Tag Archives: jobs

Measure Twice, Saw Once

This is in the business section of the Los Angeles Times today: Managers spend nearly 17% of their working hours dealing with poor performers, according to a report from staffing firm Robert Half International. That’s basically a full day a week that could … Continue reading

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Not Waving, But Drowning

At the Daily Beast, Megan McArdle sees college as the American middle class’s last desperate bet for economic security in the fast-shifting global economy: If employers have mostly been using college degrees to weed out the inept and the unmotivated, then … Continue reading

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The Flintification of America

I recently watched Roger and Me—Micheal Moore’s late-1980s documentary on the economic decline of his hometown of Flint, Michigan—and what upended me is how prophetic the film is. If you want to see what’s happening to America today, have another looksie at Moore’s survey … Continue reading

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Can You Balance California’s Budget? Here’s a Link to a Calculator Where You Can Try.

Here’s a link to the Los Angeles Times’ balanced budget calculator. It’s there that you can imagine yourself wielding the budget ax, raising taxes, or doing some combination of the two to bring California’s $28 billion deficit over the next 18 months … Continue reading

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Social Engineering Watch: Would Renewed Blue Laws Be Good For America?

Curiously, it appears that some liberals are showing an interest in seeing the return of blue laws to America (laws instituting no work on Sundays). Perhaps there are a lot of conservatives who would join them on this: My own … Continue reading

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Paul Krugman 101: Paul Krugman Explains America’s Catch-22 Economy

Now that the Republicans have won the House of Representatives, Paul Krugman predicts their next moves: They’ll refuse to do anything to boost the economy now, claiming to be worried about the deficit, while simultaneously increasing long-run deficits with irresponsible … Continue reading

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Herbert Hoover Ascendent?

In a recent New York Times article, Paul Krugman sees Europe and America channeling Herbert Hoover: As far as rhetoric is concerned, the revival of the old-time religion is most evident in Europe, where officials seem to be getting their … Continue reading

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Blue Skies?

The New York Times today on the surprisingly good jobs numbers: The sudden and unexpected improvement surprised even the most optimistic forecasters. Instead of yet another six-figure job loss, only 11,000 jobs disappeared last month and instead of another rise in … Continue reading

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The BRIC Hits the Fan

Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Meet the BRIC consortium as described in Salon today: Just a concept a year ago, when the very idea of BRIC was concocted by the chief economist at Goldman Sachs, the BRIC consortium became a … Continue reading

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Good News for Democrats: Great Economic and Jobs Numbers Out Today

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight summarizes the awesome economic good news today, and tells us that these are the headlines you won’t see at the DrudgeReport (because they are such good news for Democrats and the Obama Administration): — Job losses … Continue reading

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The Politics of Economic Stormy Weather?

It would seem that the political fate of Barack Obama and the Democrats is pretty much out of their hands. If the economy recovers, it’s all roses; if it doesn’t, there might not be much that the government can do, and the … Continue reading

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Four Weeks in and Here’s the Big Picture: Obama’s Winning!

This today in the NY Times: Just four weeks into Mr. Obama’s presidency, the Democrats boasted that they had already approved three major bills: a measure to curb pay-discrimination against women in the workplace, a broad expansion of the state … Continue reading

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The (Economic) Sermons on the Mount: In Davos, Switzerland, George Soros, Niall Ferguson, and Nouriel Roubini Pronounce Global Doom and Gloom

Daniel Gross, of Slate.com, spent three days at the Davos, Switzerland “World Economic Forum,” and among the high powered economists, CEOs, and academics in attendance he could find no optimists about the world economy. Not one. Nada. Zilch. And apparently many … Continue reading

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Great Depression 2.0: Is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson a 2008 Version of 1929’s Thomas Lamont? (Lamont Was a Banker Who Put Together a Briefly Successful Luqidity Deal Before the Market Fully Collapsed.)

Thomas Lamont was an American banker, a fascist sympathizer, and someone who made use of a private yacht as part of his daily commute to Wall Street. In Ocober of 1929 he was a central player in putting together a liquidity … Continue reading

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