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 41 episodes available.

Paulitical Economy™ episodes:

November 03, 2025Post 339: From Keynes to Krispy Kreme: The Economics of Unsustainable Indulgence
A look at social security in the US.
It will be insolvent within ten years in large part because deductions from payroll to pay for social security are consumed rather than invested.
Krispy Kreme is experiencing consumer demand that is softer than their donuts.
And a look back.
Sales for Gucci and Yves St. Laurent are less bad.
And they sign a new deal with L’Oreal.
L’Oreal continues to grow its like-for-like sales.
And has been a solid long-term investment.
Nestle announces thousands of layoffs.
And their coffee sales pale in comparison to Fed money printing.
Over the last five years Coca-Cola has increased prices over 50%.
Unsurprisingly, concentrate sales are falling.
Target also announced layoffs.
Sales of essentials are falling while their largest category, food, is just above water.
In Financial Ructions:
US business bankruptcy filings are now above pre-COVID levels.
Auto loans and mortgages moving into serious delinquency are rising.
While credit card delinquencies remain at an elevated level.
A look at the impact investors have on home prices in the US.
And the percentage of homes bought by first-time home buyers is at a historic low.
A quick look at how baby boomers have benefited from the system.
And who is being told to pay for it.
We start a new book in our book review section.
Where Keynes Went Wrong: And Why World Governments Keep Creating Inflation, Bubbles and Busts by Hunter Lewis: 2009
Keynes’s economic doctrine was highly influenced by his ideology.
That is, economics as he wanted it to be rather than what it actually is.
And economists are no longer “custodians of the future.”
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50min
October 23, 2025Post 338: Pepsi and governments lower the volume with further confirmation of our Special K economy
Cheap funding has been the main cause of housing affordability crises.
After two quarters of negative sales growth, luxury group LVMH creeps into positive territory.
And after only one quarter of negative sales growth, Domino’s soars into positive growth territory.
Amazing what happens when you improve your customer value proposition.
Pepsi’s volume has declined for thirteen straight quarters.
And prices continue to rise.
London’s black cabs are increasingly under threat.
And a look back.
Sales growth returns to Delta.
But still the K-Shaped economy.
In Financial Ructions:
Yes, higher government spending results in lower economic growth.
A look at France.
And a look at Japan and how soaring debt to GDP ratios are inversely correlated with real wages.
Despite quantitative tightening, the Fed has been increasing its holding of securities with maturities longer than ten years.
We finish our book review of Taxes Have Consequences:
Fed Chair Volcker’s restricting the money supply, combined with tax cuts set the stage for almost two decades of stellar economic growth
The Keynesian multiplier theory ignores the negative multiplier impact on the private side.
As well as ignoring the negative impacts of the substitution effect.
The authors believe that the optimal tax rate on the Laffer curve is in the sub-20% range.
Whatever it is, it’s a lot lower than the current tax rate here in Canada.
Thus our disastrous record on investment and productivity.
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38min
October 14, 2025Post 337: More Beer, Less Bubbles: When Policymakers Toast Fake Growth
Beer maker Constellation Brands’ sales and share price are going down faster than its beer.
US office vacancy rate ticked down from last year.
But is still over 25% in some Western cities.
When you buy a home the government assumes you’re paying rent to yourself and they add it to GDP making the economy look much stronger than it really is.
Particularly if there’s a housing bubble.
Another reason policymakers like to drive housing price higher.
Mercedes Benz sales have been falling for some time.
And a look back.
In Financial Ructions:
We look at an apologist for central banks.
Who believes that government debt to GDP over 100% is nothing to worry about.
PM: Spoiler alert: It is.
There may be a new prime minister in Japan and some are likening her to the next Margaret Thatcher: Uh, no.
And gargantuan levels of government debt have sapped economic growth over the last 35 years.
One of the original architects of rampant investment in the unproductive housing sector in Canada, now says we need more productive investment.
Better late than never I suppose.
A journalist claims that the stock market is one of the best economic indicators.
No, it’s an indicator of spending through the wealth effect.
It no longer says much about the underlying health of the economy.
A sociologist is right about the cracks in our economic system.
But wrong with respect to how they got there.
In our book review of Taxes Have Consequences:
President Kennedy distances himself away from the New Deal doctrine of the Depression era 1930s.
In 1932, local taxes were four times higher than federal taxes.
Not anymore.
Keynes cautions against high taxation.
From 1966 to 1974 the S&P 500 fell approximately 60% in real terms.
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43min
October 06, 2025Post 336: “Truckloads, Tax Loads, and the Working-Class Squeeze”
PACCAR is one of the leading truck manufacturers in the U.S.
A look back.
New truck deliveries are down 13.5% from pre-COVID
J.B. Hunt is one of America’s largest trucking companies and its sales growth has finally nudged into positive territory.
And no, supply chain bottlenecks did not cause the inflation of 2022.
UPS sales growth in the US returns to negative territory.
But Fedex’s sales accelerate.
Mortgages in Canada are renewing at much higher rates.
Inflation has a much greater impact on the working class.
And their real earnings are falling.
Car sales jumped temporarily as buyers rushed to beat the expiring EV tax credit.
In Financial Ructions
Canada is heading for a budgetary crisis.
And total government debt to GDP is over 100%.
No, A.I. should not prevent corporate profitability from mean reverting.
In our book review of Taxes Have Consequences:
We see why the US economy soared after the war rather than collapse like many Keynesians predicted it would.
Spoiler alert: it was because of less government.
And the 1950s was all that it was cracked up to be.
High taxation had returned and individuals and corporations spent more of their energy avoiding taxes than growing the economy.
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36min
September 30, 2025Post 335: Paycheck to Paycheck, Kellogg’s, and a Dressing Down of the Federal Reserve
Two thirds of American workers are now living paycheck to paycheck.
And job prospects are the lowest in at least 12 years.
Kellogg’s has had a long history and the company split into two separate businesses a couple of years ago.
Now both of those businesses will be taken over by private companies.
Sales for both are very weak.
Lennar is one of America’s largest home builders.
Its home prices are now down over 20% from peak.
And down from pre-COVID.
Core inflation in Canada remains elevated.
In Financial Ructions:
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pens a particularly scathing article about the US Federal Reserve.
And I agree with virtually all of it.
Canada’s monetary base exploded higher during COVID and we’re still paying the consequences.
Deficits do matter:
As Japan is now finding out.
Reverse repo is now drained.
And will no longer be a source of liquidity for the market.
In our book review of Taxes Have Consequences:
We see that local and state governments were the worst tax perpetrators during the Great Depression.
And the authors expose the myth of the Keynesian multiplier.
And how consumers did not benefit from soaring GDP during World War II.
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51min
September 23, 2025Post 334: Coffee, Airlines, and Lululemon: Signals of Strain
Tariffs are sending coffee prices soaring.
A tax for American consumers with no benefit.
Delta Airlines passenger revenue growth has been grinder lower for the last couple of years and is now flat:
And now falling in economy class for two straight quarters.
Lululemon has not grown comparable store sales in the US for a year and a half.
And sales are accelerating downwards.
The Canadian government has wisely scrapped next year’s quotas for new cars that must be low emission.
Future targets may also face the chopping block.
Conagra’s share price comes back down to earth (yes that’s a joke: see below re: name origin).
And the share price is back to where it was in 1996.
And we take a look back at 1996.
General Mills has grown volume in only one of the last sixteen quarters.
And it’s reflected in its share price.
A Wall Street Journal survey shows that the American dream is slipping away.
And readers of Paulitical Economy will know why that is.
In Financial Ructions:
The trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the US (in alphabetical order: see below) is scheduled to be reviewed in less than a year.
A quick look at potential paths forward.
An article in the FT pushes for a 2% annual wealth tax on billionaires.
I have a better idea.
In our book review of Taxes Have Consequences:
The authors walk us through the Great Depression step by step highlighting how various tax acts tanked the economy.
And we look at what caused the Roosevelt Depression of 1937.
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46min
September 16, 2025Post 333: From Heinz to Smucker: Prices Up, Demand Down, Spin Up
We start by taking a look back at Heinz.
And two decisions that ended their long-term relationship with McDonald’s.
Healthcare costs for Canadian boomers are being subsidised by the next generation.
As well as their retirement.
Headline consumer price inflation in the US ticks up in August and core inflation remains elevated.
And it was mainly due to services i.e. not tariffs.
Headline wholesale inflation fell.
But core wholesale inflation was the highest in five months.
J.M. Smucker posted their latest results.
And no, their sales results are not due to strong consumer demand.
In Financial Ructions:
Another huge jobs number is revised lower.The US recession may have started over a year ago.
The price of gold is soaring and 10-year returns from record-high prices have not been good in the past.
Why this time might be different; or not.
We take a look at Quantitative Easing and why it does not result in higher 10-year Treasury yields.
In our book review of Taxes Have Consequences:
We see more evidence of lower tax rates resulting in greater tax revenue for the government.
And how the US government ran a budget surplus right through the Roaring Twenties.
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t a coincidence.
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43min
September 08, 2025Post 332: Kraft Heinz Splits, Canada Drowns in Debt, Jobs Scarce — and Central Banks Sparked the Housing Crisis
After seven straight quarters of sales declines, and fourteen quarters of declining volume, Kraft Heinz has announced that they will split up the company.
The merger of the two companies back in 2016 has been a disaster.
And we take a look back.
Canadians are falling behind on their debt payments.
Home prices in Canada have outpaced those in the US.
It’s primarily due to money supply growth and low interest rates.
And Canadian politicians benefited more from this than the average Canadian.
The Bank of England confirms that it was responsible for the UK’s housing affordability crisis.
Auto loans in the US are increasing in length.
This adds considerably to the amount of interest paid on the life of the loan.
And particularly for those with poor credit scores.
In Financial Ructions:
The US jobs situation is worsening in numbers and in quality.
Government and part-time jobs up.
Private industry and full-time jobs down.
The Canadian economy is bleeding jobs.
Unemployment is reaching levels not seen in 9 years.
The Canadian government is considering relaxing some bank capital requirements.
This is a bad idea.
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45min
September 01, 2025Post 331: The World Works… Until Debt Takes Over
49% of the homes sold in the US this year were under the price of $400,000
Up from 43% in 2023.
Shooting deaths in New York City are at an all-time low.
But shooting up is still a problem.
Headline inflation in Canada excluding energy seems to be stabilising.
But core inflation remains elevated.
Canada’s income gap hits a record.
The top 40% account for 66% of after-tax income.
And 86% of net worth.
Financial Ructions:
Margin debt is at a record but short selling can impact this.
And yes, the absolute number does matter.
Another look at how the US stock market is very expensive.
The recovery rate so far on Chinese offshore property bonds is less than 1%.
We finish our review of the book The Way the World Works by Jude Wanniski.
We look at why emerging economies followed developed economies in adopting Keynesian economics.
Resulting in an explosion of global debt which both Adam Smith and Karl Marx warned about.
And he reminds us that production must come before consumption.
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31min
August 25, 2025Post 330
The Ford F-Series of pickup trucks have constantly been in the top six of cars sold going back to the 1960s.
Pickup trucks now account for four of the top six.
In the 2010s Japanese cars accounted for four of the top six.
After experiencing two straight years of declining sales, Home Depot seems to be turning things around: slowly.
Amazon continues its strong sales growth.
Advertising and web services leading the way.
And are now offering same-day delivery for groceries.
Deere Corporation sales continue to fall.
And its share price continues to soar.
The cost of renting an apartment in Canada has gone through the roof over the last 15 years.
And is significantly higher (adjusted for inflation) than it was in past decades.
In Financial Ructions:
Stock market values are very high.
10 and 20-year stock market returns have been very low or negative from these elevated levels.
Reverse Repo is almost gone and will no longer be adding liquidity to the market.
Foreigners’ purchases of Canadian federal bonds are down 85% this year.
Probably getting increasingly nervous about rumours of even more debt-fueled government spending.
And no, government spending does not grow the economy.
Japanese long-term bond yields continue to climb.
In our book review of The Way the World Works we look at:
How governments responded to higher inflation by raising taxes:
Worst of both worlds for taxpayers.
And how fallacious economic doctrine made things considerably worse in the 1970s.
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45min

FAQs about Paulitical Economy™:

How many episodes does Paulitical Economy™ have?

The podcast currently has 41 episodes available.