Posts in "recession"

Creighton Harrington's picture
By Creighton Harrington at 10:40PM

A Leap of Faith from the Bunning Affair

Yes, bear with me on this one. 

First I want to give Bunning some credit.  If you don't know what's going on, he is halting the Senate essentially (although they could vote today regardless of his objection) on a 30 day extension for jobless benefits funds. He's getting a lot of heat because he just up and decided that this is what he would raise objection on, yet he supported the Bush tax cuts, war funding, etc.  In that aspect suspicion is rightly placed.  However, I've been watching alot of news programs twist this into partisan politic, wickedness, etc.  This is what he is really doing.  He's not trying to halt jobless benefits; he wants to take the money for it from allocated funds, like stimulus funds, instead of increasing the debt.  That's it.  So, I'll give him a pat on the back for sticking to a principle (even if it just suddenly appeared). 


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Elliot Engstrom's picture
By Elliot Engstrom at 9:41PM

Government Massively Underestimates Severity of Recession

What a surprise.  From CNN Money:

As bad as the government's jobs readings numbers have been during the Great Recession, we'll soon find out the real situation likely was worse.

Much worse.

Job losses during the recession may have been underestimated by close to a million jobs. So instead of employers cutting just over 7 million jobs from their payrolls since the economic downturn began in December 2007, it's expected that the Labor Department's new estimate will be a loss of 8 million jobs.

"It's an enormous understatement of the severity of the crisis," said Heidi Shierholz, labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a union-supported think tank. "It confirms that things were actually worse on the ground than what the reports suggested."

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Jihan Huq's picture
By Jihan Huq at 8:53PM

"Welcome To Obamaville: Colorado's Fastest Growing Community" Reads Homeless Camp Sign

SignsThis story broke in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where residents found this controversial sign at a homeless camp. Colorado's station KRDO was first to break the story, and now the station has made a "public appeal for information" on who the originator was.

Though Spencer Swann of Colorado Canyon Signs admits to the contruction of the sign,  he refuses to inform the media whom he built it for. Since then, Swann has replaced the sign with a "Please help. We need firewood, propane and canned food" sign.  Though public perception of the sign was mixed, Swann said: "I've had 100 calls today, and not a single one of them was negative." He also claimed that the originator is a person who is devoted to the homeless cause, stating: "He gives them money, he gives them food, he gives them support."

Great sign. I just wish there was a smiliar one during the Bush administration.

Brian Beyer's picture
By Brian Beyer at 5:13PM

Our Current Crisis: Austrian Style

For a great Austrian economic primer to the crisis, read this study from the Foundation for Economic Freedom:

image

Get it here.

Brian Beyer's picture
By Brian Beyer at 1:34PM

Bernanke's "Remedy"

In this Washington Post article, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, makes the case for "good reform" for the Fed. Covertly aiming the whole article at the two bills that would expose the Federal Reserve's secretive policies, H.R. 1207 and S. 604, Bernanke offers more of the same rather than real reform.

Bernanke writes,

" The Fed played a major part in arresting the crisis, and we should be seeking to preserve, not degrade, the institution's ability to foster financial stability and to promote economic recovery without inflation."


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Matt Cockerill's picture
By Matt Cockerill at 8:29PM

10/28/09 Nightly Roundup

  • Is the bear market rally in stocks finally coming to its inevitable end?
  • Neocon Sarah Palin's surprising endorsement of a third party candidate is an encouraging sign.
  • But while Palin postures -- perhaps more authentically than most Repukes --  as pro-life, the establishment state she supports treats human life as a disposable means to an end.
  • The (aforementioned) anti-free speech, "tolerance"  Stazi is still defaming libertarain titan Walter Block.
  • Speaking of PC totalitarianism, the British government schools are apparently compiling "cases" of racism (and creeping poor kids of all colors out in the process).
  • Most seriously, Barack Obama is -- politician as he is -- eyeing some sort of "compromise" on Afghanistan.

 

Bonnie Kristian's picture
By Bonnie Kristian at 11:53AM

Ron Paul on the recession: 'None of this is behind us'

The Hill has a new article explain Ron Paul's view on our economic woes, his assignment of blame to the Federal Reserve, and his conviction that Wall Street is still "a shaky place to be."  Read it here.

Trends researcher Gerald Celente agrees, predicting that "the worst is yet to come."

Dubbed as the world's greatest trends forecaster by CNN, USA Today and CNBC, Celente insists that despite the latest market bounce, and increase in consumer confidence, the economy's fundamentals are broken.

Read his explanation for why we should not expect anything more than a fleeting, false recovery any time soon here.

Matt Cockerill's picture
By Matt Cockerill at 6:48PM

Non-Austrian Economists Are Befuddled

Regarding phony exuberance over the 10k dow, I think genuine  confusion, rather than an attempt at  propaganda, is the motive of this over-the-top media coverage. This confusion was best summed by a fascinating article written by Paul Krugman several weeks back analyzing the flaws in establishment economic schools. Krugman conceded that Neo-Keynesian and Chicago School methodologies were deeply flawed, given their total inability to forsee the current crisis.

Perhaps I'm a bit naive, but I think that when the economy  sours again and the dollar depreciates to new lows -- and I'm certain it  will -- the Austrian School will have a real opening in the resulting  intellectual climate. 

Nick Leavens's picture
By Nick Leavens at 11:30AM

Ugly

This blog post really needs to start with a giant graphic that shows just how our current recession stacks up against other post World War II recessions- in terms of percent job losses relative to peak employment prior to the start of the recession.

Employment Job Losses

(click to enlarge)

Ugly is pretty much all you can say (in front of small children) when you look at the news regarding our economy, and the jobs picture in particular.  We're now into this recession 21 months on, and while our leaders claim things are on the mend, the numbers don't often lie.


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George Edwards's picture
By George Edwards at 9:04PM

Prescient Economists Say Recession Ended in July

Newsletter Economist Dennis Gartman comes out with a bold new prediction that our recent economic ails are coming to an end.   He rattles off a few economic indicators that but can't really give a set rule for analysis.  Instead he says "It's like the definition for pornography: I'll know it when I see it."

He further shows his palm reading prowess when he declares the act of trying to understand the business cycle as being "arcane."  If only Mises and Hayek could've lived to see their work so supplanted!  With statements like "i'm not going to get caught up in the explanations of things if the correlations hold," who needs Tom Woods to muddle our minds with books like Meltdown