In an interesting paper, four economists show that regulation is greater in societies where people do not trust one another.  The accompanying graph, for example, shows that societies with a greater level of distrust have stronger minimum wage laws. 

A few weeks back, the Tax Policy Center estimated that the alternative minimum tax would largely squelch the tax cuts President Obama had proposed for upper-middle-income Americans. It’s not just these tax cuts, either, that the alternative minimum tax would wipe out.

Collections of personal income taxes, which on average account for 36 percent of total taxes collected by states, are down 26 percent in the first four months of the year, according to Rockefeller Institute of Government. Above are the states with the largest declines.

How many companies on the Fortune 500 list were founded during a recession? It turns out that well over half of the companies on the 2009 list started during a recession or bear market. The composition of the companies on the Fortune list is rather dynamic, but even more importantly, startups have been enormously important in terms of job... More

The two charts graph the CPI for today and 1929-30.

Half empty or half full? You decide.

The Countrywide Foreclosure Blog reports that there are currently 7,017 foreclosed homes being offered for sale on the Bank of America/Countrywide website, down from the peak of 21,500 last November, and back to levels of April 2007.

Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans say the rest of the new government spending authorized in the $787-billion economic stimulus plan should now be canceled. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 36% disagree and 20% are not sure.

Education pays in higher earnings and lower unemployment rates, say 2008 annual data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The following graph shows the average cancellation rates for some selected homebuilders that I've been tracking. Click on graph for larger image in new window.There appears to be a seasonal pattern (fewer cancellations in Q1), but most of the builders are reporting the lowest cancellation rates since the bubble burst.

Fed data show that the recession probability peaked during the October 2007 to April 2008 period at around 35-40%, and has been declining since then in almost every month.For May 2009, the recession probability is only 1.54% and by May 2010 the recession probability is only .17%, the lowest level since June 2005.

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This is the latest monthly update tracking the current bear market vs. 1929 - 1932. The big question is whether the current bear market ended in March?

A year ago these job numbers would have been treated with horror. Now some commentators are welcoming the latest job loss numbers.