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Economy Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 03, 2010 7 Comments

A California appeals court has upheld an Order by Gov. Arnold Schwarzennager temporarily cutting state employees back to the federal minimum wage since the California legislature has not passed a budget and is facing a $19 billion annual deficit. As reported in The San Francisco...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 02, 2010 8 Comments

So stifle the economy and scare employers into not hiring that people simply give up looking for jobs, and therefore are not counted in the unemployment rate.That is what the jobs numbers just released show (emphasis mine):Employers cut 125,000 jobs last month, the most since...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 28, 2010 7 Comments

We all know how carefully the Obama administration touts the mythical "jobs created or saved" (or is it "saved or created"?).We also know how many jobs have been lost since the Stimulus Plan passed (well over 2 million, even including expansion of government jobs).But,is anyone...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 26, 2010 6 Comments

A tweet from Ed Driscoll linked to this photo of an IBM 350 5 Megabyte data storage unit, circa 1956, part of a system which leased for $3200 per month:Here is what a 5 Gigabyte flash drive looks like now, costing about $50:Identifiable jobs were...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 25, 2010 10 Comments

Yesterday I posted about a speech by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in which Whitehouse accused Republicans of having no compassion for the unemployed. The speech was classic Whitehouse, painting anyone who opposed his view as morally inferior and heartless.And it is a theme hit not only...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 24, 2010 4 Comments

Sheldon Whitehouse has taken to the floor of the Senate again to accuse everyone who opposes driving the country further into debt of being against people who are suffering financially.But that accusation, much like Whitehouse's accusations against opponents of ObamaCare, is based on a false...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 28, 2010 8 Comments

Another rich person is building a house bigger than mine, right on the beach in my hometown, unlike my humble abode a few blocks in. Terribly unfair. The owners obviously did not know that they had made enough money two blocks from the beach.Can't we...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2010 4 Comments

Why does Obama want us to be more like Europe, with its supposedly compassionate and fair welfare state?The welfare state is not compassionate; it is the height of selfishness and generational cruelty:Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 20, 2010 5 Comments

"Stocks fell sharply Thursday after an unexpected spike in jobless claims and as global jitters pushed the dollar higher." (via CNBC)More flesh put on the bone by The Washington Post:New jobless claims filed last week rose by 25,000 to 471,000, the government reported moments ago,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 07, 2010 14 Comments

Or are we just careening from crisis to mishap to near catastrophe, like a spinning top as it loses speed?Just wondering.Have a nice weekend.--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2010 9 Comments

Intergenerational warfare is breaking out in Greece as youth blame their elders for the economic mess, resulting from decades of welfare-state policies, that has left Greece bankrupt.I wonder whether the questions being asked by the youth of Greece are the same questions our children and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 26, 2010 9 Comments

Nothing in the civil suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Goldman Sachs caused the housing bubble or burst it.The transaction at issue in that case was between highly sophisticated investment firms, and had no more to do with the housing market...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 22, 2010 15 Comments

Obama is speaking at Cooper Union, in the heart of the New York financial district, which AP describes as follows (emphasis mine): Ramping up pressure for a financial overhaul, President Barack Obama is heading to the place where the economic meltdown began to argue for...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 16, 2010 2 Comments

Two weeks ago, unemployment numbers were released supposedly showing a jobs recovery, leading the New York Times and others to cheer how we had turned the corner. Steve Benen at Washington Monthly declared that this was a "breakthrough month" (rah-rah).As I discussed at the time,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 29, 2010 2 Comments

Don't ever say this was unexpected:So Obama is flirting with a future budget crisis. Moody's emphasizes two warning signs: rising debt and loss of confidence that government will deal with it. Obama fulfills both. The parallels with the recent financial crisis are striking. Bankers and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 21, 2010 5 Comments

The housing bubble peaked in 2005. The bubble reflected a fiscal lack of reality built upon the greater fool theory, that there always would be another buyer foolish enough to pay more. (Chart via Bubblemeter) We now are on the cusp of passing a health...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 03, 2010 7 Comments

This exchange between Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) and Barack Obama reflects just how clueless Obama is about the mood in this country and the damage his ideological intransigence is doing to his own party. As reported by The Hill:She also took a swipe at Obama's White...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 02, 2010 7 Comments

Mission almost accomplished. Fail to the Chief: Even with tax hikes and spending cuts, Mr. Obama's budget foresees a record budget deficit of $1.6 trillion this fiscal year, sliding down to $706 billion in red ink by 2014, only to begin rising again as the...

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