October 04, 2018
Yeah, you know, that big boom in investment that was supposed to lead to a surge in productivity growth. Higher productivity was then going to give us all a big pay increase — 10 percent above baseline after four years.
Anyhow, for those keeping score, the investment boom seems to still be hiding. The Commerce Department’s latest report shows that new orders for capital goods (excluding aircraft) are up just 6.3 percent in August from the year-ago level. Comparing the first eight months of 2018 with the first eight months of 2017, the gain is 7.6 percent. It is 6.9 percent if we include aircraft.
Those are respectable increases, but not very different from anyone’s pre-tax cut baseline. They certainly are not the sort of figures that will generate the promised productivity boom and wage growth.
Comments