Additional Conditions.

The crossroads of science, ethics and the law.

“If I could only open one thing each morning it would be John Ellis’s News Items newsletter.” — Larry Summers, President Emeritus of Harvard University and former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

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1. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell by 7.2 points in March to 92.9 (1985=100). The Present Situation Index—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—decreased 3.6 points to 134.5. The Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions—dropped 9.6 points to 65.2, the lowest level in 12 years and well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead. (Source: conference-board.org)

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2. Robert Armstrong:

The Mar-a-Lago Accord is dead on arrival. Chief of the Council of Economic Advisers Stephen Miran, who championed the idea of a negotiated reduction of the value of the dollar and a reordering of global trade flows, said in a recent interview that the idea has no traction in the White House. (Source: ft.com)

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Editor’s Note: Yesterday, we posted an essay by Rebecca Patterson that described the economics (and the politics) of the Mar-a-Lago Accord. It is worth reading in full. (Sources: cfr.org, politicalitems.substack.com)