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

Killing Mitt Softly: His Not Being In a Position To show Leadership By Persuading Rightwing Republicans to Agree to Their Own Policy Proposals

Both Romneys said he would be more effective at navigating the current political moment. “I’ll look at what’s happening right now, I wish I were there,” Mitt Romney said. “It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done. The president is the leader of […]

How money enters the economy through deficit spending

Guest post:  From reader McWop who has been a constant for a number of years, aka Matthew McOsker, writes on: How money enters the economy through deficit spending. A simple model for discussion. When the government deficit spends here are the mechanics: a) Government buys goods from some private entity, let’s say $1,000 worth. The […]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/business/economy/corporate-profits-soar-as-worker-income-limps.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130304&_r=0   But although experts estimate that sequestration could cost the country about 700,000 jobs, Wall Street does not expect the cuts to substantially reduce corporate profits — or seriously threaten the recent rally in the stock markets. “It’s minimal,” said Savita Subramanian, head of United States equity and quantitative strategy at Bank of America […]

Minmum wages

Lifted from comments from Christina Romer’s post at Economist View http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2013/03/christina-romer-the-business-of-the-minimum-wage.html In response to a previous comment, Mark Sadowsky states: “On a global basis our low wage folks are vastly overpaid.” Most low wage workers in the US are employed in food preparation, personal care, farming, building maintenance and health support: http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci18-7.pdf Other than farming, […]

$1 trillion to be spent on direct hiring…that’s the ticket!

With all this stalemate posturing in Washington, today Chris Hayes has come up with the best idea I have heard yet to move the players. And, in my opinion actually solve our economic depression.   One trillion dollars to be spent on direct hiring by the government along with debt forgiveness.  A solution right out […]

Job Piracy Marches on in Alabama

Unmentioned in the recent Good Jobs First report on job piracy, it turns out that both relocation subsidies and retention subsidies are commonplace in Alabama. Greg Varner (@varnergreg) directs me to this report on how a Birmingham auto dealership, Serra Automotive, is demanding a multimillion incentive deal to keep it from relocating to another municipality […]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/02/1190980/-I-Know-You-Think-You-Have-a-Constitutional-Right-to-Vote-But-You-Really-Don-t