By Jeff Ferry, CPA Chief Economist In his recent article, How Not to Restore American Industry, commentator David P. Goldman criticizes the Baldwin-Hawley bill, also known as the Competitive Dollar for Jobs and Prosperity Act, which was introduced into the Senate earlier this month. The bill would provide the Federal Reserve Bank with a third…
Editors note: Michele Nash-Hoff Michele is a CPA member, as well as founder and president of ElectroFab Sales, a sales agency specializing in helping manufacturers select the right processes for their products since 1985. On July 22, 2019, the Coalition for a Prosperous America released an update to their study on the effects of increasing tariffs…
Editor’s note. The world is coming around to industrial strategy. As usual, CPA was ahead of the trend with our national competitiveness strategy four years ago. https://www.prosperousamerica.org/a_competitiveness_strategy_for_the_united_states Many Republicans and Democrats agree: Governments should intervene to help the industries and technologies of the future. [Julius Krein | August 20, 2019 | NY Times] Just a few…
Article: Strong/misaligned dollar hurts corporate earnings and commodity prices. Me: Exchange rate mgmt to achieve and maintain current account balancing dollar price needed for realignment and economic/jobs growth in real economy. [Ira Iosebashvili | August 18, 2019 | WSJ] The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of six major currencies, stands…
Editor’s note: Secretary Wilbur Ross identifies an important and optimistic economic data point. Worker compensation as a share of company costs has hit the highest level since 2009. There is a significant body of evidence showing that the U.S. economy is strong. The U.S. economy has added millions of jobs, and even long-neglected sectors like…
Editor’s note: Matt Klein of Barrons doubles down in supporting the Baldwin/Hawley market access charge bill that CPA helped generate. In last week’s column I discussed an intriguing idea to have the Federal Reserve move the U.S. current account into balance by levying a “market access charge” on foreign purchases of American assets. Some…
Editor’s note: CPA’s work on the Baldwin/Hawley exchange rate management bill is recognized in the Financial Times. The novelty of an interventionist approach gains cross-party traction on Capitol Hill [Brendan Greeley | August 19, 2019 | Financial Times] Washington is beginning to sidle away from its two-decade consensus in favour of a strong dollar. Donald Trump’s…
Editors’ note: Very important interview. Key points. Mohammed El–Erian, chief economic advisor to Alliance, says the financial economy is overexposed to the world as we deglobalize. But the US real economy is, relative to finance, insulated from the rest of the world. El–Erian makes these points at the beginning of the 7 minute clip. 1. US consumer…
Editor’s note: Reshoring to the United States from China continues. A U.S. cabinet maker will move its production to Lancaster County from China and establish its headquarters in a former Duracell building in that county. [Ken Elkins | August 15, 2019 | Biz Journals] Adornus Cabinetry, which makes stylish frameless cabinets and other products for…
Editors note: Anyone who believes Huawei is a legitimate player on the world stage is uninformed. Employees embedded with cybersecurity forces in Uganda and Zambia intercepted encrypted communications and used cell data to track opponents, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation [Joe Parkinson, Nicholas Bariyo and Josh Chin | August 15, 2019 | WSJ] KAMPALA, Uganda—Huawei…