Post 364: Government Policy Works Well on Crime, Not So Much On Markets

• The rate of crime in the US has fallen significantly.
  • Homicide rate the lowest since the year 1900.
• Spirit Airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection: for the second time.
  • Government meddling is making a bad situation worse.
    • And a look back.
• UPS and Fedex are going in different directions in terms of their package volumes. 
  • It’s because of Amazon.
• The quality of life in Canada is improving from very low levels and now ranks 26th: 21 points lower than in 2013
  • Netherlands is number one.
    • Italy number forty.
• Procter & Gamble has reduced its prices in real terms (after inflation) for two years.
  • Sales and volume have both responded positively.
• Pepsi increased prices by the lowest amount in years.
  • And for the first time in over three years   volume didn’t decline.
    • It didn’t grow either but at least it’s a start.
• Rising oil prices are hitting inflation in Canada.
  • But core inflation ticked down a bit.
• In Financial Ructions:
  • An IMF report says that Canada suffers from “longstanding structural issues.”
    • PM: One of them being out of control government spending and an explosion of debt.
• Book Review:
  • In the next two chapters of False Dawn by George Selgin we see that:
    • There were a number of contributing factors to the Roosevelt Recession of 1937.
    • And that New Deal policies were anything but Keynesian.