J une has been a good month thus far for US economic news. Some points: 1. The month began with U.S. politicians avoiding a cliff, avoiding default on U.S. Treasuries. Good for us, and good for the rest of the world. The world, after all, needs a numeraire , a measure of the measures, a money of the monies. The numeraire was long ... gold. Now it is the U.S. dollar. With a U.S. bond default, one fears it would soon be something else ... perhaps the Chinese yuan. The transition would not be accomplished without grave difficulties and hardships and, once it was resolved, a new geopolitical balance would have been struck. One difficult to contemplate with equanimity. 2. The Fed decided NOT to raise the base rate of interest this month. It has been on a long campaign of increases, in order to try to cool down inflation. The goal, though, is to thread a needle -- to cool the price increases without dampening productivity and job creation. 3. A new contract for the west coast dockworkers. T...