January's economic numbers are in, so we can say government stimulus spending has worked; there is just not enough of it. The views of those Paul Krugman characterizes as "confidence fairies" don't work. Austerity and budget cutting during recessions doesn't boost growth for the simplest of reasons --...

We have austerity in our own country as a result of the Great Recession, but it doesn't fall equally on all states. In fact, states suffering the most are mainly those in the South, Midwest and manufacturing rust belts.

We also know most of them are red states, and so...

Why so much doom and gloom about U.S. economic growth when all the indicators are looking up for 2012? For instance, the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators again showed positive growth ahead. It rose 0.4 percent with seven of its 10 indicators positive.

Why is it so many pundits -- and some economists -- continue to be pessimistic about 2012 growth? Business and Wall Street economists in particular are predicting just 2 percent GDP growth for all of 2012, according to a recent CNBC report.

Why such pessimism? The reason cited...

A recent Gallup poll said 82 percent of respondents thought economic growth "extremely", or "very" important, while just 46 percent said reducing the income and wealth gap between rich and poor was extremely or very important.

Yet there is growing evidence that the two are...

How can we thank Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for keeping our economy afloat with gridlocked Congress and a timid White House? Not only has the Fed kept interest rates low enough to prevent actual deflation, as happened to Japan over the past 20 years that shrunk their economy. But the...

We can no longer afford to listen to those conservatives who believe government is the problem since there is no viable recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression without government investment in sectors that will grow our future economy -- particularly in education, infrastructure, and the research and...

The elements seem to be in place for a better 2012 economy. Why? Banks are lending again, and it was tight bank credit after bursting of the housing bubble that basically stopped businesses from growing. Banks stopped lending because of their losses from the Great Recession, which finally ended in...

It looks like 2011 is the year that wasn't. There was no recession, job creation was much better than even the Labor Department initially estimated, and congressional gridlock has not stopped economic growth -- in fact, may be a good thing.

So what do we make of this year's...

President Obama might have found his voice in jumping on the progressive bandwagon with his Osawatomie, Kansas speech about income inequality.

The small farm town of Osawatomie was where Teddy Roosevelt gave his now famous "New Nationalism" speech in 1910 that called upon the three branches of...

It turns out that austerity doesn't work, when it means tax cuts for the wealthy but spending (and thus income) cuts for the rest of U.S. But austerity does work when applied to the wealthiest that have used their wealth to create more instability, rather than creating jobs.

Great Britain...

What better way to understand Elizabeth Warren's bid for Massachusetts Senator to replace Scott Brown than conduct a teach-in, much as the Occupy Wall Streeters are doing. She stands for what we all need, after all, more knowledge on how to combat the huge levels of social and economic inequality...

It's hard to say whether Harvard Historian Niall Ferguson means what he says in his new book, Civilization: The West and the Rest; that the Western World's 500 years of predominance is over, thanks to growing debt problems in the U.S. and Europe, and dwindling populations.

It's...

It's becoming evident that rather than the political gridlock, such as the congressional supercommittee's obsession with spending cuts, we need to worry about economic growth and jobs.

There are some very good ideas on how to bring back economic growth and jobs, as in President Bill Clinton's newest book,...

"With only about a month remaining before its recommendations are due, lawmakers on the congressional supercommittee charged with finding savings from the federal budget wrestled with cuts to defense, foreign aid and other programs on Wednesday," said Bloomberg Marketwatch.

But the historical record tells us that finding...

Should it surprise us that we, the people, are smarter than the politicians we've elected? Maybe the money machine it takes to get elected these days has discouraged more Mr. Smiths from going to Washington.

Or, maybe the Facebook revolution that is connecting youth and students worldwide has enabled...

Now that Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law Professor (Contracts) and creator of the barely born Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, is running for Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat, she should receive the attention she deserves. Professor Warren is perhaps the most eloquent spokesperson for rebalancing 30 years of policies...

Friday's Labor Dept. employment report was good for several reasons, but tight credit is holding back small business hiring where most jobs are created. Firstly, it showed that prior months' jobs creation was much better than forecast. Payroll jobs advanced 103,000 in September, following a revised 57,000 rise in August...

Never in my 30 years as a mortgage banker did I think I would see interest rates this low -- as low as during Harry Truman's presidency. Yet very few homeowners are able to take advantage of those rates, which have dropped more than 2 percent since...

There is no reason to accept what pundits and some economists are telling us we have to accept -- a 'new normal' for economic growth that is some kind of growth recession. Because we have the means to spur sufficient economic growth, if only we will reject an insidious disinformation...