Paulitical Economy™

By Paul Musson

A snapshot of what’s going on in the world’s economy.

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FAQs about Paulitical Economy™:

How many episodes does Paulitical Economy™ have?

The podcast currently has 38 episodes available.

Paulitical Economy™ episodes:

February 24, 2026Post 356: 35 Years of Easy Money and the Generational Wealth Divide
A Wall Street Journal article looks at how older Americans are significantly wealthier than the next generation.
Spoiler alert, it’s a result of bad policy.
As cocoa bean prices soared, chocolate consumption fell.
Now it’s the bean prices that are falling and government imposed minimum prices are causing an inventory glut.
Amazon sales continue to soar.
Especially in web services.
Inflation in the US continues to fall: Disinflation.
But beef prices continue to soar.
Core inflation numbers in Canada also fell.
But food prices are getting out of control.
We take our first look at Dallas-Based Wing Stop.
Sales were extremely strong until early last year and now they are falling at an accelerating rate.
Meanwhile, McDonald’s has turned things around with its value offerings.
After eight quarters of significant sales declines, Deere Corporation has really turned things around with two quarters of accelerating sales growth.
And its share price continues to grow much faster than its sales.
In Financial Ructions:
Financial conditions have been accommodative since 1991.
Yes, it’s the Fed.
In our Book Review section:
We start reviewing a new book.
False Dawn by George Selgin
The book is about the impact that Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies had on economic recovery.
In chapter 1 Selgin starts by telling us it was the first major downturn that the government attempted to fix: First Hoover and then Roosevelt.
PM: In my opinion, it’s not a coincidence that it ended up being the deepest and longest downturn in American history.
In chapter 2 we see that the New Deal was not in FDR’s mind during the election campaign of 1932.
And FDR even criticized Hoover for his reckless government spending.
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34min
February 17, 2026Post 355: Gold, Housing, Jobs & Debt: What the Data Is Really Telling Us And What It Isn’t
Eddie Bauer: Another retailer is going by the wayside.
And a look back.
For Canadians who file for insolvency, on average they owe money to over 10 different lenders.
The Chart of the Century shows car prices in Canada going down 15% over a nine-year period.
When in fact they actually increased 23%
US jobs numbers are once again revised downwards.
And Canada continues to struggle.
Vancouver and Toronto lead the North American housing affordability crisis charts.
A look at how high wages have grown much faster than lower wages.
This wasn’t always the case.
Toys:
Mattel sales are still rising but the company is having to discount to move product.
Hot Wheels accounted for most of the growth.
Hasbro sales are booming in large part because, unlike Mattel, they pivoted to a “digital first” strategy including gaming.
Wizards and Digital Gaming was up +86%.
Sugar prices are plummeting.
But it’s probably not because of weight-loss drugs like Wegovy.
At least not yet.
In Financial Ructions:
He’s back: The Reuters main stream economics journalist.
And a few corrections.
And what could drive the second phase of the gold bull market.
In our book review section, we finish our review of the great book by John B. Taylor.
Taylor says that the great economic harm caused by the GFC was a result of “a series of unpredictable government actions and interventions with little or no basis in economic theory.”
With the Fed keeping short-term rates at basement levels for so long it started to impact long-term interest rates.
An unwillingness to admit what the issues were, and their own role in the debacle, delayed the Fed from doing the right thing.
And he finishes off saying that policy should be based on the way things are and not the way we wish them to be.
Ah men.
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46min
February 10, 2026Post 354: Higher Prices Without Higher Value: From Pepsi to Housing
Pepsi has had 14 straight quarters of declining volume.
Management springs into action.
Despite beef prices rising more than 30% over the last two years, Tyson is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in its beef division.
A look at the main causes of housing affordability crises.
Spoiler alert, it’s distorted interest rates.
Weight loss drug Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk’s share price is losing weight faster than its customers.
Troubling signs in the U.S. job market.
Layoffs way up and hiring plans way down.
And Peloton’s share price is also shedding weight faster than its customers.
In Financial Ructions:
Interest on credit card balances is much higher than it was back in the 1990s.
Despite today’s prime rate being lower.
There’s a lot more fluidity in the U.S. job market than the headline numbers would indicate.
And significantly more fluid than that of Europe.
And how to depoliticize the Fed.
In our book review section, we continue with John B. Taylor’s Getting Off Track:
In Chapter 2 we see that the rise in short-term rates in 2007/2008 were not due to concerns about liquidity, but instead it was a solvency crisis.
And in Chapter 3, Taylor says that it wasn’t the failure of Lehman Brothers that sent markets into panic.
But a poorly communicated rescue plan i.e. TARP.
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39min
February 02, 2026Post 353: A New Fed Chair and an Old Problem: Money, Markets, and Division
Politics in the U.S. is significantly more divided than back in the 1950s/60s.
But the country is not divided because of the politics.
The politics is divided because of monetary policy.
Dick’s Sporting Goods continues to have impressive sales growth.
They have bought Foot Locker which had been struggling for some time.
French luxury goods company LVMH is still experiencing weak sales growth.
Particularly in wine and spirits.
Nike finally halts its sales declines.
And growing strongly in the U.S.
In Financial Ructions:
The big and important news is that Kevin Warsh has been nominated as the next Fed Chair.
I quote extensively from a recent op-ed and from three of my previous posts.
How the Canadian government suppresses mortgage rates, contributing to the housing affordability crisis.
Investment in the private sector in the U.S. has been declining.
Primarily due to the Federal Reserve and the financialization of the U.S. economy.
The 60 day delinquency rate on subprime auto loans is hitting all-time highs:
Yes, higher than the GFC.
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38min
January 27, 2026Post 352: How Central Banks Create Fake Wealth, Redistribute Real Wealth and Cause Economic Stagnation
Uber is experiencing uber sales and profit growth.
By charging more and giving less.
Pubs in the U.K. are banning some politicians from their establishments.
It’s a tax revolt.
Ranking airlines:
Southwest in the U.S. has improved.
But U.S. airlines score poorly on a global basis.
Inflation in the U.S. remains firmly above the Fed’s arbitrarily set 2% confiscation rate.
Coffee still soaring and eggs coming back down to earth.
Knight Swift is one of America’s largest trucking companies.
Sales were weak in 2024, turned positive in 2025 but have again turned negative.
And a look back.
The return of the establishment hacks.
Politically motivated economic commentaries, by both sides, simply deflect from reality.
And hinder the public’s ability to demand the right actions from our government.
Which I suppose is the whole point.
In Financial Ructions:
We see the bond vigilantes relentlessly holding Japan accountable.
And now even Germany.
Amazon lost almost half a billion dollars on the bankruptcy filing of Saks Global.
Equal to around six and a half hours of sales for Amazon.
Being willing to pay more for American products to save American jobs, while noble, still hurts American workers.
And we see that manufacturing jobs in America decreased primarily due to advances in technology.
In our book review section, we finish our review of Depression, War and Cold War by Robert Higgs.
We see the tried and tested strategy used by policymakers to distract from their gross mismanagement of the economy i.e. find a common enemy.
And how some policymakers not only attempt to keep knowledge out of public view, but also try to shape what that knowledge is.
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35min
January 19, 2026Post 351: The Fake Wealth Effect that Leads to a Divided Society
Delta Airlines passenger revenue growth is barely in positive territory.
But falling fast in economy class.
Walmart takes to the air.
In less than two years drones will be delivering to over 40 million Walmart customers.
Saks Global files for bankruptcy protection.
A look at the evolution of Canada’s housing affordability crisis.
The Bank of Canada first handed the baton to municipal and then federal governments but took it back after COVID.
Consumer products company Helen of Troy sales have accelerated downwards.
Its share price is down 93% since its peak in 2021.
But has still grown at an average annual rate of 9% over the last 40 years.
In Financial Ructions
U.S. job numbers remain relatively weak.
Yet, over the last two months, jobs in the private sector are growing strongly.
And government jobs have been declining.
A look at a report that says we are only at the beginning of a gold bull market.
In our book review of Depression, War and Cold War by Robert Higgs:
Further proof that the high real GDP numbers during World War II did not represent economic prosperity.
And that low real GDP numbers immediately after the war did not signal consumer hardship.
Although real GDP declined in 1946, in terms of the growth in private investment, it was a year unmatched in U.S. economic history.
But mainstream economists still point to war time boom and postwar contraction in an attempt to falsely validate Keynesian economics.
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40min
January 12, 2026Post 350: Mortgage Debt of the Next Generation is Funding the Baby Boomers’ Retirement
A look at how pension plans compare between the Canadian private and public sectors.
Car prices in the U.S. and Canada have soared.
And no, it’s not because of tariffs.
Macy’s seems to be turning around its business.
And more evidence of the Special K phenomenon.
But not all luxury companies are benefiting, and Saks Global may be filing for bankruptcy protection.
And we take a look back.
Continuing our luxury theme, we look at stats for the most expensive homes sold in the U.S. in 2025.
And a cool video of Larry Ellison’s house in Florida that includes a PGA standard par three golf hole.
The growth in spending of the bottom 10% of income earners since 2021 in the U.S. has not kept pace with inflation.
In other words, it’s been falling in real terms.
Not so for the top 10%.
In Financial Ructions:
We see how the U.S. government concurrently put in place two new housing policies which will have opposite effects on the housing affordability crisis.
A report shows that tariffs can actually serve to reduce inflation.
Unfortunately it’s due to tariffs slowing the economy and increasing unemployment.
We continue our book review of Depression, War and Cold War by Robert Higgs.
We see the hazards of using traditional measures of economic prosperity in a command and control economy.
And while World War II was not a time of economic prosperity, it did serve to do away with the pessimistic expectations that had become ingrained during the Great Depression.
And did set the stage for booming prosperity once the war ended.
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36min
January 05, 2026Post 349: Mortgage Burdened Youth and the Illusion of Prosperity
The price of weight-loss drugs is plummeting.
Used luxury watches are a multibillion dollar business.
And so are fakes.
TV watching via streaming has taken over.
And YouTube leads the way.
The percentage of American homeowners with a mortgage has been declining.
But is due to a generational divide with the next generation’s monumental mortgage debt funding the retirement of mortgage-free Boomers.
Audiobooks are becoming increasingly popular.
A look at housing supply and how the US, Canada, the UK and Australia rank far below Italy and France.
Cue housing affordability crisis.
In Financial Ructions
U.S. corporate bankruptcies are the highest in 15 years.
Higher interest rates are slowly squeezing the economy.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the U.S. has been above 6% for three years.
And the spread vs. the 10-Year Treasury yield jumped higher the last few years.
That’s what happens when the Fed stops buying trillions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities.
We start a new book review: Depression, War and Cold War by Robert Higgs.
We see that no, the U.S. economy did not thrive during World War II
And how it was the threat to property rights and the resulting plummeting of private investment that prolonged the Great Depression.
It was only once the war ended and the government drastically cut spending that the economy took off.
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37min
December 30, 2025Post 348: Artificial Wealth and the Enduring Allure of Easy Economics
Electric vehicle demand is a fraction of what auto manufacturers thought it would be.
But government involvement helped to distort expectations.
Ford takes a huge write-down.
Coty is a leading cosmetics/fragrance company founded in Paris.
Its sales are falling, but not as fast as its share price.
And we take a look back at this interesting business.
Do you know what a flacon is?
We revisit how Social Security is heading for insolvency in eight years unless changes are made.
And how back in 1983 Washington managed to put aside their differences and temporarily fix the program.
Because they had no choice.
In Financial Ructions
We take another look at the GENIUS act.
And how it could be setting the stage for another massive taxpayer-funded bailout.
We also look at how artificially driving stock market higher via passive investing or artificially low interest rates harms economic prosperity.
And we wrap up our book review of Where Keynes Went Wrong by Hunter Lewis.
We look at the irresistible allure of Keynesian sophistry.
And how today’s economic mess is the result of decades of widespread willingness and desire by many well-intended politicians and much of the populace to believe that the easy way out is the right way.
Keynes unwittingly provided the intellectual cover for this to happen.
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40min
December 23, 2025Post 347: Christmas Music, In-Flight Miracles and Monetary Delusion
Christmas with Andy Williams and the murder trial of his ex-wife.
The US restaurant industry is seeing negative foot traffic.
This is what happens when inflation drives dining costs through the roof.
However, after a rough patch in late 2024, Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants continues to generate decent sales growth.
A quick, closer look at Costco Travel.
And great deals on car rentals too.
And some people will shamelessly do anything to jump the queue.
US headline inflation ticked down but is still above the Fed’s arbitrarily set 2% confiscation rate.
However, due to the government shutdown there are questions about the veracity of the data.
Canada’s inflation rate remains steady in its own arbitrarily set confiscation range.
Although core measures, while still elevated are the lowest since March of last year.
And rental accommodation in some cities is down significantly.
Welfare fraud in America is costing hundreds of billions of dollars.
Such that many on welfare live better than most middle-class Americans.
In Financial Ructions:
Japan has the highest debt to GDP of any developed economy.
And now interest rates are rising as 35 years of interest rate and price discovery distortion come home to roost.
And in our book review of Where Keynes Went Wrong by Hunter Lewis.
We look at Keynes’s barbarous relic and see that the gold exchange standard that contributed to the Great Depression was not the classical gold standard.
And how Keynes, with his enormous intellect, deliberately sought to confuse and intimidate critics into silence.
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45min

FAQs about Paulitical Economy™:

How many episodes does Paulitical Economy™ have?

The podcast currently has 38 episodes available.