Category Archives: Economics

Exported Justice

It’s good to see that Goldman Sachs isn’t content with just destroying the American financial system. They’ve got global ambitions, baby!
As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped [...]

Needz moar j0bs

Christina Romer, one of Obama’s economic advisors, says that by the end of 2010 the unemployment rate will be 9.8%. Which is ummm… awful. And to make matters worse, by the end of 2011 the rate will be 8.9%. Still awful. Even at the end of 2012 the rate will be a really crappy 7.9%.
As [...]

The state of (un)employment

Unemployment didn’t push past 10% in December. Cause for celebration right? Well… not really:
Had the labor force not decreased by 661,000 last month, the jobless rate would have been 10.4 percent, according to economists including David Rosenberg at Gluskin Sheff & Associates in Toronto and Harm Bandholz at UniCredit Research in New York.
[...] About 1.7 million [...]

The result of conservative economic policies

Conservative economic theory asserts that the economy will flourish when wealthy captains of industry are free from the chains of government regulation and taxes. The wealthy will get more wealthy and spread more money around for the rest of us. A rising tide lifts all boats. Unfortunately for the majority of Americans, their theory was wrong:
There [...]

When Do Our Bankers Get Their Scolding?

The right wing in the US likes to joke about the weakness and effeminate nature of Europeans but at least those Europeans are taking principled stances on banker bonuses and the selfish financial industry in general.
On Friday, the President of the European Central Bank addressed them:
Mr Trichet said financial institutions should be using higher [...]

Limited Resources

Mr. Obama said he would entertain “every demonstrably good idea” for creating jobs, but he cautioned that “our resources are limited.” (@ NY Times)
Really, Mister President?
On Tuesday you seemed to imply that the United States had inexhaustible resources when you announced a troop surge in Afghanistan. Sure, you paid lip-service to cost/benefit analysis and the [...]

Reduce the deficit AFTER the real recovery

First, I hope all of you real ‘Mmmmericans had a great Thanksgiving. I know I had enough Turkey to hold me over until November 2010.
Second, now that you we’re back, it’s time for a dose of Vitamin-T, Matt Taibbi. Taibbi noticed that the Obama administration is promising to reduce the deficit, a.k.a. government spending, at [...]

Rant of the year: Wall Street’s never had it better

Be warned: This dude drops a lot of F bombs, so it might not be safe for work:

You wont be retiring

Growing up I thought I understood the strategy of retirement. I couldn’t count on Social Security benefits getting me through my golden years. So, once I entered the workforce I would need to invest a significant percentage of my income in stocks and bonds through a 401(k) or other kind of tax shelter.
Well, Time magazine has [...]

Two Americas: One for us, another for bankers

America #1:
… this fall, she exhausted all options. She had once owned and overseen a group home for homeless people. Now, she succumbed to that status herself, checking in to a shelter.
“No one could have told me that in a million years: I’d wake up in a homeless shelter,” she said. “I had a house [...]