Category Archives: Macro Economics

David Stockman’s Crony Capitalism

Popular Economics Weekly Paul Krugman is being too gentle with David Stockman, whose recent New York Times ‘rant’ glorifies the gold standard and denigrates government for standing in the way of putting “free markets and genuine wealth creation back into … Continue reading

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The Decline of the West

Popular Economics Weekly Berkeley Prof Brad Delong has posted a very sobering essay on his website. Because the deficit hawks and austerity advocates now hold sway in both Europe and North America, we could be in for a very prolonged … Continue reading

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What Inflation?

Financial FAQs We have seen this before during past budget battles. How much spending is necessary to create future economic growth, and jobs? A corollary is whether the Federal Reserve’s current easy credit policy will create runaway future inflation with … Continue reading

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Higher Retail Sales Point to Consumer Health

Popular Economics Weekly Consumers are buying more, a reflection of improving incomes and the jobs market. The U.S. Census Bureau announced Wednesday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for February, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday … Continue reading

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Ryan’s 19th Century Budget Plan

Financial FAQs Republican Paul Ryan’s 2011 budget plan is being trotted out by House Republicans once again. In spite of the sequester cuts and a declining budget deficit, Ryan wants to create even more economic austerity. Representative Ryan and House … Continue reading

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Expanding Service Sector Will Boost Growth

Financial FAQs Why are stock indexes breaking records? Part of it is because of record corporate profits (which affects price-to-earnings ratios), up 20 annually since the end of 2008, as well as good job news that is boosting investor optimism. … Continue reading

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Let’s Bring Back American Jobs

Popular Economics Weekly It’s well-known that American job formation isn’t keeping up with economic growth, but not why. It’s mostly because corporations have been retaining more of their profits and sharing less with their employees, so that household incomes have … Continue reading

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When Is Federal Debt Not a Burden?

Financial FAQs The sequester advocates have gotten their way. The March 1 deadline has passed to reach an agreement to alter the across the board spending cuts and so governments will begin the draconian job cuts that will certainly slow … Continue reading

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Bernanke’s Fed Growing U.S. Economy

Popular Economics Weekly Right now, the Federal Reserve seems to be the only government agency focused on growing the economy. Washington has otherwise been focused on the sequester agreement, or how to further cut government spending. But such austerity measures … Continue reading

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The Sequester Dilemma—How Much Is Too Much Austerity?

Financial FAQs Come March 1, we will begin to see how much damage the sequester agreement causes. A recent CNBC column by Larry Kudlow illustrates both the misconceptions and reason for the gridlock on avoiding across-the-board spending cuts of some … Continue reading

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