ECON 2020 Extra Credit

November 3rd Update for 11/12:  News reports are that the House will vote on re-opening the federal government around 7 pm eastern time. It is expected to pass, and Trump has indicated he will sign it. Note that this continues the problematic payments to health insurers through the end of January. That gives them about 11 weeks to sort out their differences. Update for 11/11:  The Senate voted 60-40 to end the shutdown late on Monday evening. The bill they voted on now goes to the House. Many of the Representatives are still out of town (being around your district at election time to make appearances with candidates for other offices), but they are expected to vote by the end of the week. No guarantee it will pass, but that vote only needs to be a majority rather than a supermajority. As explained in other parts below, they can fund some or all of the government. They funded parts of the government through the end of the fiscal year, and the rest of it through January 30th. Ye...

October 27 I was hugely amused by this editorial entitled " Getting Used to 3% Inflation " from  The Wall Street Journal . I didn't see it until this weekend (and it may have actually been published before class on Friday). But it says essentially the same things that I did about Friday's inflation numbers.   Is “three” the new “two?” ...  No one in Washington seems bothered that this remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target. ... The White House press office hailed this as an anti-inflation triumph. There’s always some excuse or explanation that politicians and Wall Street offer to say this is no big deal. ...  But at some point you have to admit all these add up to a persistent inflation problem. ...  ... It’s obvious now that Chairman   Jerome Powell ’s declaration of mission-accomplished in September 2024 was premature when he began the Fed’s interest-rate cuts this cycle. ...  ... Yet the Fed seems poised for another 25-bas...