Tax Avoidance And The 2011 GDP Dip
UK investment banks are preparing to pay many of their big earners at the beginning of 2010 to avoid an income tax on April 5. The Times points out that this may reinforce notions…
Economy
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Newest first · Page 382A Cynical View Of Bernanke’s Reappointment
The number of reasons for President Obama to reappoint Ben Bernanke as Fed chairman greatly outnumber the reasons for letting him go and putting someone like Larry Summers in his place. Bernanke is viewed…
No Increase For Social Security Recipients
The millions of Americans who get social security will not see their payments rise next year and probably not the year after. The cost of living increases that have been in place for thirty…
White House Deficit Estimate To $9 Trillion From $7.1 Trillion
The Administration quickly and fairly quietly raised its budget deficit forecast for the next ten years to $9 trillion from $7.1 trillion, an astonishing 27% increase. The new estimate is much closer to the…
Buffett: Economy May Mend, But Inflation Will Wound
Warren Buffett wrote an op ed piece for The New York Times. One part of the article was predictable. Buffett feels that rising government borrowing will eventually cause inflation. He goes through an elaborate…
Good News for Consumers: Wholesale Inflation Not Being Seen
Inflation is taking a ride in the backseat, again. The Labor Department said that July’s wholesale inflation measured by Producer Price Index came in at -0.9% on the nominal or headline rate, while the…
Higher Taxes In 2011 Should Drive Stronger Than Expected GDP Growth In 2010
More and more economists talk about a “V”-shaped recovery. The recession has been so bad, their theory goes, that there is now pent-up demand for goods and services. New data from the government show…
The Recession Will Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
“Do not go gentle into that good night.” –Dylan Thomas The recession, which was supposed to be ending, is hanging on for dear life if some of the economic data out this week are any…
Small Business Aid: Why The Stimulus Package Doesn’t Work
The Small Business Administration runs a stimulus program for the government that provides up to $225 million for modest American enterprises. According to The New York Times, this pool is meant to make about…
Bernanke & FOMC Redux
The announcement from the FOMC on the decision on interest rates is out. As most suspected, it was not the rate decision that mattered as much. It was the language around the potential exit…
The Pessimists Roll In As The Recovery Takes Root
It may be that some people just want to spoil a good time. As earnings, GDP, employment, and housing sales begin to show the trends that have encouraged analysts to call an end to…
Cut The Stimulus Package To Decrease The Deficit
American GDP growth was much better than expected in the second quarter of the year, falling only 1%. Unemployment statistics were surprisingly good as the jobless rate actually improved from 9.5% in June to…
CEO Pessimism Grows, Troubling Employment Outlook
Chief Executive magazine has released its latest CEO Index. We follow this more closely now in order to try to gain insight about what the top brass of major companies in America is thinking…
Better Late Than Never: Economists Increase Forecasts For Second Half
It has begun to dawn on economists that all of the good news about housing, GDP, and earnings much be leading somewhere. Practitioners of the dismal science are beginning to make upward revisions to…
Personal Income & Spending Heading the Wrong Way
The Commerce Department has just released its data on Personal Income and Spending for the month of June. Income came in at -1.3%, and Dow Jones had estimates at -1.2% as the consensus. We’d…