Reader Doug Smith was not happy with an article in the Christian Science Monitor yesterday, titled, “Does US need a second stimulus to create jobs? His remarks: Could you, Edward or someone consider reading this article and responding to it? My sense is that it perfectly captures ‘conventional wisdom’ and, in that sense, is a […]
Read more...By George Washington of Washington’s Blog . Daniel Gross points out that part of the reason that the American stock markets are going up even though unemployment is rising and the real economy suffering is because multinational corporations headquartered in the U.S. are experiencing strong sales abroad: Here’s a puzzle: The stock markets are doing […]
Read more...Submitted by Marshall Auerback, an investment manager who also writes at New Deal 2.0: Republicans and Democrats alike embraced legislation last week that would make California IOUs acceptable payment for all taxes, fees and other payments owed to the state – an action that effectively would mean that California is entering the currency business. Some […]
Read more...Is the leopard changing its spots? First we have the Wall Street Journal, of all places, lambasting Goldman, while incredibly, the Washington Post springs to its defense. If that isn’t bizarre enough, today we have the Wall Street Journal, which along with just about every mainstream media outlet, likes to inveigh about coming Social Security […]
Read more...The first time I every heard of value added taxes was in the early 1970s, and all the stuff I saw then said the VAT was a bad tax, you raised as much from a sales tax with far lower administrative costs. The economic and policy literature was as one-sided as I have ever seen […]
Read more...I always enjoy reading the Financial Times’ editor, Martin Wolf, but I sometime forget how refreshing and pointed he can be when he decides to let loose at a deserving target. Today’s lesson is the almost ludicrous efforts of the financial services industry to explain why the debacle that they just foisted on all of […]
Read more...Kansas is in the middle of a budget brawl, and tax refunds may be on hold if it isn’t resolved pronto. From the Kansas City Star: The Kansas Finance Council was to meet at 1 p.m. today to vote on whether to borrow $225 million from healthy state funds to cover expected payments to schools, […]
Read more...Dear God, let’s just kiss the US economy goodbye. It may take a few years before the loyalists and permabulls throw in the towel, but the handwriting is on the wall. The Obama Administration, if the Washington Post’s latest report is accurate, is about to embark on a hugely expensive “save the banking industry at […]
Read more...Reader Tim C pointed us to a post on Tim Price’s blog, “The Price of Everything,” which provides astute financial and sometimes social commentary. Below is an excerpt: Dear Western banking establishment, I notice that your unauthorised credit facility from international lenders of last resort now totals approximately $10 trillion. As a taxpayer and therefore […]
Read more...This comment by Jeffrey Sachs in the Financial Times is broader than its title suggests. It says that the US should not run willy-nilly into enacting massive spending plans in haste. Sachs makes two core points: a lot of compromises are being made that will render big chunks of the plan ineffective and/or wasteful, and […]
Read more...Even if there were a rationale for Citi buying a corporate jet now (which I cannot fathom, given their horrid financial condiiton), why buy new? There are no doubt plenty of used jets for sale right now. This incident illustrates the degree to which a corporate/financial elite has developed in the US. Top executives feel […]
Read more...The Administration has evidently launched a campaign to warn the American public that the black hole banking industry will need more in the way of recapitalization funding than is currently on offer. Mind you, we are NOT opposed to this sort of thing were it done correctly: tough minded banking industry reforms, seizure of the […]
Read more...Willem Buiter is being proven right even sooner than he probably expected. The CBO provided a simply atrocious (but I imagine not surprising if you are up on such matters) report that the Federal budget deficit will come in just shy of $1.2 trillion, and that before any stimulus related deficits are added in, which […]
Read more...The Wall Street Journal has sent a news alert that says that Obama is mulling a stimulus plan that will rely more heavily on tax cuts than initially envisaged as a way to win needed Republican support. The Journal says tax cuts could be as much as $310 billion, or 40%, of a total package […]
Read more...This is seriously not good, particularly since extending unemployment benefits is one of the preferred mechanisms for economic stimulus (unlike other ways of getting money to citizens, this mechanism is likely to lead to pretty much all being spent, which is the object of the exercise). Now some way will be found to make sure […]
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