Below the Layer Newsletter

05/14/2021

Will higher wages bring back labor force participants? | Did Liz Cheney gain from losing her leadership position? | Is Musk trying to save the planet with his Bitcoin announcement, or something else?

Check out the new issue. Have a good weekend!

The old joke is that you have to wait until tomorrow for an economist to explain why he was wrong yesterday about today. In the meantime, both parties are piling into the uncertainty and framing the results to fit their respective talking points.   The Democrats are saying there are not enoug...

04/30/2021

New Issue Today.
Semiconductor shortages cause widespread supply issues. Big Tech companies crush earnings. SCOTUS looks at free speech.

Have a Great Weekend!

"It has hit makers of home appliances, heavy-equipment, servers and s*x toys. It is confounding multinationals to startups. Even companies that don’t use chips as their core business, such as freight operators and retailers, find themselves affected. The scarcity means higher price tags for consum...

04/23/2021

New Issue Out. Covering the murky world of carbon offsets; an upcoming decision by Facebook to reinstate Donald Trump; the latest tax proposal on a Capital Gains. Enjoy and have a great weekend.

04/09/2021

The Week in One Hundred Words:

MLB moves All-Star game from Atlanta. Driver rams car into Capitol barricade, killing one. Representative Gaetz (R-FL) investigated for s*x trafficking. Trump campaign quietly set up recurring donations. Stanford wins women's NCAA title. Baylor dismantles Gonzaga to win men's title. Texas Rangers, full stadium. Retail stock traders take a breather. NY state raises taxes. India suffers second wave. Brazil mourns 4,000 deaths/day. Senate parliamentarian green-lights additional budget reconciliation. Beijing unveils digital currency. US government passes on vaccine passports. Brazilian variant grips Canada. Michigan cases surge. Astra-Zeneca linked to blood clots. MacBook/iPad and GM car production delayed amid chip shortages. Prince Philip dies. Amazon fends off union.

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Now he’s campaigning to be the mayor of New York City. But why would anyone who doesn't live in NYC (even a die hard Yang-ganger) care? Here are three quick reasons to keep an eye on this race: 1. New York City is recognized as America’s City, emblematic of the American Dream and an epice...

04/02/2021

Come for the Week in 100 Words, stay for the pithy sarcasm layered onto objective analysis. Get your weekly "give me just the facts" run down. Exploring: Voting laws in Georgia, the effort to unionize Amazon, and the feasibility of vaccine passports. Have a great weekend! Send me your thoughts and feedback!

Unemployment Rate: 6% Feb 🔥 (-0.2%MoM) (High 14.7% Apr) Labor Force Participation: 61.5% (0.1% MoM) (Low 60.3% in Apr) (63.2% Nov 19) Source: BLS | Updated: As of 2 Apr (Released Monthly) Purchasing Managers Index: 64.7 (6.41% MoM) 🔥 (>50 indicates economic expansion) Source: Moody's ...

03/26/2021

It’s Spring, baseball is almost here, NCAA tournament is crazy, and there’s a giant ship sideways in the Suez Canal. Also, it’s Friday and there’s a new issue out. Enjoy and have a great weekend. Like and share this post with your friends.

Unemployment Rate: 6.2% Feb (-0.1% MoM) (High 14.7% Apr) Labor Force Participation: 61.4% (0.0% MoM) (Low 60.3% in Apr) (63.2% Nov 19) Source: BLS | Updated: As of 5 Mar (Released Monthly) Purchasing Managers Index: 60.8 (3.58% MoM) (>50 indicates economic expansion) Source: Moody's | Updated: Mar...

03/19/2021

New issue out! If you want a break from watching your bracket get busted or minted, then get caught up on the past week below. Looking at Immigration of Unaccompanied Minors, Improvements in Education, and (ugh, boring) Taxes. Sign up to receive in your email. Have a great weekend.

You Gotta Build Bridges to Build Bridges President Biden's next major political hurdle will be an infrastructure bill. As the annual deficit looks to set records, the tenor on increasing revenue through taxes is picking up. The early plan appears to be a combination infrastructure bill with budg...

03/12/2021

You better grab a drink and sit down, we’ve got some things to discuss. Click below for the latest issue and have a great weekend everyone!

Something to think about: The New York Times wrote an article this week about how digital creators and influencers are seeking new opportunities to monetize nearly every aspect of their life. Imagine mass influencers on platforms like Instagram or OnlyFans leveraging an NFT market to sell phot...

03/05/2021

Looks like "Netflix and Chill" turned into "Netflix and Sleep" in 2020. Check out the latest issue and get caught up the past week from recent baby bust to stock market trends to where the kids are getting the hottest sneakers. Send to your friends if you want, but definitely have a great weekend!

Something to think about: If you believe all of that, then why are rates rising? To finance the upcoming stimulus bill, the Treasury is about to flood bond markets with billions of debt. Someone has to buy that debt.

02/26/2021

If you need a break from either the great chicken sandwich debate of 2021 or trading Meme Stocks, check out the latest issue and get caught up on the news. Have a great weekend!

Something to think about: The United States has yet to construct a long-term storage facility for nuclear waste and as a result, most spent fuel rods reside in temporary storage at power facilities. Possible solutions are re-enriching/recycling the fuel (dangerous), designing reactors to reuse spen...

02/19/2021

Come for the "week in 100 words," stay for the puns. New issue out. Get caught up before the weekend and share with your friends. This week we look at:

-How did the Texas power crisis happen and what does it mean going forward?

-For school districts that are still closed, what will it take to get kids back in person?

-Is there a shadow inventory of homes facing foreclosure that are being carried along by the Mortgage Forebearance program?

02/12/2021

You could keep doom-scrolling memes or click below, laugh, and get caught up, then go back to the memes. Come for the puns and witty commentary, stay for the facts. It’s Friday and there’s a new issue out. Click below to read and subscribe.

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