Author Archives: George Washington

About George Washington

George Washington is the head writer at Washington’s Blog. A busy professional and former adjunct professor, George’s insatiable curiousity causes him to write on a wide variety of topics, including economics, finance, the environment and politics. For further details, ask Keith Alexander… http://www.washingtonsblog.com

Guest Post: Most Economists Fall Back Into Neoclassical Stupor … “If They Don’t Know Anything, Then Why Should We Listen To Them?”

Economists started to reflect in the deficiencies in neoclassical economists after the crisis hit … but now they are falling back into their old stupor.

Guest Post: “The Fed No Longer Even Denies that the Purpose of Its Latest Blast of Bond Purchases … Is To Drive Up Wall Street

As the following charts show, QE2 isn’t driving down bond rates – it’s stated goal. But it is helping the stock market. Is that good enough?

Guest Post: To Bee Or Not To Be?

Bee populations are rapidly declining … we’ve got to figure out why.

Guest Post: Humans Have Intentionally Modified Weather for Military Purposes and Climate Control for Decades

In a little-known historical fact, the Pentagon Papers also blew the whistle on the military’s weather modification program.

Guest Post: Michael Hudson: Average Stock Held for 22 Seconds and Average Foreign Currency Position Held for 30 Seconds

Can we have a free market when the average trade is less than a minute?

Guest Post: Underneath the Happy Talk, Is This As Bad as the Great Depression?

The stock market has largely recovered. But is there more to the story?

Guest Post: Assange Confirms that Bank of America Is the Target of Bank Leak

→ Washington’s Blog There has been widespread speculation that WikiLeaks would target Bank of America. This has now been confirmed. Specifically, Agence Press France is reporting: Assange also confirmed that WikiLeaks was holding a vast amount of material about Bank of America which it intends to release early next year.

Guest Post: Extreme Inequality Helped Cause Both the Great Depression and the Current Economic Crisis

Let’s take an honest look at the facts, and leave labels (and the fear of touching third rail) behind.

Guest Post: Most Driven Into Debt by Medical Bills HAVE Health Insurance

If you assume that most of those driven into debt and bankruptcy by medical bills are uninsured, you’re wrong.

Guest Post: Secretary of the Navy Hatches Brilliant Plan to Sell More Gulf Seafood and Transport Oil to the War Zone

Secretary of the Navy wants to encourage service men and women to eat more Gulf seafood. Brilliant!

Guest Post: Department of Justice “Crackdown” On Wall Street Is Just a P.R. Stunt Targeting Small-Time Crooks

We should be ecstatic that the Department of Justice is finally prosecuting fraud, right?

Unfortunately, it’s just a p.r. stunt going after small fish and leaving the big criminals untouched …

Guest Post: How Effective Would a Payroll Tax Holiday Be In Spurring Employment and Stimulating the Economy?

→ Washington’s Blog

Obama’s tax deal with Republicans extends the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy for another 2 years.

Obama’s plan would also extend aid for the long-term unemployed for another 13 months.

And the payroll tax (which funds Social Security and Medicare) would be lowered by 2 percentage points during 2011 in an effort to help spur hiring.

But will cutting the payroll tax really help to spur hiring?

Guest Post: Does Bernanke Look Like a Man Who is Confident About the State of the Economy and the Prospects for Recovery?

→ Washington’s Blog There is a lot to say about Bernanke’s comments on 60 Minutes today. Bernanke’s statement that unemployment is the biggest impediment to economic recovery is ironic, given that Bernanke’s policies have increased unemployment. See this and this. Harry Blodget notes that Bernanke implied that inequality is destroying America. Tyler Durden hones in […]

Guest Post: Double Dip In Housing Largely Caused By Failure to Prosecute Mortgage Fraud

→ Washington’s Blog There’s a double-dip in housing prices (and see this). As CNN points outs: U.S. home prices fell 2% in the third quarter after having gained steadily since early 2009. The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index has recorded gains in four of the previous five quarters, including a 4.7% jump between April and […]

Guest Post: Fed Data Shows Foreign Banks Huge Beneficiaries of Emergency Lending Programs, Hedge Funds, McDonald’s, Harley-Davidson and Others Also Received Help

→ Washington’s Blog Under orders from Congress pursuant to the Dodd-Frank financial legislation, the Fed has finally released details of its emergency lending starting in 2007. As Bloomberg notes: Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. were among the top borrowers from the Term Auction Facility [TAF]… Bank of America had three loans […]