Archive for May 2018

The government argues consumers will be hurt by an AT&T/Time Warner merger because competition will decline as AT&T will exercise monopoly control over content such as HBO, CNN, Turner, etc. Is the government kidding? Almost half of Americans get their news from social media, online platforms like Google and Facebook are already dangerous monopolies, and…

Despite being on its heels for ages, inflation is strengthening. Y-o-Y economy-wide inflation ticked up to 1.85% in 18Q1, a hairsbreadth away from its four-year peak of 1.96% registered in 17Q1. In addition, it’s meaningfully declined only once since 15Q3. Relatedly, total Y-o-Y employee compensation, which includes wages, salaries, and benefits, grew at 2.7% in…