93% of S&P 500 companies have reported second-quarter earnings; the remainder will continue into early Sep-tember. As of this writing, bottom-up earnings for the S&P stand at $32.63, representing a 5.9% quarter-over-quar-   ter increase and a 10.6% year-over-year increase. In short, earnings are strong — and with four quarters

From time to time, coverage of China rises to a crescendo in the popular media. China coverage reflects some of the same schizophrenia that afflicts much of the media’s output. At many points in the past several years, accord-ing to the media, China has been a tot-tering giant whose economy

Sometimes, academic economists are worth paying attention to. A recent paper published by the Hoover Insti-tution provided one of the best sum-maries we have read of the current state of the U.S. economy, its recent history, its troubles and the reasons behind them, its future prospects, and the policy changes