Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Employment situation

Both  the payroll and the household. survey showed continued weak employment gains as payroll employment only added some 80,000 jobs and the household survey showed a 128,000 gain. Private payrolls expanded some 84,000 as government jobs only contracted by 4,000. But the workweek did expand from 34.4 to 35.5 hours for all employees and from […]

Housing equity withdrawal drove the bubble, not so much the building

Tim Duy also points to Bill McBride and Josh Lerner adding to the discussion of the narrative of housing in our economy and how that should affect policy.  I would add of course the variety of responses by the mortgage industries (see Naked Capitalism) since that started in earnest round 1998 (MERS).  I think this […]

Is Ireland the Poster Child of Growth?

by Rebecca Wilder Is Ireland the Poster Child of Growth? I wanted to familiarize myself with the economic statistics in Ireland, so I thought that I’d share my findings with you all. Many politicians refer to Ireland as the poster child of austerity – according to the contentious thesis of expansionary austerity (a review from the […]

Germany the Euro winner?

Update: This post from 6/28 has been re-posted today 7/04 as I believe it was lost in last Thursday’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the health care ACA. Robert Waldmann has also subsequently expressed an opinion on how Germany should proceed. Re-posted:The NYT carries a data filled op-ed by Gunnar Beck, and takes […]

The Disease of the 21st Century…

Via AlterNet, Lynn Parramore describes: Job Insecurity: It’s the Disease of the 21st Century — And It’s Killing Us A massive, Xanax-fueled public health crisis driven by chronic employment worry is headed our way. Remember Dilbert, the mid-level, white-collar Cubicle Guy of the ’90s who could never seem to get ahead? In the 21st century, […]