CBSMarketwatch.com has a couple of interesting stories for China-watchers. The first reports that it seems increasingly certainl that China will not revalue the yuan any time soon. The second surveys some of China’s recent economic statistics. Some highlights: Third-quarter gross domestic product grew 9.1 percent compared with the July-September period last year, slowing from the […]

The biggest single decision that Bush has made during his presidency – to launch a US takeover of Iraq in order to protect the US from Iraq’s WMDs – revealed substantially poor judgment. UN inspections could have achieved exactly the same result as the invasion as far as WMDs are concerned, but with dramatically lower […]

Sometimes I get so focused on Bush’s terrible job-creation record that I forget that, while not as bad, GDP growth hasn’t been particularly impressive under Bush II. In fact, it’s generally not as good under Republicans as it is under Democrats. Reader and commenter Spencer (thanks!) was kind enough to construct the following graphic illustration:(*) […]

Normally I don’t pay too much attention to the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators. I’m not at all convinced that they have good predictive power; at best I think they reflect the overall trend in the economy at a particular point in time. But this story caught my attention: Economic indicator sinks for […]

In case you’ve missed it, last week The Guardian started “Operation Clark County.” The idea was that they would facilitate letter-writing from British citizens concerned about the US election to undecided voters in a semi-rural county in central Ohio. How has it gone? The Daily Telegraph (a right-of-center British newspaper) says not so well: British […]

As I’ve said many times, I think that Bush is not responsible for the weakness of the economy in 2001. A recession was bound to happen at the end of the long uninterrupted expansion of the 1990s – all expansions end with a recession, after all. And as Brad DeLong put it in a WSJ […]

From AP, via the Indianapolis Star: TEHRAN, Iran — The head of Iran’s security council said Tuesday that the re-election of President Bush was in Tehran’s best interests, despite the administration’s “axis of evil” label, accusations that Iran harbors al-Qaida terrorists, and threats of sanctions for the country’s nuclear ambitions. Historically, Democrats have harmed Iran […]

Here’s an economics paper just begging to be written: SALEM, Ore. (CNN/Money) – Less than two weeks away from Election Day, political signs on front yards are in full bloom. Lined up, they make quite an impression — suddenly, a neighborhood appears liberal, conservative or “politically diverse.” For some homebuyers, that is reason to give […]

The Economist notes some gathering distress over the price of oil. But Greenspan, in a speech last Friday, presented another incarnation of his seemingly boundless optimism. Some highlights from his speech: While there are concerns of seeming inadequate levels of investment to meet expected rising world demand for oil over coming decades, technology, given a […]

The other day, my 10 year old niece asked me why I am going to vote for John Kerry. I must admit that I was at a bit of a loss. I didn’t know where to begin. There are so many ways in which I prefer Kerry to Bush, after all, so I found it […]