There's an entire cottage industry that has sprung up for Americans thinking about how long should they wait to start taking Social Security's retirement benefits.
If you only look at size of your monthly benefit, the numbers seem to suggest waiting for as long as possible to start taking the benefit is the right path forward. If you compare the amount of your benefit with what you would get if you waited until you reached what Social Security considers "normal retirement age", which has been set at Age 67 for those born in 1960 or later, your initial monthly benefit will be reduced by 8% per each year early. For example, if you start drawing Social Security as early as possible at Age 62, your benefit will be 40% less than what it would be if you had waited until Age 67 to start.
Similarly, if you hold out longer until Age 70, the longest you can hold out, your initial benefit will be 24% higher than what it would be if you had started taking benefits three years earlier.
But whether waiting like that actually makes sense depends on more than just how old you will be when you start taking Social Security benefits. If you have health problems that might keep you from living longer, for example, taking benefits earlier might make a lot more sense for your situation. If however you have a reasonable expectatation you'll live much longer, waiting to be older before tapping Social Security could be more beneficial for you.
The answer to the question of when to start taking benefits can also depend upon whether you're married or single. If you're married, the right age for you to start pulling Social Security's pension benefits may be different from the optimal age for your spouse to maximize your total household benefit. So what's the right thing to do?
That topic was recently covered on the RetirementNerds podcast, in which host Erik Soderborg ran through a number of examples with financial planner Zacc Call. The following hour-long video provides one of the better overviews we've seen of the factors that can complicate the major life event of deciding when to start taking Social Security retirement benefits:
We came across this video while researching an upcoming article that we're still developing behind the scenes, in which we'll feature another video by the pair discussing a different retirement-related topic.
Labels: ideas, personal finance
The total value of goods exchanged between the U.S. and China recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau increased for a third consecutive month in July 2026, the first such sustained rise since June-October 2024. Even so, the total level of trade between the two nations remains far below its pre-2025 tariff war levels.
Between June and October 2024, the combined value of U.S. imports from China and exports to China rose $3.2 billion to reach $55 billion. U.S.-China trade has risen $6.5 billion since April 2026 to total $36.8 billion in July. The value of trade between the U.S. and China during July 2026 is 33% less than it was in October 2024.
These figures are based on the Census Bureau's monthly trade data, which doesn't take any seasonality in the data into account. Applying a trailing twelve month average to the monthly data however confirms the large drop that has occurred in trade between China and the U.S., dropping from $48.4 billion in October 2024 to $31.4 billion in July 2026, a 35% decline.
The following chart reveals how the flow of trade between the U.S. and China has developed from January 2017 through July 2026.
The increase from April through July 2026 comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinpeng are set to meet to discuss trade and other issues in the U.S. in September 2026. Curiously, the New York Times has chosen to focus on China's dominant trade position with the rest of the world ahead of that summit.
When President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, meet this month to talk about a fragile trade truce, one issue is sure to dominate: China’s seemingly unstoppable export engine.
Chinese customs data released on Tuesday showed that in August, China sold $119.09 billion more in goods to the world than it bought — the fourth month in a row that the trade surplus topped $100 billion. Exports rose by 25 percent in U.S. dollar terms, while imports climbed 28 percent.
So far this year, the trade gap is already over $800 billion, and economists say it is on track to surpass last year’s $1.2 trillion, a milestone no other country has reached.
According to U.S. data, China's year-to-date trade gap with the U.S. is over $91.2 billion through July 2026, which as the data demonstrates, is much lower than it would have been without 2025's tariff war.
Why then has China's trade position strengthened so much everywhere else? China's domestic economy has struggled to grow during the past year, in part because of its tariff war with the U.S. With domestic demand not able to absorb their production surpluses, Chinese producers have redoubled their exporting efforts to virtually everywhere else in the world. The New York Times recently emphasized the role that China's economic weakness has played in contributing to China's global trade dominance:
The widening trade gap is also a symptom of lackluster demand at home. Consumer spending has been weak, while youth unemployment remains high. In August, China’s imports slowed, even as the country imported more high-tech goods like automatic data processing machines and semiconductors. Foreign car shipments have fallen around 20 percent so far this year as domestic brands dominate the market.
Looking forward, the article also references China's official trade data for August 2026, which is reported about a month before the U.S. data for the same month becomes available. That data indicates China's exports to the U.S. increased, which in turn, suggests the total value of U.S.-China trade increased for a fourth consecutive month.
Image credit: View of Port of Los Angeles with container ships by Downtowngal on Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.
Labels: trade
The long-term downward trend for working teens continued in August 2026. The month saw the overall, seasonally adjusted number of teens Age 16-19 counted as having jobs come in at 5,373,000. While just 7,000 less than in July, that figure is 487,000 below the May 2024 peak.
Breaking the working teen demographic down into younger (Age 16-17) and older (Age 18-19) parts, the number of younger teens with jobs increased month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted 1,856,000, which is 505,000 below its peak from December 2022. Older teens with jobs however saw their seasonally adjusted number decline 95,000 from their level in July to 3,499,000, some 302,000 below their recent February 2025 peak.
Looking at the employed-to-population ratio of the working teen demographics, older teens still come out on top, with 41% of the Age 18-19 population employed, which is down from the December 2025 peak of 45.8%. Younger teens however have a bigger decline from their April 2022 employed-to-population percentage peak of 25.5%, dropping to 20.7% as of August 2026. This latter change is nearly equivalent to going from one in four teens Age 16-17 having jobs in April 2022 to just one in five as of August 2026.
The following pair of charts depicts the rise and fall of teen employment from January 2021 through August 2026.
Each of the data series shown in these charts are subjected to their own seasonal adjustment, which is why the employment numbers for the Age 16-17 portion of the teen population and the Age 18-19 portion won't necessarily add up to the figures indicated for the whole working Age 16-19 population.
Reference
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor Force Statistics (Current Population Survey - CPS). [Online Database]. Accessed: 4 September 2026.
Image Credit: Waitress talking between groups of people sitting at tables in a restaurant photo by Negley Stockman on Unsplash.
Labels: demographics, jobs
The final week of summer saw the S&P 500 (Index: SPX) close out the week at 7,718.60, slightly up over the preceding week's close and one percent below its 13 August 2026 record high.
As expected, investors focused on the upcoming quarter of 2026-Q4 in setting stock prices. The future quarter has become the focus because of the Fed's ongoing "will they or won't they hike rates during the quarter" drama.
Speaking of which, the CME Group's FedWatch Tool projects a 59% probability the Fed will hike the Federal Funds Rate by a quarter percent on 16 September (2026-Q3), with a little under 41% chance of holding at its current target range of 3.50-3.75%. The big change from the previous week however is that the FedWatch Tool now projects the Fed will delay its next quarter point rate hike until 27 January (2027-Q1), although it still gives a 39% probability of an earlier rate hike on 8 December (2026-Q4).
The continuing uncertainty provides investors with an incentive to set their attention on 2026-Q4. The latest update of the alternative futures chart shows the S&P 500's trajectory remains consistent with the approximate level the dividend futures-based model would project for it provided investors focus their forward-looking attention upon 2026-Q4.
Here are the market moving headlines of the week that was:
- Monday, 31 August 2026
-
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Oil settles up by more than 2.5% as US and Iran resume military attacks
- Trump announces deal with Venezuela to secure more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves
- Fed minion happy to see money being used productively, says policymakers need a new playbook:
- Fed's Warsh says past global savings glut is turning into investment surge
- Warsh Says the Old Economic Playbook Is Obsolete
- Bigger trouble, stimulus developing in China:
- BOJ minions / Bigger trouble developing in Japan:
- ECB minions / Bigger trouble developing in Eurozone:
- Wall Street ends lower as Middle East tensions flare
- Tuesday, 1 September 2026
-
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- US factory activity slows in August; input prices remain elevated
- US job openings rise in July after sharp downward revision in prior month
- Oil jumps 5% as the U.S. strikes Iran and the Hormuz risk premium returns
- US construction spending drops to nearly three-year low in July
- Fed minions get in line behind new Fed chief minion's policies:
- Fed's Barr open to rate hike if inflation does not moderate
- Warsh scored an easy win in Jackson Hole. The hard work starts now
- Bigger trouble developing out of China as growth improves:
- Chinese shipper COSCO collects intel for Beijing with concealed equipment, US officials say
- China's August factory activity picks up as demand improves, PMI shows
- BOJ minions, U.S. Treasury watching Japan's currency:
- Yen hangs near 160 amid BOJ rate-hike bets, dollar wobbles
- Bessent expects Japan to take action to boost yen, signals BOJ rate-hike chance
- Growth signs in Japan's economy:
- Bigger trouble developing everywhere:
- Global bond rout deepens as Japan yield hits key milestone
- Government borrowing costs rise anew, adding to pressure on global policymakers
- Wall Street finished in the red while yields advanced at the start of September
- Wednesday, 2 September 2026
-
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Rise in US factory orders beats expectations in July
- Data centers are leaving office construction in the dust
- Oil settles 1% higher, as US-Iran strikes threaten supplies
- Fed minions say bond yields are rising because U.S. economy is strong:
- Fed's Williams ties rising bond yields to strong economy, CNBC reports
- 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hits highest level since November 2023
- Bigger trouble developing out of China:
- Bigger trouble developing in Japan, BOJ minions standing by to hike interest rates more: :
- Japan's benchmark bond yield rises to 3% for first time in 30 years
- How Japan's bond rout is turning the tide of global capital
- Bond selloff is likely amplified by obscure economic rate
- BOJ's Takata urges nimble rate hikes, says 2026 marks a turning point
- BOJ chief signals chance of September rate hike, debate on price risks
- Bigger trouble developing in Eurozone:
- Wall Street finished higher after the previous session's sell-off
- Thursday, 3 September 2026
-
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Treasury yields fall after top Fed official signals support for rate hold
- Oil prices mixed as investors weigh Middle East escalation, chance of Russia-Ukraine peace deal
- US job growth expected to rebound in August
- US trade deficit widens in July; capital goods imports hit record high
- Strong demand boosts US services sector activity in August
- Fed minions see growth, moderate inflation:
- Fed survey shows economic activity edged up, prices rose moderately in recent weeks
- Fed's Waller says safety premium for Treasuries is gone, pushing neutral rate higher
- Bigger stimulus, growth signs developing in China:
- China to support 'little giants' and other emerging companies in plan to boost jobs and innovation
- China services activity quickens on stronger domestic demand, private PMI shows
- BOJ minions / Bigger trouble developing in Japan:
- Japan services growth hits five-month high, PMI shows
- Yen rallies sharply as markets raise bets on Bank of Japan rate hikes
- Bigger trouble developing in one particular Eurozone nation:
- German firms feel growing pressure from Chinese rivals, survey finds
- Euro zone overall business growth held steady in August, PMI shows
- Wall Street closed higher after the latest jobless claims and trade data
- Friday, 4 September 2026
-
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- US nonfarm payrolls blow past expectations in August; unemployment rate steady at 4.1%
- Oil ends week higher on renewed US-Iran strikes, diesel hits record
- Fed minions expected to hike rates in response to better than expected jobs report:
- Fed rate hike back in focus after strong jobs report
- Trump says if the Fed doesn't cut rates, he'll stop trading with some nations
- Bigger stimulus developing in China:
- BOJ, JapanGov minions efforts to prop up Japan's currency being taken more seriously:
- Japan warns against weak yen, stands ready to intervene
- Japan July household spending falls at fastest pace in 2-1/2 years, signs of slowing economy:
- Economists say ECB minions excited to hike Eurozone interest rates one last time, another ECB minion thinking about their next job:
- ECB to raise rates a second time in September, but then done, say economists
- ECB's Schnabel may leave early for IMF job, Handelsblatt reports
- S&P 500 ends nearly flat for week as strong jobs data weighs on markets
The headlines out of Japan suggest the recent rising yields of U.S. Treasuries have a "made in Japan" element to them. This factor may be significant because they would have an effect on the U.S. stock market, with higher yields depressing stock prices because of the resulting higher cost of debt. The effect would be most pronounced on firms that are looking to utilize significant debt financing to support their growth.
The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tool anticipates +4.7% real GDP growth for the U.S. economy in 2026-Q3, ticking up from the +4.6% annualized growth it projected a week earlier.
Image credit: Microsoft Copilot Designer. Prompt: "An editorial cartoon of a Wall Street bull and bear enjoying a Labor Day holiday barbecue as the bear says ‘I CAN'T BELIEVE SUMMER IS OVER ALREADY! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE REST OF THE YEAR?’" We're not sure what the bull is thinking about with what they're barbecuing - perhaps they're a soy-based alternative to what they look like!
We first wrote about Hauser's Law in 2009. At the time, we described it as "one of the stranger phenomenons in economic data". The law itself was proposed by W. Kurt Hauser in 1993, who observed:
No matter what the tax rates have been, in postwar America tax revenues have remained at about 19.5% of GDP.
In 2009, we found total tax collections the U.S. government averaged 17.8% of GDP in the years from 1946 through 2008, with a standard deviation of 1.2% of GDP. Six years later, we revisited it once again and found that while the standard deviation was the same, average total tax collections from 1946 through 2018 was lowered to 16.8% of GDP because of 2013's comprehensive revision of GDP that significantly boosted historic GDP estimates after the basic GDP formula was redefined.
Seven years later, we're revisiting the historic data once again to see if it still holds. Spoiler alert: it does!
Here's a triple-set of charts to show off Hauser's Law in action!
Since we're now spanning 80 years worth of data, during which the U.S.' maximum income tax rate has ranged between 28% and 92% of income, we confirm once again that the U.S. government's total tax collections have averaged 16.8% with a standard deviation of 1.2% of GDP from 1946 through 2025. If you know your normal distribution bell curve from statistics, that means over 99% of the U.S. government's total tax collections from 1946 through 2026 would be expected to fall between 13.2% and 20.4% of GDP, which they have.
The pattern also holds true for U.S. personal income tax collections, although here, the average is 7.7% of GDP and the standard deviation is 0.8% of GDP.
What all these numbers mean is that the U.S. government's tax collections have been remarkably stable as a percent of GDP, or the national income, over the last eight decades, regardless of how the top income tax rate has been set. We think that represents a political equilibrium, especially as higher rates of tax collections have not been able to be sustained.
There are just four periods where tax collections rose more than one standard deviation above the mean level, none of which proved to be sustainable.
- In 1968, the Democratic U.S. Congress and President Lyndon Johnson passed a shock 10% income surtax that took effect in mid-year, spiking the top tax rate from 70% to 77% and increasing the amount collected from top income tax earners by an additional 10%. Coupled with a spike in inflation, for which personal income taxes were not adjusted to compensate, this tax hike led to outsize income tax collections in that year.
- The sustained high inflation of 1978 (7.62%), 1979 (11.22%), 1980 (13.58%) and 1981 (10.35%) led to higher tax collections through bracket creep, as income tax brackets in the U.S. were not adjusted for inflation until 1985 as part of President Ronald Reagan's first term Economic Recovery Tax Act.
- Beginning in April 1997, a cut in the capital gains tax rate caused the Dot Com Stock Market Bubble to being inflating. As it expanded, the bubble minted a large number of new millionaires as investors swarmed to participate in Internet and "tech" company initial public offerings or private capital ventures, which in turn, inflated personal income tax collections. Unfortunately, like the vaporware produced by many of the companies that sprang up to exploit the investor buying frenzy, the illusion of prosperity could not be sustained and tax collections crashed with the incomes of the Internet titans in the bursting of the bubble, leading to the recession that followed. It eventually came to an end in 2003 after the capital gains tax rate was increased to be equal to the dividend tax rate once again.
- In 2022, tax collections spiked with the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic after government-mandated lockdowns and restrictions on businesses were lifted.
There's one final piece of the puzzle we haven't tackled, and that's why the U.S. national debt has grown so large even as federal tax collections have been so relatively stable. Here we find three factors that have contributed to its growth:
- The launch of Medicare in 1965 coincides with a period in which government spending no longer drops below the long-term average of tax collections. Before Medicare was passed into law, government spending only surged above that level when wars were fought, dropping back to pre-war levels after they ended. World War 2 is a classic example, with its drawdown in spending taking place in the years after it ended in 1945. The 1980s Cold War defense buildup also shows the same pattern, with spending returning to pre-buildup levels as a percent of GDP in the 1990s as a peace dividend.
- The Great Financial Crisis of 2008 led to massive bailouts by the U.S. government. Even though that crisis ended, spending failed to return to its pre-crisis level because President Obama's Affordable Care Act permanently inflated the government's spending from 2014 onward.
- The Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020 led to massive government subsidies to offset the impact of the extreme economic disruption caused by state and local government lockdowns. However, two Biden administration initiatives combined to permanently inflate government spending above their pre-crisis levels: the American Recovery Act with its inflationary impact and the cynically-named Inflation Reduction Act that further boosted spending. These two initiatives kept government spending elevated at levels far above what the U.S. government can reasonably expect to collect in taxes based on the last 80 years of experience.
And that, in a nutshell, is why the U.S. government has gone from running mostly balanced budgets in the years before 1965 to running consistently in the red in the years since with few exceptions. The upward ratcheting of government spending in the years since 1965, and particularly since 2008 to levels far above what the U.S. government is capable of sustaining through its stable tax collections is why the national debt has grown to exceed $40 trillion.
Previously on Political Calculations
Labels: data visualization, taxes
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