rdan Finfacts From 1995 to 2008, the annual US trade deficit with China grew from $34 to $266 billion, accounting for virtually all of the increase in the US non-oil deficit from $44 to $282 billon. Imported oil petroleum contributes significantly to the US trade deficits. From 1995 to 2008, the petroleum deficit increased from […]
Peter Morici gets to the point in this paper in Finfacts on the first half of what we need to face. I hear little from naysayers of ‘protectionism’ on this point of manipulating trade advantages. Fixing credit markets and energy policy are largely domestic challenges, whereas recalibrating trade with China requires cooperation from Beijing. However, […]
should read Sensible Centrist J. Bradford DeLong on the difference in forecasting between the current Administration and the CEA under N. Gregory Mankiw. Romer/Bernstein/Kreuger et al., 2008-9 edition: As I understand matters, last December the median private-sector forecast had the unemployment rate topping out at 9% in the second half of 2009. The incoming Obama […]
Candian Bacon (certainly Michael Moore’s best work of fiction), starring John Candy So I Married an Axe Murderer / Mike Meyers Airplane! / Leslie Nielsen Chain Reaction / Keanu Bright Lights, Big City / Michael J. Fox (who has no Elvis in him, but does good work) I think they’re trying to convince everyone to […]
by Bruce Webb Sanders makes the case I have been thinking of making (bolding mine):Bernie Sanders Demands Democrats Commit To Stopping Health Care Filibuster One of the Senate’s most vocal progressives is demanding that the Democratic Party commit to voting against filibustering health care legislation now that, with the impending arrival of Al Franken, the […]
Instapundit offered a chart on the growth of actual and projected Federal government budget deficits a couple months ago: Treasury lists the numbers of the on-going rise in debt as well. The new ceiling for spending is 12.1 trillion USD, but we are close to that now at an estimated 11.3 trillion USD. 09/30/2008 10,024,724,896,912.49 […]
Robert Waldmann Paul Krugman thinks that a US politician is excessively opposed to tariffs. End of days near. I think the president has this wrong: President Obama on Sunday praised the energy bill passed by the House late last week as an “extraordinary first step,” but he spoke out against a provision that would impose […]
Being a seven-hour drive away, I don’t have as much direct knowledge of the NYC economy as I did a year or so ago. So I have to rely on Different Metrics. Here is one DrektheUninteresting (see #6) (of Scatterplot and Total Drek fame) will love, when he resurfaces. For those who want a contemporary […]
by Bruce Webb In comments on the last post MG was challenging 2Slugs contention that the real issue was Medicare, while BuffPilot was accusing me of ignoring Obama spending. Well I am on my way out the door and will let the CBO do the talking for me:That near term temporary light blue peak? Obama […]
CATO was making much hay a few days ago about budget problems in California, New York, and New Jersey, which can be explained, respectively, by the Governor’s veto of an Assembly-passed budget a few months ago, the decline in tax revenues from financial services firms and continuing loss of upstate industry, and underfunded pension obligations […]