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

Wealthy people hire people? I didn’t know that

by Beverly Mann Wealthy people hire people? I didn’t know that.Crossposted with the Annarborist “Unemployed people hire people? Really? I didn’t know that. The truth is the unemployed will spend as little of that money as they possibly can.”(here)—Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona and Economics Nobel Prize laureate Actually, of course, since Shadegg is right […]

Unemployment extensions end soon

NELP (National Employment Law Project) notes: For administrative reasons, states need to shut down their extended unemployment programs in advance of the federal government’s Nov. 30 cut-off. NELP estimates that 800,000 people will lose unemployment benefits in the coming weeks and 2 million workers will lose their benefits by December if Congress fails to act. […]

Eurozone unemployment rate up in September

Yesterday Eurostat released the September unemployment rate figures for the European Union and the Eurozone. From the release: The euro area1 (EA16) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 10.1% in September 2010, compared with [downward revised] 10.0% in August4. It was 9.8% in September 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.6% in September 2010, unchanged compared with […]

Welcome to the World of the “New Normal”, UK Style

Marshall Auerback is a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, and a market analyst and commentator.crossposted with New Deal 2.0 Welcome to the World of the “New Normal”, UK Style Calling high unemployment the “new normal” is a lazy way to cover up poor fiscal policy. We are now starting to see the economic impact […]

Ezra Klein’s straw man argument. Rep Shuler’s 500 jobs and only 3 apply. Coburn on Washington Journal

by Daniel Beckerupdated: Tom Coburn, not John.I was not sure how to title this but, today on Washington Journal, Tom Coburn was on to talk about the economy and unemployment. At 2 minutes into the interview, Greta Brawner presents Ezra Klein’s take from this article: “And we’re just going to leave them without incomes and without […]

If higher unemployment is the tradeoff to fear of inflation, what does that mean for you and I?

Hat tip Rebecca for this link to the Curious Capitalist Invariably, when we start debating jobs programs and stimulus spending, people start talking about the long-term problem of government spending. It raises our national debt, and could cause inflation down the road. But what is often overlooked when inflation is brought up, is that not […]

Another blow to the US labor force

The Senate voted down the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010, 57 to 41 (see an earlier version of the CBO’s estimate here for a breakdown of the Bill). The emergency extensions to weekly unemployment benefits will now expire, leaving many without government support as the labor market improves at snail speed. […]

What You Measure is What You Try to Manage, FRB edition

For those who were thrilled by the positive general prospects in Rebecca’s post, the WSJ presents words to die/foreclose by: If that seems at odds with the economy’s recent strength, keep in mind that the unemployment rate is usually one of the last places recovery shows up. Many of us are having trouble forgetting that, […]