Yearly Archives: 2012

The Sucking Sound of (At Least Some) Skilled Workers Leaving the US

Defenders of the Obama Administration’s indifference to high levels of unemployment often claim the problem isn’t readily remedied because the US suffers from “structural unemployment”. That’s really wonkese for blaming the victim. No sirreebob, the problem isn’t that there aren’t enough jobs, but that the workers are no damned good, as in they don’t have the right skills for our new super duper information based economy! In mainstream media outlets, claims like this are usually followed by a business owner saying there clearly aren’t enough skilled employees, he can’t hire any good machinists for $13 an hour. Generally speaking, Mr. Complaining Boss is offering below the going rate, but why let pesky details spoil a good narrative?

You don’t have to look hard to find evidence against this argument.

Links 11/15/12

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The Best Endorsement We’ve Gotten

I was humbled by this comment yesterday on Bill Black’s post on our fundraiser:

Quelle Surprise! HUD and Obama Whoppers About Mortgage Settlement, FHA Finances, Housing Market Remedies Coming Home to Roost

We took a very dim view of some of the Administration’s less-than-credible claims about its much-touted backdoor bank bailout, which was more popularly known as the mortgage settlement. And a rash of news reports tonight have caught the Administration out in its deceptions. From a March post, Memo to Shaun Donovan: Your Nose is Getting So Long You Need to Get a Hacksaw:

Corporate Bond Bubble Inflating?

At least in the US, a series of attention-getting stories, Sandy, then the elections, then the immediate roll right into fiscal cliff gamesmanship, followed by the Patreaus/Allen scandal, have made finance news seem comparatively dull, even though the stock market is in a swoon thanks to the engineered fiscal cliff nailbiter And Europe keeps looking more and more jaundiced by the day.

The Economist has taken note of the fact that the normally staid corporate bond market is looking a bit frothy.

Modern Money & Public Purpose: Yanis Varoufakis and Marshall Auerback on the Eurozone Crisis

One of the reasons the public knows little about economics is that most economists are lousy speakers. Part of that is their reliance on jargon, which is often shamanistic, designed to obscure rather than communicate. But the other reason is that a lot of economists don’t bother to try to be engaging.

The remarks by Yanis Varoufakis and Marshall Auerback are informative and lively, if ultimately pretty grim. The comments at YouTube are extremely positive.

Thanks! Met our Third Target, on to the Fourth!

Thanks to your generous and speedy responses, we’ve met our first three targets: upgrading site support and hosting (which should lead to faster loading times and quicker resolution of reader problems), nice ex-post facto honoraria to our loyal guest bloggers, and travel/conference expenses and coverage. And we are more than half way towards our goal of 1000 contributors for this fundraiser.

Links 11/14/12

Bill Black: Naked Capitalism Still Rules

By Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City

My name is Bill Black, and I have dedicated my career to the study and prosecution of massive control frauds. As such, I have come into contact with many of the policymakers and thinkers criticized here on Naked Capitalism. And I can tell you that if you want to change the corroded thinking in the high halls of power, you should join those of us who have given to Naked Capitalism this year.

Harry Shearer: Preventing Another “Sandy”: The Lessons New Orleans can Teach New Jersey

By satirist Harry Shearer, who recently took two years off from comedy to direct “The Big Uneasy”, a documentary about the investigations into the 2005 New Orleans flood

Within hours of the landfall of Sandy, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was telling his homeboy anchor Brian Williams that he was going to get on the phone to the President and request the Army Corps of Engineers to come up with a plan for protecting the Jersey shore. If he hasn’t yet placed that call, he might want to give it a second think.

Bankers Beginning to Look a Smidge Desperate: Goldman Looking for Technology Magic Bullets to Fix its Cost Problem

Now that Wall Street blew up the global economy in its search for fun and profit, it is finally having to eat its own cooking in the form of more modest profits. Of course, the slightly chastened Masters of the Universe seem constitutionally unable to recognize that their own actions might have something to do with the fix they are in.

The CBO’s Latest Con Job: Disappearing Data to Deter Analysis of its Deficit Scaremongering

The CBO is resorting to such extreme measures to impede independent analysis of its scaremongering about the fiscal deficits that it’s hard not to conclude that it has something to hide.

Links 11/13/12