US Economy - Chart Porn

US Economy Archive:

19 Sep 2011

To be cliché: the truth may surprise you. This is a great look at the “loopholes” in our tax system, point by point. You can filter by kind of break, compare individual vs corporate, find out when they were first implemented, and see how they all add up. However, I really wish the lines in the main bar graph had matched width with the amount of the break (with the y-axis being billions of $) – at first glance that’s what I thought was going on. I’m also not sure how I feel about things like “employer contributions to health care” being considered a break. (related article)

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How Healthy is Your Bank?

In: Bailout Finance Interactive Source: Ritholtz US Economy

13 Sep 2011

From MSNBC and the American University: Identify your bank (or credit union) by name or location, then see how many non-performing loans and other troubled assets it has:

of related interest is this 2010 chart that Barry Ritholtz recently noted:

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The Cost of 9/11

In: History Interactive US Economy

11 Sep 2011

NYT presents a graphical breakdown of some cost estimates for 9/11:

You can drill down into the different categories:

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Not Your Parents’ Economy

In: Employment History Innovative Source: NYT US Economy

9 Sep 2011

An elegant multi-indicator graphic from the NYT on income inequality and jobs. It’s disappointing that it took so long for the story of these trends to get traction in the media. (related article)

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Fed Crisis Lending to Wall Street

In: Bailout Finance Interactive Source: Ritholtz US Economy

23 Aug 2011

Bloomberg compiled some stunning new data on Fed loans to Wall Street banks during the crisis based across multiple programs (Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, Commercial Paper Funding Facility, discount window, PDCF, TAF, Term Securities Lending Facility and single-tranche open market operations). (related article; via The Big Picture)

I wish I could borrow from the Fed at <2% using junk bonds as collateral.

You get the below charts by selecting multiple banks to compare them:

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Housing: Rent vs Buy

In: Housing Innovative Source: Ritholtz Source: WSJ US Economy

17 Aug 2011

Barry Ritholtz has another great post about the housing market over at The Big Picture. In addition to his analytical insights, he pointed out two great tools for looking at housing markets across the country.

The first is a Rent vs Buy interactive from Trulia:

Second is the Wall Street Journal’s chart of price-to-income ratios (compared to the 1985-00 average).

(related WSJ article)

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Deficit has a Numerator and Denominator

In: Finance Politics US Economy

1 Aug 2011

Ok, I’m pretty bored with the debt graphics, but Barry Ritholtz today had a few that illustrate the problem quite well.

This one makes clear our deficit is as much a result of falling revenue as it is of rising spending:

The same numbers in percent of GDP make sense when you take the recession shading into account:

I highly recommend you read the article and discussion over there.

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Job-Killing Taxes!

In: Employment Politics US Economy

29 Jul 2011

I keep hearing from Republicans that eliminating tax breaks and loopholes for corporations will cut jobs. The truth is that corporations are experiencing huge profits, and are not hiring. I did a quick and dirty chart over at Fred to illustrate this:

if I had the time I’d look into sector breakdowns and who is currently enjoying these tax loopholes – maybe someone else wants to do it?

Here’s another way of looking at it:

The profits are also not being passed on to employees: The long-term perspective below shows the degree to which the working man is currently getting the shaft:

(These later two charts are via)

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Debt Debt Debt Goose!

In: Finance Politics Source: NYT US Economy

29 Jul 2011

Four perfect graphs from the NYT (as usual) putting the debt crisis into perspective.

Thanks to Kanal Eliezer for sending in the link!

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How Much is That Again?

In: Finance Innovative Politics US Economy

28 Jul 2011

WTFnoway.com presents literal visualizations of how many Benjamins the US debt really amounts to.

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Long-Term Unemployment

In: Employment Source: WSJ US Economy

26 Jul 2011

The percent of people unemployed greater than a year is scary. (related article)

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The Bush Deficit

In: Politics US Economy

26 Jul 2011

Why we have a debt problem:

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Dodd-Frank Implementation

In: Finance Politics Stock Market US Economy

22 Jul 2011

An interesting chart on different benchmarks that are required by the Bill. At closer inspection though, you realize all it does is describe the sections and count the requirements. It would have been nice if you could drill down and see the details of each of the colored lines, for example. The main impression remains, however: the Bill’s implementation is very complicated – which I suppose is in contrast to the wide agreement that it doesn’t actually solve any of our financial systems’ problems.

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Budget Hero

In: Interactive Politics US Economy

18 Jul 2011

American Public Media created a fun online game where you try to balance the budget by selecting priorities and playing policy cards. The interface is amusing, but does take a few minutes to grasp – watch the introduction. (via)