Tag Archives: recession

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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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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Greg Easterbrook Looks on the Bright Side of American Life

A little reminder, from Greg Easterbrook, that life in America is actually pretty good and getting better: Since roughly 1975, when middle-class income gains began to stagnate, lifespans have improved, material living standards have risen (safer cars, nearly universal air … 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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While you were sleeping, Europe’s Greece crisis was deepening

This at the UK’s Guardian: “The crisis in Greece could pose as big a risk to the global economy and financial markets as the collapse of Lehman Brothers did in September 2008”, said Julian Jessop, of Capital Economics. He added: … Continue reading

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Angry at his bank and the IRS, Terry Hoskins smashes a bulldozer into his own $350,000 home!

Talk about an ironic reversal on the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes: you don’t win a big home, you bulldoze it! Terry Hoskins says he’d had enough. This today at AP: Terry Hoskins says he has struggled with the RiverHills Bank over … 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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Peak Oil?

The Guardian today appears to have a big news scoop: The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a … 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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Great News

If you’re a Democrat hoping to hold off the Republicans from retaking one (or both) of the houses of Congress in 2010. This today at Politico: The nation’s gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.5 percent for July through … Continue reading

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Things Are Looking Up?

President Barack Obama has got to be pleased about this. The New York Times today: “Six months ago, when the president took office, we were talking about whether recession would become depression,” Lawrence H. Summers, the White House’s top economic … Continue reading

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President Barack Obama’s August 1, 2009 Statement on America’s Economy and the Path Forward

This video reminds me why I voted for Obama. It’s nice to have a calm and intelligent man in the White House with some environmental and liberal vision:

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The Economy: Happy Days are Here Again?

The New York Times today says the recession may be over: The index of leading indicators, which signals turning points in the economy, is rising at a rate that has accurately indicated the end of every recession since the index began … Continue reading

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Quote of the Day: Some Good Economic Signs?

Tim Geithner today: “The force of the global recession is receding. For the first time in several quarters, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and a range of private analysts are starting to revise up their forecasts for growth in the … Continue reading

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Bad News for Democrats

When the midterm elections hit in the Fall of 2010, it’s probably not likely that the unemployment picture will look all that much better than it does today (at least if a Wall Street Journal panel of economists’ forecasting is in … 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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From Liberty Bonds to Bailout Bonds?

The NY Times says that Barack Obama is contemplating letting small individual investors in on the bank bailout—wedding Main Street to Wall Street. Like a mutual or bond fund, you would buy shares, perhaps for as little as a few … Continue reading

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Unregulated Capitalism Doesn’t Work? Is This the Lesson We Should Take from the Current Financial Debacle?

A reader at Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish makes an interesting observation: One of the most powerful lessons of history was certainly played out in the 43 year period between the end of Word War II and 1988. By the … Continue reading

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Are Global Markets on the Mend?

According to the New York Times today, some economists and market analysts are moving into the realm of the cautiously optimistic: Garry Evans, Asia strategist at HSBC in Hong Kong, in a note last week said that “history shows that … Continue reading

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Don’t Question or Mock Authority? Jeff Zucker Responds to Jon Stewart by Sounding Like the Pope

Speak truth to power. NBC’s Chief Executive, Jeff Zucker, is pissed at Jon Stewart for mocking CNBC “authority” on matters of business. So reports Reuters: “Just because someone who mocks authority says something doesn’t make it so,” Zucker said, describing the … Continue reading

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