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 . . . ]
The term “Lesser Depression” looks more appropriate by the hour. Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff suggests another label, the Second Great Contraction (to distinguish it from the Great Depression). I’ve quoted him in Food for Thought. See his excellent essay on the op-ed of the Financial Times* on Aug. 9, 2011 The [continue reading . . . ]
Is it too late to buy Apple stock (symbol AAPL)? I don’t know. I do know that an Apple store I visited recently was swamped. People weren’t quite lined up on the sidewalk, but it was a close call. The store was crawling with potential customers. Every age group from [continue reading . . . ]
On KUOW’s Weekday program July 6, I suggested Washington’s tourist industry tax itself to fund tourism promotion now that the state’s puny effort (that spawned such forgettable campaigns as “Say WA”) have dried up (here’s a link to a New York Times piece that appeared in the Seattle Times). I [continue reading . . . ]
In my July 3, 2011, post, I referenced my favorite economics columnist, Martin Wolf of the Financial Times. I mentioned he has argued consistently since the financial panic in the fall of 2008 that governments of rich countries should risk doing too much rather than too little to combat falling [continue reading . . . ]
The bad news is that the United States – indeed, much of the developed world – is in the midst of a “contained depression.” The private sector continues to de-leverage. Unemployment remains high. Pay for most is static or declining. Deflation remains a bigger threat than inflation. Depressions eventually end, [continue reading . . . ]
China has become enormously important to the Pacific Northwest economy. Marple’s Letter reports that China was the primary driver behind a 41% jump in Douglas Fir log exports from the Pacific Northwest last year. It is great news for timber owners — log prices are sharply higher — but bad [continue reading . . . ]
Oregon would have to increase taxes on each household by more than $2,000 each year for several years to fully fund the pension obligations of its public employees (those working for states, counties, cities, school districts, etc). By this measure, only in New Jersey and New York are the burdens [continue reading . . . ]
The U.S. economy may be growing so slowly it is hard to find a pulse, but things are different in the rest of the world. The global economy continues to grow, and at a decent pace. Once people get their basic needs for food, clothing and shelter covered, they want [continue reading . . . ]