While the employment report was weak, it was among the best we have seen this cycle. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6%. Compared to the historic norm in earlier recoveries this employment gain was very weak, but compared to the same point in the last two jobless […]

A few articles regarding the bond crisis in Ireland: The Irish Mess (IV)ECB buying of Irish bonds ‘vital’ supportThe world backs away from Ireland, Spain, PortugalIn keeping with Halloween, here’s a scary oneEU leaders trigger another bond market crisisIreland fifth best place to live (a separate issue, of course) Yves Smith’s article (first link) is […]

New rules finalized last week by the U.S. Department of Education are good news for students and taxpayers. For all topics except “gainful employment,” this was the final step of the negotiated rulemaking process initiated by the Department more than a year ago to ensure the integrity of the federal financial aid programs. Among other […]

It was fascinating watching Jack Welch on CNBC this morning. He kept talking about how we needed to sacrifice to balance the budget. But at the same time he kept pushing that the Bush tax cuts had to be preserved. I kept wanting to ask Welch what he was willing to sacrifice to balance the […]

by Bruce Webb Okay readers and Bears, give me a hand here, because some of our standard narrative on ‘unsustainable’ US debt seems to be turned on its head. The standard narrative is simple: we have $13 trillion in US Treasury debt, and most of it, or at least the new issuances are dependent on […]

Auto and light trucks sales rose from 11.76 million to 12.26 million in October, a 4.25% gain. Since the bottom auto sales have been rising at a 10% to 12% annual rate — depending on if you calculate the trend as a linear or an exponential trend and October sales were right on this trend […]

by Linda Beale Why taxes are important crossposted with Ataxingmatter The so-called tea party adherents and many libertarians, treat taxes as robbery, thinking that “it’s mine and the government has no right to it.”  That crazytalk, which most would realize if they ever had the opportunity to live in the brute-force world of no taxation.  […]

by Rebecca Wildercrossposted with Newsneconomics G4 GDP, reaction ECB It’s complicated. The ECB is currently juggling two objectives: perpetually assuaging bond investors in the face of a shaky financial system, and managing policy for an economy with a single currency and sovereign government issuers. But is it really so complicated? The chart above illustrates the […]