What we’re reading (8/10)
“Cooler July Inflation Opens Door To Fed Pause On Rates” (Wall Street Journal). “The consumer-price index, a measure of goods and services prices across the economy, rose a mild 0.2% in July, the same as in June, the Labor Department said Thursday. Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy categories, also increased just 0.2% in both months, extending a broader slowdown in price pressures.”
“A Trillion In Credit Card Debt Doesn’t Mean Consumers Are Tapped” (Fisher Investments). “Nothing attracts eyeballs like a big round number, and headlines sure made hay with one this week: Credit card balances now top $1 trillion for the first time ever, per a New York Fed report. Unsurprisingly, this raised the alarm about inflation forcing consumers to ratchet up personal debt to keep spending, implying tapped-out consumers will soon pose big economic headwinds. Yet as with all big numbers, it is important to scale and consider context. Do so with credit card debt, and it becomes clear this isn’t a big economic risk that jeopardizes this bull market.”
“How Are You Supposed To Start Investing?” (Vox). Well, here is a non-sequitur if I have ever seen one: “The truth is that many normal people don’t invest in the stock market. Just under 40 percent of American adults haven’t invested any of their money, according to a May Gallup poll — which means that you can live a perfectly normal life without ever purchasing a stock or bond.”
“Why America Is Going Backward: Being The Richest Nation In History Isn’t Enough” (Salon). “[Robert] Gordon says that inventions like electricity, internal combustion engines, central heating and sewage and clean water systems were far more significant than the so-called IT revolution of recent decades. Those things created a virtuous cycle, not only of industrial productivity but health and well-being. Indoor plumbing and general sanitation, he estimates, added more to Americans' lifespans than all the expensive wonder drugs we have today.”
“Goldman Sachs’s C.E.O. Whisperer Takes A Step Back” (DealBook). “The man who has been perhaps the most influential executive inside Goldman Sachs for more than a generation has begun to hand over some of his responsibilities. John Rogers, who over his quarter-century at the Wall Street bank has been known as a board and C.E.O. whisperer, will give his role as chief of staff to Russell Horwitz, his onetime deputy, Andrew and DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch are first to report.”
