Podcast appearances and mentions of John F Early

This mismeasurement of income inequality has given us costly and unjustified policy interventions to boost redistribution. That's the argument from the book coauthored by Cato's John F. Early, The Myth of American Inequality. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join the Hoover Book Club for engaging discussions with leading authors on the hottest policy issues of the day. Hoover scholars explore the latest books that delve into some of the most vexing policy issues facing the United States and the world. Find out what makes these authors tick and how they think we should approach our most difficult challenges. In our latest installment, we will feature a discussion between former Senator Phil Gramm, John Early and John B. Taylor the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution on Senator Gramm's and Mr. Early's latest book The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate co-authored by Robert Ekelund.  ABOUT THE AUTHORS Senator Phil Gramm is an economist by training and has had a long and distinguished career in public service, academia and the private sector. Senator Gramm was the vice chairman of UBS Investment Bank, where he provided strategic economic, political and policy advice to important corporate and institutional clients. He served in the US Congress representing Texas for more than two decades, first as the 6th congressional district representative to the US House of Representatives, then later as senator. His legislative record includes landmark bills like the Gramm-Latta Budget – which reduced federal spending, rebuilt national defense and mandated the Reagan tax cut – and the Gramm-Rudman Act, which placed the first binding constraints on federal spending. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Gramm steered legislation modernizing banking, insurance and securities laws. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act amended the 70-year-old Glass-Steagall Act,  allowing banks, security companies and insurance companies to affiliate through a financial services holding company.  Sen. Gramm taught economics at Texas A&M University for 12 years before becoming a member of Congress. He has published numerous articles and books on subjects ranging from private property, monetary theory and policy to the economics of mineral extraction. As a visiting scholar at AEI, he will be working on a comprehensive plan to fix the US economy through reform of the tax code and entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. John F. Early is a mathematical economist, president of the consultancy Vital Few, LLC, and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Early has also served twice as assistant commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics where he directed the statistical design, economic analysis, and survey operations for the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES), Point of Purchase Survey (POPS), and estimates of pre‐retail price changes. ABOUT THE BOOK Everything you know about income inequality, poverty, and other measures of economic well-being in America is wrong. In this provocative book, a former United States senator, eminent economist, and a former senior leader at the Bureau of Labor Statistics challenge the prevailing consensus that income inequality is a growing threat to American society. By taking readers on a deep dive into the way government measures economic well-being, they demonstrate that our official statistics dramatically overstate inequality. Getting the facts straight reveals that the key measures of well-being are greater than the official statistics of the country would lead us to believe. Income inequality is lower today than at any time in post- World War II America. The facts reveal a very different and better America than the one that is currently described by policy advocates across much of the political spectrum. The Myth of American Inequality provides clear and convincing evidence that the American Dream is alive and well. 

How should individuals invest and spend in retirement with interest rates so low, stock valuations high, and inflation uncertain. Why retirement managed payout funds and income replacement funds failed.Topics covered include:How managed payout and income replacement funds compare to immediate annuitiesWhy Vanguard and Fidelity changed the objective of their retiree focused income replacement and managed payout fundsHow fixed annuities workHow retirees should combine annuities with multi-asset class portfolios to ensure a successful retirementWhy the 4% retirement spending rule is not appropriate for all investors all of the time.Why inflation is the biggest determinant of how much retirees can spendWhy is there so much controversy over the current and future inflation rateThanks to Mint Mobile and Truebill for sponsoring the episode.Show Note LinksVanguard Throws in the Towel on Its Managed Payout Fund by Daren Fonda—Barron'sGenerating Retirement Income Isn’t Easy, Even for Vanguard by Reshma Kapadia—Barron'sToday's Best Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities (MYGAs)—ImmediateAnnuities.comOpinion: The inventor of the ‘4% rule’ just changed it Brett Arends—MarketWatchThe Price of Tomorrow: Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future by Jeff BoothAlternate Inflation Charts—John Williams' Shadow Government StatisticsAmericans Are Richer Than We Think by By Phil Gramm and John F. Early—The Wall Street JournalFor more information on this episode click here.

Income inequality has become a hot button issue in this last decade. Concerns range from the idea that it will destroy civilization to simply "It just isn't fair!" Well, this episode will present four common claims about how income inequality is "unfair" and answer them" The rich are getting richer and the poor are staying poor. The United States is the worst offender for income inequality. The poor and middle class are being cheated out of much of the wealth their labor creates. Economic growth that fuels income inequality leaves the poor behind. Sources Cited: US Census Bureau, "https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2020/demo/p60-270.html (Income and Poverty in the United States: 2019)" Phil Gramm and John F. Early, Wall Street Journal, "https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-myth-of-american-inequality-1533855113 (The Myth of American Inequality)" Nat Levy, Geekwire, "https://www.geekwire.com/2019/walmart-posts-514b-revenue-year-plans-double-grocery-pickup-delivery (Walmart posts $514B in revenue for the year, plans to double down on grocery pickup and delivery)" MacroTrends, "https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/net-income (Walmart Net Income 2006-2020 | WMT)" Walmart, "https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/company-facts (Company Facts)" Kim Souza, Talk Business & Politics, "https://talkbusiness.net/2019/04/walmarts-top-five-executives-earn-68-73-million-last-year (Walmart's top five executives earned $68.73 million last year)" The Financial Express, "https://www.salaamgateway.com/story/growth-fuels-income-inequality-in-bangladesh (Growth fuels income inequality in Bangladesh)" Manuel Hinds, Quartz, "https://qz.com/96836/inequality-can-be-a-good-thing (Inequality can be a good thing)" Scriptures Cited: Exodus 20:15,17 Jeremiah 22:13,17 ***** Like what you hear? https://www.truthspresso.com/donate (Donate) to Truthspresso and give a shot of support! *****

Medicare expenditures as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) are now six times larger than they were in 1967. Forecasts for the next 75 years show that almost $1 of every $5 of GDP could be spent on Medicare. That is unaffordable. Without intervention, Medicare’s share of GDP will force some combination of substantial cuts in other government spending, significantly higher taxes, and unhealthy levels of public debt.   There are many policy issues concerning main­taining or redesigning Medicare. This paper looks only at the question of affordability. It identifies the minimum changes required to prevent further expansion of Medicare’s share of GDP, while retaining the existing structure of the program.   Three modifications can be phased in to meet that objective. About 41 percent of the required savings can be achieved by slowly raising the program’s eligibility age and by restoring the original criteria for disability benefits. The eligibility age could first be harmonized with the rising age for full retirement benefits from Social Security and then continue to increase consistent with rising life expectancy.   The remaining savings would require more cost sharing by beneficiaries. The first steps would be to increase deductibles and coinsurance to values that are typical for commercial insurance among the working population. Further increases would be required after another 30 to 50 years. These changes may seem large, but changes such as these are necessary to undo the substantial problem that history has given us. The good news is that if we begin soon, the changes can be made gradually, and current beneficiaries would face no benefit reductions.   By John F. Early

Some political leaders are saying that income and wealth inequality are at unacceptable levels and need to be countered by higher taxes on the wealthy and more transfer payments. But the data used to support those arguments are often misunderstood and omit key elements of the picture. John Early will describe gaps in the official data used in the inequality debate and discuss alternative income measures that better capture the well-being of different groups. Early argues that policymakers need to get the facts right before imposing prescriptions on the economy. John Early has twice been assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where he became an expert on these measurement issues. He has published a Cato study and a series of op-eds with former U.S. senator Phil Gramm examining the U.S. data on inequality. Following Early, Edwards will discuss the different sources of data on wealth inequality and the role of wealth in the economy. Watch: Short video on economic inequality featuring John F. Early Download the Power Point presentation (PPTX)

Featuring John F. Early, Former Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and President of Vital Few, LLC. Some political leaders are saying that income and wealth inequality are at unacceptable levels and need to be countered by higher taxes on the wealthy and more transfer payments. But the data used to support those arguments are often misunderstood and omit key elements of the picture. John Early will describe gaps in the official data used in the inequality debate and discuss alternative income measures that better capture the well-being of different groups. Early argues that policymakers need to get the facts right before imposing prescriptions on the economy. Learn more: Reassessing the Facts about Inequality, Poverty, and Redistribution