I wish it were otherwise, but no matter: If Washington State’s economy were a stock, I’d be tempted to go short*. I’m no expert. I know only what I read. My gut tells me that the longer the 787 remains grounded, the more likely Boeing will have to redesign the [continue reading . . . ]
I told a nephew the other day that I think the New York Times Science Section every Tuesday is reason enough to pay the newspaper’s monthly subscription price. The nephew had blogged movingly about his daily habit of reading newspaper obituaries. In our e-mail exchange, the nephew, Hank Greer, wrote, [continue reading . . . ]
I have four topics lined up for my stint on KUOW‘s Weekday program tomorrow. Sometimes the host sticks to the topics I suggest, some times not. Here are my bullet points: Dreamliner Blues: The grounding of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is obviously at the top of everyone’s radar screen. I’m not [continue reading . . . ]
My friend James McCusker, tongue planted firmly in cheek, suggests that rather than just one trillion-dollar platinum coin as a solution to our debt-deficit-fiscal mess, we mint one worth $50,000 for each of us. That’s roughly 315 million shiny tokens. Poof! Our debt problem goes away. How do you plan [continue reading . . . ]
Don’t miss today’s New York Times obit of the 1986 Nobel laureate and George Mason University professor James M. Buchanan. Like everyone else, Buchanan taught, politicians tend to act in their own self-interest Courting voters at election time, for example, legislators will approve tax cuts and spending increases for projects [continue reading . . . ]
Three questions that we’ll know the answers to before 2013 is over: 1. Will Steve Ballmer remain in the driver’s seat at Microsoft? He’s been responsible for day-to-day operations for more than 14 years and CEO for a nice round dozen years. During his tenure, Microsoft has missed the boat [continue reading . . . ]
So we have just started Year 5 of N-ZIRP, the Fed’s near-zero-interest-rate policy, and it is working so well that the Fed will have to keep printing money. What’s wrong with this picture? In fact, despite a massive expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet, and some of the lowest interest [continue reading . . . ]
Skip the pricey drink and buy the stock. If you had put $1,000 into Starbucks stock at the end of March 2009, a few days following the bottom of the current stock-market cycle, you would be sitting on a gain of roughly five to one. No one can know whether [continue reading . . . ]
I’ve been working on some new charts that I will present to U.S. Bank customers in Bellingham Tuesday. I’m on a panel for the bank’s 23rd annual economic outlook forum. I plan on saying what I have said in this space and on KUOW’s air: Amazon.com’s hiring and building sprees [continue reading . . . ]
Some things I hope to cover on the business-economy segment on KUOW today: U.S. economy: The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced October 26 that the U.S. economy grew at annual rate of 2.0% in the July-September quarter, much better than the 1.3% rate in the summer quarter. In real terms [continue reading . . . ]
In the decade through Fiscal 2008, Uncle Sam spent at the rate of about 19.4% of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), and took money in at the rate of about 18.3% of GDP, resulting in annual deficits of about 1.1% of GDP. In Fiscal 1999, at the start of that [continue reading . . . ]
No wonder Amazon.com lost money in Q3. A point I have been making in my Fall 2012 speeches is that the economy of the Seattle area has been doing well in part because both Boeing and Amazon.com are on what can only be called hiring sprees. On its web site [continue reading . . . ]