Unskilled Workers and Public Education
The New York Times reports that many factories are ready to hire workers, but that applicants for jobs lack the skills in math and science to be productively employed in these...
Economic Commentary
Congress Considers Extending Unemployment Benefits — Again
One ironclad rule of government programs is “if you subsidize something, you will get more of it.” Thus, paying poor, unmarried women to have children increases the number of children in...
Headed for Recovery … or the “Cliff-edge Around the Corner”?
After a meeting with his economic team and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on June 29, President Obama announced "the economy is strengthening" and "we are into recovery." The recovery mantra,...
Jobs: Too Many Riding, Too Few Pulling
The one thing that economists seem to agree on is that any economic recovery will be an uphill battle for some time to come. But if you’ve ever pulled a heavy...
Poll Shows Americans More Concerned About Jobs Than Oil Spill
The results of a Gallup poll taken from June 11 through 13 and released on June 17 indicated that more Americans rate the economy and jobs as the nation’s biggest problems...
National Debt at Tipping Point?
The Wall Street Journal took another look at the $13 trillion national debt written about here last week and announced that, according to a study by economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth...
Jobs? What Jobs?
When CNBC announced that the number of workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week while private employers added new jobs in May, this was “further evidence [that] the...
Time to Audit the Fed
The timing of the sellout by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) could not have been more politically auspicious — or more suspicious. For months the Senator had been denouncing the secrecy of...
Paving the Way for Future Bailouts
Item: The April 22 Washington Post reported that President Obama was making an “assertive stride into the debate on financial regulatory reform.” The President flew to New York “to deliver a...
Shock and Awe, Obama-Style
“Shock and awe” is how the Pentagon described the opening stages of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq: overwhelming force designed to demoralize the enemy into surrendering. Having witnessed how spectacularly...
Auditing the Fed: the Great Sellout
Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had long worked together on their campaign for a full audit of the Federal Reserve, which emerged last year as H.R. 1207...
Is Obama’s Bank Tax a Prelude to a Global Tax?
The Obama administration is calling its proposed $90 billion bank tax the Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee, and its salesman is Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. ...
Most Americans Are Clueless About Economics and Markets
Quick: What’s a “derivative”? The difference between a “custodial account” and a “trust”? “Listed” versus “unlisted” markets? “Debentures”? How about “price earning ratios”? “Assets” per se, versus “net asset value”? “Capitalism”...
Biden Predicts Job Growth — but Where’s the Evidence?
Vice President Joe Biden predicted job growth of 250,000 to 500,000 jobs a month in the next two months, according to CNBC on Monday. Biden was speaking at a political fundraiser...
Bet ‘Short’ on Government Credibility
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. executive director Fabrice Tourre probably didn't help his company's public relations efforts (assuming it has some) by referring to an index that facilitates derivatives trading as "a...