by declines in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) tumbled to -0.49 (below 0 meaning below-trend growth), well below expectations of 0.0 and September's -0.02 print.

Source: Bloomberg

Only 24 of the 85 individual indicators made positive contributions to the CFNAI in October, while 61 made negative contributions.

The overall trend of CFNAI is clear…

Source: Bloomberg

The slump was broad-based with all (more…)