2 thoughts -

1) April consumer credit is way up, the highest since Nov, and a total surprise to everyone who should know. Nov is right before Christmas, so that is naturally a high spot. What happens in April?  Read more 

Looks like the Corrente Collective is on an economics kick today, so here’s mine. Stirling Newberry has a terrific post over at TPM Cafe today which he calls “If You Hate The Boom You Are Going to Positively Loathe The Recession.” Have you been wondering why “the economy” is allegedly so great on paper when it is steadily getting worse in your personal pocketbook? Listen my children and you shall hear:

Inflation, to the extent that a government benefits from it, is a kind of tax. Americans have been trained to point the shotgun of their vote squarely at their own foot on the tax issue. They have been trained to hate visible taxes like the income tax, and love stealth taxes. Inflation is a stealth tax, in that you can’t tell who is collecting it, how it falls on people, or what its overall effects are. It simply eats away at your living standard and savings, and the benefits flow to those who have the power to spend that taxed standard of living.  Read more