1. Congress has increased the cost of unskilled labor by 10.7% in the middle of the worst recession since the early 1980s. The unemployment rate is 9.5%. It is unclear how this is supposed to help the economy – unless you are Labor Secretary Solis or the Economic Policy Institute. …(Read More)
1. It is good news that the big banks are reporting profits, though, as some observers have noted, it’s not hard to make money with free funds (provided by thousands of smaller banks who cannot continuously roll over Federal Funds as a way to fund assets). It is also good …(Read More)
Dr. Bill Dunkelberg discussed the current state of the economy, near-term prospects and the likely impact of current monetary and fiscal policies on the economy. How will the trillion dollars of new spending be financed? Is “government job creation” an oxymoron? Will foreigners continue to lend us money? What is …(Read More)
1. According to government statistics, consumers lost over $11 trillion in wealth over the past year. The media has publicized these statistics widely and I am sure that many people who are unaffected by the recession and never knew the real value of their homes and paid their mortgage regularly, …(Read More)
1. There is good news and bad news from the housing market this week. Housing starts fell to a level of 460,000 units last month, the lowest in decades. This looks bad given that in normal times we need about 1.5 million new starts to meet the demand from new …(Read More)
1. A decade ago in these commentaries I predicted the demise of General Motors and the big three. In the tradition of good forecasting, I did not provide a date. But it has come to pass. GM has been liquidating itself for years now. It sold 51 percent of its …(Read More)
Everyone running for president promises “change” and promises a big basket of goodies. This past election was no exception. But, once done, the winner’s promises collide with reality, reality in a political context and in a real-economy context. We forget that our presidents have little power to deliver on promises, …(Read More)
Congress passed a “bailout”, but who will it help? Why did the market crash 800 points days after the bailout was passed? How did we get into this mess in the first place? Who is at fault? What’s at the core of our current problems? The seeds of our current …(Read More)
1. More politicians are waking up to reality – we need to drill for oil in the U.S. Leaders who are supposed to worry about our future instead of being re-elected in 2 years should have figured this out years ago. As usual, no leadership in Congress, heads in the …(Read More)
1. The factionalization (new word) of America is becoming absurd. US News & World Reports reported that McCain made a great move talking about his shopping at Costco. Pollster Zogby says that Costco\’s mainstream customers are must-wins in the fall election campaign. Zogby noted that McCain still needed to win …(Read More)