Disconcerting economic data have this advantage: they’re a useful reminder of work ahead, and a spur to greater zeal. Best fiscal choices in times of poverty: spending cuts (beginning with elimination of leadership posts) to fund a reduction in taxes, return of most tax money to taxpayers and businesses, with second source of expense savings…
Economy
Economy
Anne Applebaum: Can America survive without its backbone, the middle class?
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve been reading Anne Applebaum’s essays for years, and she’s invariably sharp and insightful. She typically writes on foreign affairs, but some essays are for a foreign audience, describing aspects of American politics and culture. In a recent essay for the Telegraph, she succinctly describes America’s middle class, and the problems it faces. Applebaum writes…
Economy, Education, Government Spending, Planning, Wisconsin
Additional State Budget Cuts, Lapse Provisions, and the Failure of State Planning
by JOHN ADAMS •
A reader kindly passed along an email from UW President Kevin Reilly to the entire UW System about additional budget cuts proposed for Wisconsin’s public universities. I’ve included the content of Reilly’s message below. Readers may have different opinions about all this, but even staunch supporters of the Walker Administration should see this as (at…
Economy, Foreign Affairs
An American Phoenix
by JOHN ADAMS •
We’ve played the phoenix before, and no matter how difficult conditions are today, I’ve no doubt that we will yet again. We’re successful and resilient because we’re free: Americans are versatile and creative, and bounce back well. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes about how America’s world position is likely to be stronger than some fret. Part of…
Business, City, Economy, Government Spending
The Housing Market and Public Budgets
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a story in the Washington Post about Pres. Obama’s latest initiative to help underwater homeowners (Government announces new program to help ‘underwater’ homeowners), following an earlier story — anticipating today’s announcement — about failed, past efforts (Obama’s efforts to aid homeowners, boost housing market fall far short of goals). The former story pours cold…
Economy, Poverty
Child Poverty from the Great Recession
by JOHN ADAMS •
Economy
Census: Housing bust worst since Great Depression
by JOHN ADAMS •
Nationwide, the homeownership rate fell to 65.1 percent – or 76 million occupied housing units that were owned by their residents – from 66.2 percent in 2000. That drop-off of 1.1 percentage points is the largest since 1940, when homeownership plummeted 4.2 percentage points during the Great Depression to a low of 43.6 percent. Since…
Economy
Number of the Week: The Economy’s Housing Albatross
by JOHN ADAMS •
No recovery: In the second quarter, residential investment — money spent on building, adding to and maintaining homes — accounted for just 2.2% of GDP, according to the Commerce Department. That was the lowest level since 1945, when America was on a war footing. If residential investment were to rebound to its average share of…
Economy
The Mortgage Meltdown, Robo-Signing, and Foreclosures
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at Freedom Watch, Judge Napolitano and his panel discuss an expanding robo-signing scandal (along with the separate topic of the IMF’s insatiable need for more money). I’ve written often about the recession, but seldom about the mortgage meltdown. Like many lay people, I thought that the recession would be deep, and that recovery would…
City, Economy, Planning, Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s median income plunged over the last decade
by JOHN ADAMS •
Shocking, and proof of infuriating, disgraceful political failure. Down 14.5%, far worse than the American average (itself an unwelcome decline). Of what use were so many grand, much-touted state and municipal projects? One Next Big Thing after another, and all of them doing nothing to prevent a double-digit decline in common people’s incomes. Every big-talking…
Economy, Weird Tales
Rhinelander benefits from the… Hodag
by JOHN ADAMS •
For more on the Hodag — March 22nd is the birthday of Eugene Shepard, of whom the Wisconsin Historical Society offers an account — …Eugene Shepard was born near Green Bay. Although he made his career in the lumbering business near Rhinelander, he was best known for his story-telling and practical jokes. He told many…
Economy, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations
The Best Way to Create Jobs: Free Markets in Capital and Labor
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s New York Mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg talking about the best way to create jobs. He’s right that fewer immigration restrictions actually boost American employment. There’s much more to be said about all this, but a scheme of labor restrictions isn’t just socially disruptive, and an example of over-criminalization. Restrictions impoverish America; free private…
Economy, Government Spending, Open Government
The Fed’s Secret Lending Program
by JOHN ADAMS •
One doesn’t have to be a libertarian critic of the Federal Reserve (Ron Paul being the exemplar) to see that billions in secret loans to financiers represents another example of government over-reach and (as they were at the time secret loans) unaccountability. Here, from Reason.tv, is a segment of Andrew Napolitano’s Freedom Watch, where guests…
Economy
Feldstein: The Economy is Worse Than You Think
by JOHN ADAMS •
Economist Martin Feldstein writes in the Wall Street Journal about the sluggish economy, with a recommendation to spur a true recovery: The economy will continue to suffer until there is a coherent and favorable economic policy. That means bringing long-term deficits under control without raising marginal tax rates – by cutting government outlays and by…