[updated Feb. 25, see below] Is the U.S. economy finally out of the woods? Stock investors seem to think so. The time-honored (but relatively narrow) Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks is up by more than 14% since Nov. 25. The much broader Standard and Poor’s 500, covering America’s [continue reading . . . ]
“My idea of a good conversation is to find someone who will listen to me.” I’m not sure of the provenance. I’ve seen it attributed to George Bernard Shaw, but it also sounds like Mark Twain. If you know, help me out. The quote gives me an excuse to say that [continue reading . . . ]
Apple employs about 41,000 people in the United States. But virtually all of the parts for iPhones, iPads, iPods and other products are manufactured offshore — mainly in Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Germany. And assembly is almost entirely in China, in regimented compounds operated by Apple’s suppliers. Thousands of workers, [continue reading . . . ]
Press reports (see this one in the Seattle Times) say Democratic legislators in Olympia are promoting the formation of a taxpayer-owned bank. Makes me wonder if the effort to legalize pot has burrowed its way a little too deeply into hallowed halls in Olympia. Hasn’t Olympia got enough on its [continue reading . . . ]
As I mentioned on KUOW’s Weekday program today, I was delighted to read in today’s Financial Times* that manufacturing employment has grown faster in the U.S. during this recovery than in any other advanced country. From January 2010, employment in U.S. factories has risen by 2.9% to nearly 11.8 million [continue reading . . . ]
What do demonstrators in the streets of American cities have in common with Molotov-cocktail-hurling anti-austerity demonstrators in the streets of Athens? They are both reflections of the fact that things have changed permanently since the rich-world financial melt-down that began in the spring of 2007 with the failure of two [continue reading . . . ]
Gas at $4.00 a gallon? Gold at nearly $1,800? One of the reasons is that the value of the U.S. dollar has fallen by 38% in a decade, measured against the currencies of major trading partners. The collapse of the dollar to 97-lb. weakling status has been a drag if [continue reading . . . ]
The Swiss National Bank’s surprise decision Tuesday to try to prevent the Swiss franc from rising beyond SF1.20 to the Euro may well turn out to be a key miles-marker on the road to a global depression. The Swiss franc had become one of two leading refuges for investors seeking [continue reading . . . ]
Has the U.S. caught the Japanese disease? Are we destined for growth so slow you can barely feel the pulse? There are, of course, enormous differences between the U.S. and Japan. They are roughly twice as indebted as we are in relation to the size of their economy. With [continue reading . . . ]
Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, now at Berkeley, is as articulate and passionate as any economist on the left. He is ubiquitous on cable-tv shoutfests. I keep waiting for him to say with conviction that the private sector must create wealth before the government can redistribute it. I’m not [continue reading . . . ]
I get a headache thinking about how much money Uncle Sam is borrowing — in the past year at the rate of almost $42 million a second (hat tip to the Financial Times blog Alphaville for calling this debt graphic to my attention). Think the U.S. is an outlier? Guess [continue reading . . . ]
Today’s brutal report on the labor market from Uncle Sam reminded me that the Seattle Times (where I once worked) the other day conjured the image of vast expanses of state office space bereft of employees (here’s a link to the article). State government employment has declined two years in [continue reading . . . ]