By Robert Romano Deflation? No, not footballs. In this case, a growing number of economic observers are becoming concerned about falling prices, in the Eurozone, the Pacific, and elsewhere — and what it means for the global economy. In the 1930s, falling prices were a scourge. Assets […]

By Robert Romano With the radical left party Syriza taking power in Greece — winning 36 percent of the vote and 149 out of 300 seats in the Greek parliament — speculation has begun anew on whether Greece will leave the Eurozone as the sovereign debt crisis there roils on. Call them Occupy Athens. But, as it turns out, the victory was not […]

By Robert Romano “Slow rise in consumer prices may stymie the Fed.” So reports the New York Times’ Binyamin Appelbaum on January 16 , responding to a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing another drop in consumer prices for the second month in a row. Prices dropped 0.4 percent in December, led primarily by a 9.4 percent drop in gasoline and a 7.8 percent […]

By Don Todd Walmart is the nation’s largest private employer.  It is a non-union business.  It may surprise many than the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union has no interest in organizing Walmart employees. Who says so?  They do. This, despite the fact that UFCW has […]

By Don Todd Both the United Food and Commercial Workers ( UFCW ) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are strong proponents of raising the minimum wage.  For instance on July 18, 2012, Mary Kay Henry the President of SEIU emailed her members the following: “Together with organizations like the National […]

By Robert Romano Slower growth, flattening wages, bottoming interest rates, lower inflation expectations, less borrowing, and slowing job creation have all become staples of Allianz chief economic adviser Mohamed El-Erian’s oft-quoted “new normal.” El-Erian’s “new normal” hypothesis in 2009, when he was still with Pimco, anticipated “coming out […]

By Rick Manning In many ways, the economy is better going into 2015 than it was a year ago, but in many others, the trend lines are troubling at best. The labor participation rate is at lows not seen since Jimmy Carter was president in the late […]

By Robert Romano The Disability Insurance Trust Fund is set to run out of funds in 2016 according to the Social Security Trustees , having lost $113.1 billion since 2009 alone. One might think the shortfall has come about due to the two-year payroll tax holiday that was enacted in 2010. However, little reported has been the fact the holiday was completely offset by reimbursements from […]

By Robert Romano “Somehow, Senate Republicans in their push to reclaim the majority in 2014 failed to inform voters of their apparent intention to raise taxes on gasoline by 12 cents, a 65 percent increase from the current 18.4 cent federal gas tax.” That was Americans for […]