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5 days ago | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Hayley Brown |Algernon Austin
Many of us have been following the inflation data closely for evidence of Trump’s tariffs. Along with most other economists I have been somewhat surprised that we haven’t seen more evidence to date. One thing we can say based on the evidence, is that exporters are not eating the tariffs, as Trump promised. The data on import prices, which do not include the tariffs paid on goods, shows non-fuel import prices rose in both April and May.
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1 week ago | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Algernon Austin
The Republicans, together with a number of corrupt Democrats, seem likely to get their crypto bill through the Senate. Perhaps this handout to the rich and sleazy can’t be stopped but we should at least be clear about what is going on. Crypto has been around for close to two decades. Despite the grand promises of the early proselytizers, no one has come up with a clear case for its use other than for facilitating illegal transactions.
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3 weeks ago | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Sylvia A. Allegretto |Algernon Austin
Donald Trump’s campaign promise to make overtime pay tax-free seems to have left Democrats looking like deer caught in the headlights. It looks like a pro-worker measure, even though it is bad from many perspectives. It actually should not be hard for progressives to think their way out of this one. It just requires going back to the original rationale for the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1937, which set the length of the normal workweek at 40 hours.
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1 month ago | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Algernon Austin
No one ever accused Donald Trump of knowing much about the economy. That fact comes through loud and clear in his tax cut proposals. In addition to his big tax cuts for corporations and rich people, Trump also pushed his “populist” tax cuts. These were exempting tips, Social Security, and overtime pay from taxes, and also making the interest on auto loans tax deductible.
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1 month ago | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Algernon Austin |Hayley Brown
There has been much reporting this week on the harm that will be done to many low and moderate-income families from Republican plans to cut benefits in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Republican plans seem to center largely on creating bureaucratic obstacles that will make it more difficult for many families to claim and keep benefits. These plans, if allowed to go into effect, will mean serious hardship for tens of millions of families over the next decade.
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Mar 12, 2025 | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Jordan Billings |Dean Baker |Algernon Austin
By the Trump administration’s haphazard design, the federal government is in chaos. Federal workers are being fired without cause or due process, most of them recent hires and many working jobs not easily found – if found at all – in the private sector. Those losing their jobs are being told that they have failed to show that their employment would be in the public interest. The effects are widespread.
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Mar 10, 2025 | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Algernon Austin |Jordan Billings
The overall CPI rose 0.5 percent in January, while the core rose 0.4 percent. This put the year-over-year increases at 3.0 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. The overall CPI outpaced the core because both food and energy inflation were faster than core inflation. The index for store-bought food rose 0.5 percent in January, a sharp increase from the rate of inflation in prior months. Over the year to January, food prices rose just 1.9 percent.
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Mar 7, 2025 | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Algernon Austin |Jordan Billings
The health care sector added 52,000 jobs in February, accounting for more than one-third of employment growth in the month. This figure was in line with most expectations and indicates that federal layoffs and contract cancellations have not yet had a substantial impact on overall employment growth. However, it is worth noting that a drop in hours in January, which was thought to be related to weather and the Los Angeles fires, was not reversed in the February data.
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Mar 4, 2025 | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Algernon Austin |Jordan Billings
The February employment report is the first of the Trump administration. While we are not likely to pick up much of the effect of the DOGE cuts, we should see some impact. Remember, the reference period is the week/pay period that includes the 12th. This is before most of the firings went into effect, and there was no noticeable uptick in the unemployment insurance claims at that point (although we did see an uptick later in the month). However, we are likely to see an effect on the hiring side.
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Feb 24, 2025 | 
cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Algernon Austin
When thinking of what Elon Musk and his DOGE gang are doing it is worth remembering that the crypto coin DOGE was started as a joke. Elon Musk seems to be going back to these roots with his DOGE gang running around trying to dismantle government agencies. To put a couple points on the table: Making government more efficient is certainly a worthwhile goal. We spend $7 trillion a year, surely there is some waste that can be eliminated.
