What I'm Reading Disconnect: COVID-19 has broken the longstanding connection between wage growth and employment levels. Typically, the rise in wages currently seen would have us at near full employment but that has not yet happened. Full Stack Economics Dispersed: Co-working companies are making big bets on the suburbs, including...
October 25th – Standoff
What I'm Reading Standoff: Stimulus programs over the past two administrations, coupled with enhanced unemployment and rising asset values have left American balance sheets in better shape than ever. They have also given workers the flexibility to hold out en masse for higher wages, contributing to today's labor shortage. (h/t...
October 12th – Held Back
What I'm Reading Trailing Indicator: Soaring home prices mean that more appraisals are coming in below contractual sales prices, causing deals to collapse. The fact that it often takes a couple of months to close these transactions means that comps, which appraisers rely heavily upon, tend to lag. While painful...
October 4th – No Takers
What I'm Reading No Takers: Spurred on by the Biden Administration, the Port of Long Beach began offering a pilot program offering 24-hour container operations over two weeks ago. To date, not a single trucker has taken advantage of it. The reason? Burdensome requirements (of course). Wall Street Journal On...
August 25th – Back to the Future
What I'm Reading Back to the Future: With investors craving yield, Wall Street firms are once again diving into the private-label mortgage market, originating and packaging loans outside of the GSE framework. Despite the recent surge in volume, private level securitizations still make up a mere 4% of the market. ...
August 5th – Overreach
What I'm Reading Overreach: The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a new, targeted federal eviction ban to replace the one that expired over the weekend despite recently admitting that it had no legal standing to do so thanks to an earlier Supreme Court decision. Politico What strikes me as particularly...