Forecasts from Goldman Sachs of growth way too low for a meaningful recovery — We expect US growth to remain sluggish next year, as the temporary boosts from inventory restocking and fiscal stimulus wanes while final demand remains weak. If our view is correct, 2011 consensus expectations will move significantly over the months to come.…
Economy
Economy, Government Spending
Reason.tv: Porker of the Month for October 2010 – Debbie Wasserman Shultz
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s time for Reason’s Porker of the Month, and this month’s winner is Debbie Wasserman Shultz. Reason explains: Reason.tv presents: Citizens Against Government Waste’s Porker of the Month for October 2010: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz! What do you do when you and your friends in congress go on a taxpayer funded spending binge, only to…
Economy, Government Spending, Politics, Taxes/Taxation
Number of the Week: Slow Growth Adds to Deficit – Real Time Economics – WSJ
by JOHN ADAMS •
If, for example, the U.S. economy grows at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 1.7% — about the rate it’s currently growing — government debt will reach 122% of annual economic output as of 2015, up from 93% now. Annual growth of 2.7% would cut that estimate to 110%. The difference equates to about $2.2 trillion,…
Economy, Government Spending, Libertarians, Planning
Wait, Herbert Hoover Wasn’t a Libertarian? – Reason Magazine
by JOHN ADAMS •
No, he wasn’t! Yet, one often hears — erroneously — that Hoover was a laissez faire Republican, and that Roosevelt’s election marked a sharp break from those policies. That’s not only false, but wildly false. Hoover was a big-government Republican. (It was Coolidge — who had numerous disagreements with Hoover — who was a defender…
Economy, Free Markets
“Free Market” Doesn’t Mean “Pro-Business” – Art Carden – The Economic Imagination – Forbes
by JOHN ADAMS •
No, it certainly doesn’t. Art Carden, at Forbes‘s Economic Imagination blog, explains the difference: Is a “free market” agenda the same thing as a “pro-business” agenda? Economists of a libertarian persuasion find this frustrating because our enthusiasm for free markets is often mistaken as enthusiasm for specific businesses or corporate interests. But just because something…
Economy
Foreclosure forecast is dim — Walworth County Today
by JOHN ADAMS •
Foreclosure filings on Walworth County homes could jump nearly 11 percent this year, a bad indicator for the middle class, the group that’s struggling to keep up with mortgage payments. The trend appears to contradict talk this summer that the housing market was turning around and the recession subsiding. See, Foreclosure forecast is dim —…
City, Economy
GazetteXtra.com: “Whitewater company announces 87 layoffs”
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Economy, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Poverty
Whitewater’s Innovation Center from the Perspective of the New Deal
by JOHN ADAMS •
I posted yesterday about Whitewater’s Innovation Center, in a post entitled, Whitewater’s Innovation Center: Grants and Bonds. The more one looks at the project, the emptier it seems. Attempts to justify the multi-million dollar public expenditure — on their own, apart from any other consideration — are exercises in embarrassing hyperbole. Attempts to answer objections…
Economy, Free Markets
Joyce Appleby on the Relentless Revolution of Capitalism
by JOHN ADAMS •
Capitalism is humanity’s best arrangement for prosperity. Alternatives are, to one degree or another, schemes of enforced poverty. Reason.tv has an interview with professor emerita Joyce Appleby of UCLA. It’s eight minutes of clarity and insight. The video is below, with Reason‘s description thereafter. Enjoy. Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZktWEAWLvM. “Exploitation is not exclusively capitalist, but wealth…
Economy
John Merline: A Tale of Two Economic Recoveries
by JOHN ADAMS •
The recovery that isn’t — Fourteen months after the 1981-1982 recession ended, the unemployment rate had dropped to 8 percent, the Consumer Confidence Index had soared to more than 103, and the economy was cooking along at an average 7.7 percent quarterly growth. This time around, unemployment is stuck at 9.6 percent, consumer confidence is…
Economy
Since 2009, Unemployed More Likely To Drop Out Of Labor Force Than Get Jobs
by JOHN ADAMS •
Since 2009, a layoff victim has been more likely to give up looking for work and drop out of the labor force than to find a job, according to a new report from the Roosevelt Institute, meaning employment prospects for the jobless are the worst they have been since the government started keeping track of…
Economy, Free Markets, Tyranny
Wall Street Journal: Cuba Unveils Huge Layoffs in Tilt Toward Free Market
by JOHN ADAMS •
There could be few happier headlines than this: Cuba Unveils Huge Layoffs in Tilt Toward Free Market. Few happier because it signals the beginning of the end of the tyrannical regime that has so devastated Cuba. That Castro has lived to see the end of his oppressive life’s work is satisfying. There are, though, many…
Economy
Not Enough Labor Day: How the government is destroying jobs – Reason Magazine
by JOHN ADAMS •
Economy
Capital Times: Labor Day 2010 offers little to cheer
by JOHN ADAMS •
For many thousands across Wisconsin, this is a particularly hard Labor Day holiday: While the state unemployment rate has eased somewhat, falling to 7.8 percent in July, the “underemployment” rate — which includes those who’ve given up looking for work or are working part-time because they can’t find a full-time job — now accounts for…