Tag Archives: Great Depression
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
Ben Bernanke and the Fragile Recovery
Financial FAQs We know how fragile is the U.S. economic recovery just from the past 48 hours, because both U.S. and Japanese stock prices plummeted, and interest rates jumped on a seemingly offhand remark made by Fed Chairman Bernanke in … Continue reading
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
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
State of the Union—Why So Few New Jobs?
Popular Economics Weekly President Obama’s State of the Union address was all about jobs. So why have so few been created since the Great Recession? Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen gave a recent speech entitled: A Painfully Slow Recovery … Continue reading
Our Tragedy of the Commons—Austerity That Doesn’t Work
Popular Economics Weekly There is a longer term fiscal crisis that current budget negotiators are ignoring. It is called the Tragedy of the Commons — the long term neglect of common resources and facilities used by all, including our air, … Continue reading
Income Inequality Behind Most Poverty
Financial FAQs There were 46.2 million Americans in poverty in 2011, as median household income decreased to its lowest level since 2000, according to a Census Bureau report released this week that illustrated the toll from ongoing labor-market weakness. The … Continue reading
The War on Workers
Popular Economics Weekly We are seeing what can only be called a war on workers by Tea Party Republicans in particular. Who are workers? The 80 percent of consumers who are wage and salary earners. And they have not done … Continue reading
Greater Lawlessness Causes Great Recessions
Popular Economics Weekly We know Greg Smith’s unveiling of Goldman Sachs’ ‘culture’ of GS profits ahead of clients’ interests was nothing new. And that real laws were broken—from conflicts of interest to outright fraud. The 2010 congressional hearings unveiled much … Continue reading
Smart Government Creates Better Growth
Financial FAQs It is smart government that creates better economic growth, not smaller government, per se. Smart government means effective government that finances and regulates what the private sector can’t or won’t. So that doesn’t mean downsizing government for its … Continue reading
