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Latest Articles: Economy
CBS: Most Americans oppose raising debt limit
Post Date: 2011-07-14 14:52:13 by jwpegler
4 Comments
Despite Obama administration warnings that failing to do so would devastate the economy, a clear majority of Americans say they oppose raising the debt limit, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows. Just 27 percent of Americans support raising the debt limit, while 63 percent oppose raising it. Eighty-three percent of Republicans oppose raising the limit, along with 64 percent of independents and 48 percent of Democrats. Support for raising the debt limit is just 36 percent among Democrats, and only 14 percent among Republicans. Seven in ten who oppose raising the debt limit stand by that position even if it means that interest rates will go up. Poll: Approval ratings for Obama, ...
Lights Out… Democrats Block Repeal of Lightbulb Ban – Vote Gives Jobs to China
Post Date: 2011-07-13 16:09:45 by BorisY
2 Comments
Lights Out… Democrats Block Repeal of Lightbulb Ban – Vote Gives Jobs to China Jul 13, 2011 Jim Hoft House democrats blocked the repeal of the light bulb ban. A majority of Americans oppose the government’s unpopular and unnecessary ban on incandescent bulbs and infringement on choice. On January 1 2012, 100 watt incandescent bulbs will become illegal, with lower wattages to follow. The democrats just voted to give jobs to China. The Politico reported: House lawmakers Tuesday stymied an initial effort by Republicans to put an end to infamous light bulb efficiency standards. The bill from Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) to repeal part of a 2007 energy law requiring ...
Satyajit Das: “Progress” of the European Debt Crisis
Post Date: 2011-07-13 09:57:01 by lucysmom
16 Comments
In Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell memorably remarks that: “To lose one parent… may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” The Euro-zone’s need to rescue three of its members (Greece, Ireland and Portugal) with three others increasingly eyed with varying degrees of concern (Spain, Belgium and Italy) smacks of institutionalised incompetence. snip In Greece, the austerity program has led to a deep recession with Gross Domestic Product (“GDP”) falling by 4.5% in 2010 and forecast to fall by over 3.0% in 2011, a result worse than the IMF plan forecast. Unemployment, currently around 15%, is expected to ...
Doug Smith: The Maximum Wage
Post Date: 2011-07-12 10:54:37 by lucysmom
35 Comments
We face severe and growing income inequality with negative effects on people and the economy. Yet, no surprise, the ‘can’t do’ right wing continues a scorched earth campaign against the minimum wage. These self-promoting haters actually prefer no wages and indentured servitude – for example using prisoners to replace employees and cheerfully promoting ‘internships’ for the unemployed. They glory in income inequality and wish it to expand instead of contract. Enough of that. They are destroyers of the American Dream. But people who seek to shrink income inequality — to insure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all and not just some — must ...
No, We Can’t? Or Won’t?
Post Date: 2011-07-11 11:37:05 by lucysmom
23 Comments
If you were shocked by Friday’s job report, if you thought we were doing well and were taken aback by the bad news, you haven’t been paying attention. The fact is, the United States economy has been stuck in a rut for a year and a half. Yet a destructive passivity has overtaken our discourse. Turn on your TV and you’ll see some self-satisfied pundit declaring that nothing much can be done about the economy’s short-run problems (reminder: this “short run” is now in its fourth year), that we should focus on the long run instead. This gets things exactly wrong. The truth is that creating jobs in a depressed economy is something government could and should be ...
Veterans face high unemployment after military service
Post Date: 2011-07-11 10:07:44 by Skip Intro
1 Comments
Many lack the college degrees that employers are seeking. The jobless rate for veterans who served at any time since September 2001 was 13.3% in June. Unemployment among recently returned veterans, already in double digits, is poised to get worse as more soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan. The jobless rate for veterans who served at any time since September 2001 — called Gulf War-era II veterans — was 13.3% in June, up from 12.1% the month before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In June 2010 it was 11.5%. The difficulties veterans face in finding work was in evidence Sunday at the Hiring Our Heroes job fair at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, where ...
Stocks dive after dismal June jobs report
Post Date: 2011-07-08 13:32:16 by Hondo68
5 Comments
Stock indexes fell sharply Friday, erasing most of the week's gains, after a dismal report on the job market stifled hopes for a quick economic rebound. U.S. employers created only 18,000 net jobs in June, the fewest in nine months and a fraction of what many economists expected. Private companies added jobs at the slowest pace in more than a year. The unemployment rate edged up to 9.2 percent, its highest level this year. A broader measure of weakness in the labor market was even worse. Among Americans who want to work, 16.2 percent are either unemployed or unable to find full-time jobs. That was up from 15.8 percent in May. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 15 points ...
The Economy Cannot Recover As Long As Inequality Continues to Skyrocket ... But Government Policy Is INCREASING Inequality
Post Date: 2011-07-07 11:34:03 by mininggold
0 Comments
The Economist noted in January: Hu Jintao, David Cameron, Warren Buffett and Dominique Strauss-Kahn ... have all worried, loudly and publicly, about the dangers of a rising gap between the rich and the rest. *** A new survey by the World Economic Forum, whose annual gathering of bigwigs in Davos begins on January 26th, says its members see widening economic disparities as one of the two main global risks over the next decade (alongside failings in global governance). Numerous prominent economists in government and academia have all said that large inequalities can cause - or at least contribute to - financial crises, including: •Robert Shiller •Joseph Stiglitz •John ...
Ron Paul’s Surprisingly Lucid Solution to the Debt Ceiling Impasse
Post Date: 2011-07-05 21:15:10 by jwpegler
2 Comments
Representative Ron Paul has hit upon a remarkably creative way to deal with the impasse over the debt ceiling: have the Federal Reserve Board destroy the $1.6 trillion in government bonds it now holds. While at first blush this idea may seem crazy, on more careful thought it is actually a very reasonable way to deal with the crisis. Furthermore, it provides a way to have lasting savings to the budget. The basic story is that the Fed has bought roughly $1.6 trillion in government bonds through its various quantitative easing programs over the last two and a half years. This money is part of the $14.3 trillion debt that is subject to the debt ceiling. However, the Fed is an agency of the ...
Christina Romer: Good Democrat, Bad Economist
Post Date: 2011-07-04 20:05:48 by CZ82
0 Comments
Christina Romer: Good Democrat, Bad Economist Randall Hoven Christina Romer, President Obama's first chief of his Council of Economic Advisers, is now advocating tax hikes, saying that federal spending cuts would be worse for the economy than tax hikes. Coming from just any Democrat, this would not be news. This is news because Ms. Romer did an academic study, with her husband David that showed how harmful a tax increase would be to the economy. I wrote about her original study, in which she concluded that a tax increase of 1% of GDP would cause a recession and then a permanent decrease in real GDP of 1.84%. She had also done previous academic studies which concluded fiscal ...
Obama’s Economists: ‘Stimulus’ Has Cost $278,000 per Job (causing the economy to shed jobs)
Post Date: 2011-07-04 10:26:30 by Hondo68
3 Comments
The stimulus is now causing the economy to shed jobs.When the Obama administration releases a report on the Friday before a long weekend, it’s clearly not trying to draw attention to the report’s contents. Sure enough, the “ Seventh Quarterly Report” on the economic impact of the “stimulus,” released on Friday, July 1, provides further evidence that President Obama’s economic “stimulus” did very little, if anything, to stimulate the economy, and a whole lot to stimulate the debt.The report was written by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, a group of three economists who were all handpicked by Obama, and it chronicles the alleged ...
Down on the Fourth of July: the United States of gloom (unprecedented uncertainty and self-doubt)
Post Date: 2011-07-03 22:26:08 by Hondo68
32 Comments
The Stars and Stripes flying in Beaufort, South Carolina. Photo: Toby Harnden NEWS REVIEW: America’s deepening recession and widespread pessimism about the country’s prospects add a bitter note to Independence Day, reports Toby Harnden, US Editor. Across America today, people will gather for barbecues in their backyards, parades through their towns and firework displays lighting up the night sky. They’ll be celebrating Independence Day – the birthday of the United States and the 235th anniversary of shaking off the oppressive yoke of British rule. On this day in 1776 a group of 13 colonies broke away to found a new nation free to govern itself as it saw fit, pledging ...
Andrew Sheng Says Sustainability Means Caging Godzillas
Post Date: 2011-07-01 20:14:11 by lucysmom
0 Comments
Andrew Sheng, Chief Adviser to the China Banking Regulatory Commission, is wonderfully straightforward and realistic for an economist. He is willing to say, as he does in this video, things that are obvious yet somehow unacceptable to ‘fess up to in policy circles, like the planet simply cannot support 3 billion people in Asia living European lifestyles. He warns of the danger of creating the mother of all crises if governments cannot stem the tide of leveraged capital flows, and also discusses the role of China on the global stage. Enjoy! Click for Full Text!
U.S. ISM Manufacturing Index Rose to 55.3 in June From 53.5...GOP In Mourning For Expanding Economy
Post Date: 2011-07-01 10:37:40 by war
4 Comments
July 1 (Bloomberg) -- The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index unexpectedly rose to 55.3 in June from 53.5 the prior month, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said today. Economists projected the gauge would drop to 52, according t o the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates of the 77 economists ranged from 49 to 55. Other figures today showed manufacturing growth is slowing from China to Europe. China’s factory index fell in June to the weakest level since February 2009, while in the 17-nation euro area, a gauge slipped to an 18-month low. German manufacturing expanded at the slowest pace in 17 months, while Italy, Ireland, Spain and Greece contracted.
Fed Scorecard: Five Ways QE2 Worked—And Where It Failed
Post Date: 2011-06-30 22:02:06 by Sebastian
7 Comments
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke launched the program with hopes that it would create a “wealth effect”—a rise in asset prices that would help convince Americans that the financial crisis had passed and better days were ahead. No doubt there has been a considerable rise in a variety of assets, and if you’re lucky enough to own them you probably did quite well in the eight months since the central bank launched the second wave of easing, known as QE2 in market lingo. But if you were one of those stuck in the mud of the housing market downturn and jobs slump, you didn’t do nearly as well. A look, then, at five areas where QE2 worked—and five were it failed. WHERE IT ...
Bad News For The GOP: Manufacturing Report RISES Unexpectedly [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2011-06-30 09:46:55 by war
92 Comments
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Institute for Supply Management- Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer unexpectedly rose to 61.1 in June from 56.6 a month earlier. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion. Economists projected the gauge would drop to 54, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Another report today showed the labor market is struggling to improve as more Americans than forecast filed first-time applications for unemployment benefits. Jobless claims dropped by 1,000 to 428,000 last week, the Labor Department said. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected 420,000 claims, according to the median estimate. For Related News and Information: Click ...
Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Increased 8.2% in May
Post Date: 2011-06-29 10:02:27 by war
5 Comments
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- More Americans than forecast signed contracts in May to buy previously owned homes, signaling the residential real estate market may be rebounding from a slump earlier in the year. The index of pending home resales increased 8.2 percent from April after a revised 11 percent drop the prior month that was smaller than initially reported, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. Economists forecast a 3 percent increase, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Falling home prices that make properties more affordable may be luring potential buyers into the market even as 9.1 percent unemployment and stringent loan terms hold ...
Concept of property rights may come naturally to preschoolers (socialism unnatural)
Post Date: 2011-06-26 01:06:12 by Hondo68
29 Comments
Kids own up to ownership WASHINGTON — Young children are possessed by possessions. Preschoolers argue about what belongs to whom with annoying regularity, a habit that might suggest limited appreciation of what it means to own something. But it’s actually just the opposite, psychologist Ori Friedman of the University of Waterloo in Canada reported on May 28 at the Association for Psychological Science annual meeting. At ages 4 and 5, youngsters value a person’s ownership rights — say, to a crayon — far more strongly than adults do, Friedman and psychology graduate student Karen Neary found. Rather than being learned from parents, a concept of property rights may ...
Bernanke Admits He’s Clueless On Economy’s Soft Patch
Post Date: 2011-06-23 04:07:29 by Happy Quanzaa
0 Comments
In his second post-FOMC press conference, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke touched on every topic, admitting that the recovery was weaker than expected and that beyond temporary factors like supply chain disruptions in Japan and high energy prices, he was at a loss as to what was causing the soft patch. In a Q&A session with reporters, Bernanke said... Click for Full Text!
Stocks Of Socialized Countries Have Outperformed U.S. Since Reagan Era [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2011-06-22 22:23:39 by Godwinson
67 Comments
Stocks Of Socialized Countries Have Outperformed U.S. Since Reagan Era Alex Wagner First Posted: 06/22/11 02:49 PM ET Updated: 06/22/11 03:35 PM ET American traders aren't likely to take kindly to the suggestion that big government might be good for the stock market. But data from a paper on the job- and income-growth of top earners shows that stock prices in some socialized countries, relative to themselves and adjusted for inflation, have done considerably better than those in the U.S over the last two and a half decades. Specifically, during the twenty five years after Ronald Reagan took office -- a pro-market honeymoon that Ryan Chittum of the Columbia Journalism Review this ...
The Money Hole [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2011-06-18 09:17:52 by CZ82
157 Comments
The Money Hole by John Stossel, 06/15/2011 America is falling deeper into debt. We're long past the point where drastic action is needed. We're near Greek levels of debt. What's going to happen? Maybe riots -- like we've seen in Greece? We need to make cuts now. Some governors have shown the way. You know about Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, John Kasich, etc. But you probably don't know about Luis Fortuno. Fortuno is governor of Puerto Rico. Two years ago, he fired 17,000 government workers. No state governor did anything like that. He cut spending much more than Walker did in Wisconsin. In return, thousands of union members demonstrated against Fortuno ...
The Emerging New Monetarism: Gold Convertibility To Save The Euro
Post Date: 2011-06-16 18:09:18 by jwpegler
1 Comments
Professor Robert Mundell urges gold convertibility for the euro, the currency which he fathered, as well as for the dollar. This is a major step forward. Thought leaders are abandoning “old monetarism,” which was vainly fixated on quantity. Even its chief proponent, Milton Friedman, acknowledged old monetarism as unsuccessful in a 2003 interview with the Financial Times. An emerging “new monetarism” is quickly taking its place — one that focuses on the quality, not quantity, of money. Empirical data suggest that the gold dollar represents the epitome of quality. As Forbes’ own Steve Forbes advised the presidential candidates last week, the “debate should ...
1.9 Million Fewer Americans Have Jobs Today Than When Obama Signed Stimulus
Post Date: 2011-06-14 12:56:58 by Happy Quanzaa
7 Comments
(CNSNews.com) – Twenty-eight months after Congress passed President Obama’s signature economic stimulus law, and nearly one year after he declared the summer of 2010 to be “Recovery Summer,” 1.9 million fewer people are employed. In February 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that 141.7 million people were employed. By the end of May 2011 – the last month for which data are available – that number had fallen to 139.8 million, a difference of 1.9 million. While the number of people with jobs has increased slightly from its low point during the recession – 137.9 million in December 2009 – those 1.9 million jobs have been lost despite ...
US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross
Post Date: 2011-06-14 08:28:29 by Happy Quanzaa
2 Comments
When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco's Bill Gross told CNBC Monday. Much of the public focus is on the nation's public debt, which is $14.3 trillion. But that doesn't include money guaranteed for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which comes to close to $50 trillion, according to government figures. The government also is on the hook for other debts such as the programs related to the bailout of the financial system following the crisis of 2008 and 2009, government figures show. Taken together, Gross puts the total at ...
How the Nation’s Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall Street [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2011-06-14 01:18:58 by lucysmom
75 Comments
The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-owned bank in America—what Republicans might call an idiosyncratic bastion of socialism. It also earned a record profit last year even as its private-sector corollaries lost billions. To be sure, it owes some of its unusual success to North Dakota’s well-insulated economy, which is heavy on agricultural staples and light on housing speculation. But that hasn’t stopped out-of-state politicos from beating a path to chilly Bismarck in search of advice. Could opening state-owned banks across America get us out of the financial crisis? It certainly might help, says Ellen Brown, author of the book, Web of Debt, who writes that the Bank of ...
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