Tag Archives: economy

Taking a Closer Look at Unemployment

Employment as measured by the “establishment survey,” was down by 190,000; and Many feel it is an improvement that we are not falling as fast. Well, let us take a moment to look under the hood of these numbers. First, … Continue reading

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The Post-Post-American World

So, did you enjoy the much discussed post-American world order? Hope you didn’t miss it. Surely it didn’t lack for advertising. But if you did happen to step out for a moment, we just lived through the end of market … Continue reading

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Going John Galt… quietly.

The idea of “Going John Galt” makes me a little bit uncomfortable, to tell the truth.    John Galt essentially said screw them all, and shut down knowing that a whole lot of people would be hurt.    It was about the … Continue reading

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My favorite proposal for helping financial institutions

I do believe we should be doing something as a nation, through our government, to avoid the not insignificant chance of a total financial meltdown. I have seen several things proposed that I find interesting, and I will get into … Continue reading

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Scamming

Dear American: I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had a crisis that … Continue reading

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The Economic Message is Bad – Not the Economy

The Chronicles of the Conspiracy“What does it say about our nation that it has become political suicide to state the good news that our economy is not in recession?”

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Cowed by Liberal Rhetoric?

AmSpec NewsThe economy is not booming but it is sound and growing.  Emmet Tyrell says we are cowed by liberal rhetoric and can’t get this economic message out. Did I say growing? Yes I did, but the Republicans cannot talk … Continue reading

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Obama’s Plan: Does This Work?

According to the Associated Press, a sequence of interviews with Democratic leaders has revealed this to be the political plan being recommended to the Obama campaign: 1. Tie the Republican to an unpopular President Bush. 2. Let no charge go … Continue reading

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The End of the Anti-Bush Economy

The impending collapse of the anti-Bush merchandise market spells doom for the national economy: “We need to develop totally new products for marginally politically active liberals to throw their money away on.”

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Limited Government Still Popular

According to a new Rasmussen survey 62% of Americans believe encouraging economic growth is more important than reducing income inequality. 51% also say the federal government exerts too much control over our economy as it stands. It would be wise … Continue reading

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Anders Aslund on the Russian Economy

After forcefully savaging the Russian invasion of Georgia, controversial Swedish economist Anders Aslund lays out ten reasons he expects an impending economic collapse in Russia. Each point is sound, although some are more problematic than others. Particularly cogent are the … Continue reading

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More on Family Issues

Economist“The origin of this skills problem lies in the decline of the family in American society. Dysfunctional families retard the formation of the abilities needed for successful performance in modern society.” Both the left and the right see the problem … Continue reading

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Dissecting Subprime – A lesson learned

The Economist Interesting article about the roots of the problem. What I found fascinating was this root cause. the historical accident of a very low loss rate during the early history of subprime mortgage foreclosures in 2001-2002. This is the … Continue reading

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Fail Early or Don’t Fail at All

On tonights podcast at QandO, I called in at McQ’s request to discuss the economy. One of the things we discussed was the likelihood of our government continuing to bail out our financial institutions. For a number of reasons that … Continue reading

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Peter Pan America

Growing up means accepting responsibility for your actions and attempting to make wise decisions as much as possible.  Peter Pan rejected this; he didn’t want to grow up and lose the carefree, irresponsible days of youth. Too often, it appears … Continue reading

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The Amoral Nature of Moral Hazard

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You Walk Away Hits Television

Cross posted at Risk and Return You may remember the website we discussed back in January. Dale Franks just discovered their program, because they now are on Television. He asks the obvious question: So, should the mortgage companies get off … Continue reading

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The Economy Makes Me Nervous As Well

Yeah, this is kind of funny, if in a dancing on gravestones kind of way. I hate to continue to beat an old drum, but the economic data is showing far less stress than is actually out there. Employment is … Continue reading

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Elect Phil Gramm!

From an interview by Stephen Moore (HT: GR): So what if a President Barack Obama were to impose 50% or 60% tax rates on these CEOs and other big earners? Mr. Gramm pounces: “When you help a company raise capital, … Continue reading

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The Politics of Condescension

Given the discussion at this post about Obama’s condescension, I suggest Tom Maguire’s roundup of the coverage of Obama making the mistake of speaking his mind about the rubes who he needs to vote for him: I can’t believe that … Continue reading

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Ill chosen words… and digging deeper

As at least one person has said, there’s the type of slip of the tongue where one accidentally says what one really thinks.Has everyone seen by now Obama’s take on why small town Midwestern sorts cling to religion, guns, racism, … Continue reading

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Are we in a recession yet?

Personally I think we have been negative since November. Given the large positive number in the third quarter, the barely above break even number in the fourth quarter virtually guarantees that the economy went negative sometime in November and December. … Continue reading

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Death by Fairness

photo: Simón Pais-Thomas Mick at Uncorrelated has another lovely post on the essentially vile character and politics of Mike Huckabee. Toward the end of his remarks he briefly hits Huckabee’s proposed Fair Tax: …and politically DOA policy planks like the … Continue reading

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Scrambling for Africa: A Conversation with John Ghazvinian

Gas flaring in the Niger Delta (photo: Ellie) John Ghazvinian is a journalist and historian of considerable insight into African affairs. He also happens to have written one of the best recent books on the emergent international struggle for African … Continue reading

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The Grinding Gears of the Economy

The Fourth quarter GDP numbers came in this week, and then the Fed went ahead and cut rates further. That is 125 basis points in about a week.! I have a roundup of news, related opinion and other reactions at … Continue reading

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This is truly disturbing-Updated

youwalkaway.com I really have little to add to my declaration of extreme discomfort. Much more on this here.

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The Harley Report

As I noted earlier, Dale Franks was curious about how Harley Davidson (HOG) would do on its latest earnings release: One earnings report to watch this week, though, is Harley-Davidson (HOG). It’s a solid company with a loyal customer base—I’m … Continue reading

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The Scale of the American Economy

Click to enlarge I thought the map Lance posted from the other day (originally from Strange Maps), which expressed the GDP of foreign countries as US states, based on their approximate equivalent GSP, was a pretty interesting visualization. However, I … Continue reading

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A New Voice Coach?

Hillary has been modifying her voice lately. A new TV spot on the economy in California. Soooothing and feminine. Much improved from this.

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The Mildest Recession?

Morgan Stanley expects a “mild and short” recession in 2008, with peak unemployment of 5.6% or 5.7% in early 2009. Mark Perry points out that would make it the mildest and shallowest recession since the second world war.

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Germany in the Black…for Now

Germany has finally balanced its budget after 38 years of failure. The cause is an export driven 2006-2007 boom. What constitutes an economic boom in Germany these days? 2.5% annual GDP growth. Quite a decline by the standard of West … Continue reading

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Rumors of Recession

Hyundai is contemplating pulling its Superbowl advertising, citing sudden concerns about US economic indicators. Traditionally ad budgets are the first to go when firms start believing they’re entering a recession. Not the most encouraging news of the day.

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Rain for the Ruins

(photo: Michael Deeble) With heavy rains flooding Southern Africa and displacing thousands, surely saving graces must be found in parched and dying Swaziland, a country long thirsting for a drop of rain. But somewhat typically, that oppressed country’s autocrat King … Continue reading

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