Tag Archives: unemployment rate

What is a Real Minimum Wage?

Financial FAQs The debate on how to boost this economic recovery has now shifted to the federal minimum wage standard, now at $7.25 percent per hour. This is in part because the latest Census Bureau report shows 46.5 million Americans … Continue reading

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Bad Jobs Report, Another New Deal Needed

Financial FAQs We now know why this economic recovery has been so weak 4 years after the end of the Great Recession. The government has been taken out of the jobs market. Government spending has been cut, rather than increased … Continue reading

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Our Poor Inflation Record

Popular Economics Weekly Inflation has fallen so low that it threatens this economic recovery. Why? Producers can’t charge more for their products, therefore can’t increase profits unless they use fewer workers and greater automation to replace them.  So there is … Continue reading

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Economic Growth Still Too Slow

Popular Economics Weekly Part of the debate over whether the Fed’s QE3 purchases of securities should end is based on economic growth.  I.e., why isn’t U.S. Gross Domestic Product growing faster than the average annual 2.2 percent rate? Actually, Q1 … Continue reading

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No Tapering By Fed This Year

Popular Economics Weekly Fed Chairman Bernanke once more ‘clarified’ his remarks, saying there is no way the Fed will even begin to raise their (short term) interest rates when the unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent. “There will not be … Continue reading

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QE3 Works, So Please Don’t Mess With It!

Financial FAQs Dear Federal Reserve Governors; Please don’t mess with QE3 just yet! Not in September, or even December. There are still too many reasons not to begin to taper the $85 billion per month in purchases that have kept … Continue reading

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Managing Fed’s Expectations—Why Austerity Now?

Popular Economics Weekly It seems that Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve has lost its nerve. Last week’s FOMC meeting confirmed that its Open Market Committee has decided to end the monthly QE3 security purchases sooner rather than later. We already see … Continue reading

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Did Bernanke Change His Tune?

Financial FAQs As we all know by now, Fed Chairman Bernanke seems to have abruptly switched sides in the stimulus debate. He said the purchases of $85 billion in bonds and mortgage securities could begin to be ‘tapered’ by the … Continue reading

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What Will the Federal Reserve Do??

Popular Economics Weekly Now the fat’s in the fire. Both stocks and bond prices have been falling of late, due to the fear that the Fed will end its $85 billion per month QE purchases of Treasury and mortgage securities … Continue reading

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A Greater Recession, if Fed QE Ends Too Soon

Financial FAQs The stock and bond markets are sinking because of Fed Chairman Bernanke’s seemingly offhand remark that the Fed could slow down its QE purchases of securities as early as its June FOMC meeting. Now Organization for Economic Development … Continue reading

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