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US Economy

Land Of Opportunity To Barren Wasteland

Robin Lewis | Posted 05.17.2013 | Business
Robin Lewis

Without the elements of trust and fairness, democracy and free market capitalism cannot work. And poll after consumer poll reveals that a greater percentage than not believes our government and the business and financial sectors are lacking both.

What Does Immigration Reform Mean for Startups?

Mike McGeary | Posted 05.17.2013 | Business
Mike McGeary

This is the first real attempt at truly comprehensive immigration reform, and it might actually have a shot. So what does this mean for startups? And why does this matter?

Manufacturing Is Going (to New) Places: And What That Means About Jobs

Mark Tomlinson | Posted 05.13.2013 | Business
Mark Tomlinson

More than two thirds of manufacturers are having difficulty finding skilled employees. We cannot stand by hoping someone else will solve our skills gap crisis. Industry, government and educators need to work together to implement solutions that work.

Not in Kansas Anymore: Monetary Policy Demystified

Diane Swonk | Posted 05.13.2013 | Business
Diane Swonk

This report takes a closer look at monetary policy, what the FOMC is trying to accomplish, where voting members are in the process and ultimately, how far we have traveled from "home."

Moody's Gets Faddish on Public Pensions

Dean Baker | Posted 05.08.2013 | Business
Dean Baker

The bond-rating agency Moody's made itself famous for giving subprime mortgage backed securities triple-A ratings at the peak of the housing bubble. Well, Moody's is back. They announced plans to change the way they treat pension obligations in assessing state and local government debt.

Tax Reform: As Usual, We're Going About It All Wrong

Jared Bernstein | Posted 05.06.2013 | Business
Jared Bernstein

Proposed tax changes should have to stand on whether they'll a) help to raise the revenue we need to meet future challenges that are coming fast, or b) boost growth in ways that actually matter to contemporary economies.

Buffett: 'This Is Not Our Toughest Hour'

AP | JOSH FUNK | Posted 05.05.2013 | Business

OMAHA, Neb. -- Part rock concert, part investment workshop, the annual gathering of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders is an odd mix. But that's just ho...

The Flaccid Jobs Report

Robert Reich | Posted 05.03.2013 | Politics
Robert Reich

If there was ever a time for our leaders in Washington to declare victory over the deficit, and focus instead on jobs and inequality, it's now. But don't hold your breath.

April Jobs Report Comes in Better Than Expected

Jared Bernstein | Posted 05.03.2013 | Business
Jared Bernstein

Payrolls increased by 165,000 last month and the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.5 percent, in a jobs report that painted a considerably brighter picture than last month's version.

The Trouble With Low Inflation

Jared Bernstein | Posted 05.01.2013 | Business
Jared Bernstein

Nominal wages for incumbent workers are still pretty sticky. If you're lucky enough to have a job, think about your own case. I suspect you haven't seen much in the way of raises, but has your salary actually been cut in nominal terms?

Trade Talks Put Health Safeguards in Danger

Nasima Hossain | Posted 05.01.2013 | Politics
Nasima Hossain

The U.S. and the European Union are beginning trade negotiations on a major new treaty designed to strengthen the lagging economies on both sides of the pond. Unfortunately, if history is any guide, the negotiations threaten to wreak havoc on our public health and safety protections.

Land of Opportunity to Barren Wasteland, Part 2

Robin Lewis | Posted 05.01.2013 | Business
Robin Lewis

Capitalism's founder Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is indeed invisible to most of society. However, that invisible hand now belongs to big business, finance and government -- to whom it is very visible indeed.

The Fed, Apple and Trickle-Down Economics

Robert Reich | Posted 05.01.2013 | Politics
Robert Reich

Trickle-down economics is the first cousin of austerity economics. Austerity is nuts when so many millions are out of work. And as we've learned before, trickle-down is a fraud. Nothing ever trickles down.

Is War Good for the Economy?

Michael S. Lofgren | Posted 04.30.2013 | Politics
Michael S. Lofgren

The United States must have a proper defense. That does not require military spending equal to the rest of the world combined, nor does it mean jumping into conflicts because the Beltway foreign policy cabal claims that "doing something is better than doing nothing."

GDP Bag of Tricks

Michael Pento | Posted 04.30.2013 | Business
Michael Pento

It all comes down to this, the U.S. government will not be able to service its debt once interest rates normalize, and that will be the sad truth regardless of what voodoo tricks Washington uses to report GDP.

Public Debt and Economic Growth

Robert Reich | Posted 04.29.2013 | Politics
Robert Reich

Reinhart and Rogoff seem to be correct in one basic respect: Economic growth does seem to be lower in very-high-debt countries. But the entire debate over their paper's flaws begs the central question of cause and effect. Is growth lower because of the high debt? Or does cause-and-effect the other way around?

What If George Akerlof Had Written About Lethal 'Lemons'?

William K. Black | Posted 04.29.2013 | Business
William K. Black

If you have studied economics at the university level in the last 35 years, it is likely you were introduced to the concept of "asymmetrical information" and George Akerlof's famous 1970 article on markets for "lemons."

How to Read the Week's Economic and Market Signals

Mohamed A. El-Erian | Posted 04.27.2013 | Business
Mohamed A. El-Erian

Expect next week's policy meetings to signal that central bank stand ready to step in, once again, to maintain the disconnect between buoyant equity markets and sluggish economic conditions -- not as an end in itself but, given Congressional dysfunction, as virtually the only way today to support economic activity (and it is rather imperfect as the expected benefits come with growing costs and risks). Look for the Federal Reserve to alter the thrust of its policy narrative. Rather than advance its prior emphasis on tapering its monthly $85 billion purchases of market securities, it will seek to reassure markets by iterating its willingness to do more if needed. Across the Atlantic, the European Central Bank will face increasing pressure to cut its interest rate (currently at 0.75%) and liberalize the collateral requirements it imposes -- both meant to loosen monetary conditions.

This FAA Sequester Vote Doesn't Smell Right

Jared Bernstein | Posted 04.27.2013 | Business
Jared Bernstein

Is this bipartisan support to mitigate one of the noxious effects of sequestration? Or is it papering over the high-visibility stuff that affects the affluent while lots of other budget bleeding goes on beneath the radar?

Land of Opportunity to Barren Wasteland

Robin Lewis | Posted 04.26.2013 | Business
Robin Lewis

Think about three million empty, decaying and devalued houses following the leveraged-up mortgage crash of 2008. And what about the jobs lost, and spike in the number of people living below the poverty line?

The Small Business Take on Minimum Wage

John Arensmeyer | Posted 04.26.2013 | Small Business
John Arensmeyer

Small businesses don't make decisions based on politics. They make decisions based on what's right for their business, what's right for their communities and what's right for our economy.

Smaller-Than-Expected Growth

Reuters | Lucia Mutikani | Posted 04.26.2013 | Business

* First-quarter growth accelerates at 2.5 percent rate * Inventories, consumer spending boost growth * Business spending on equipment, software ...

The Known Unknowns

Richard C. Leone | Posted 04.25.2013 | Politics
Richard C. Leone

Before we go charging off to fight the great battles to secure America's finances in the future, we should reflect on how accurate we have been in the past when predicting the national balance sheet.

Airport Sequester Watch: Live!

Jared Bernstein | Posted 04.24.2013 | Business
Jared Bernstein

You can't order up your government dysfunction with a side of efficiency. You're either on the we're-the-Tea-Party-and-we're-here-to-shut-things-down bus or you're off of it.

Conservatives Favored Deficits Before Keynes

Paul A. London | Posted 04.22.2013 | Politics
Paul A. London

What the Chicago conservatives in 1932 said the government should do was spend aggressively on useful public works and infrastructure. There were then and are now plenty of liberal ideas that deserve harsh criticism.