Archive for April, 2010

We have been waiting all week for the first quarter GDP numbers to be released, and the general expectation was that they would show growth of between 3.0% and 3.5% at annual rates.
Well, the report cam in exactly as predicted: 3.2%.
So the more important question is whether the growth is sustainable, or whether it came… »

And I mean ‘inching’.
There is not too much to add to the headline of this morning’s report on first time claims for unemployment. Last week saw a very modest drop in such claims, by 11,000 to 448,000. Hurrah. Progress should never be sniffed at, but this is a crawl to the finishing line rather than… »

Nothing else in the economy matters today, all eyes are firmly on the theatrics of the Senate hearings as Senator Levin’s committee grills various Goldman Sachs executives on the way in which that firm profited from the great crash that its own activities precipitated.
Anyone interested in the safety and soundness of our economy should take… »

For those of you sick and tired of the banking system and all the fuss being made about its reform, here’s an interesting diversion: how much of our unemployment problem is cyclical? and how much is structural?
This is a vital question.
Cyclical unemployment is that part that is cause specifically by the recession. The jobs lost… »

Well, here we are. The Senate is heading for a showdown today on bank reform. The odds are that the Republicans will vote against allowing a vote. That will trigger a pile of useless invective from both sides. Then, miraculously, a brokered solution will pop up and be allowed to the floor. Quite what that… »

One of the more delicious events in recent politics has been played out over the last few days. It was the complete undermining of the GOP’s Senate leadership by its own ranks.
Last week we went from one extreme to another as the GOP desperately tried to maintain any form of relevance in the face of… »

The Brown-Kaufman proposal probably has little chance of success, so in my long standing tradition of supporting the underdog I want to throw my support behind it.
The reason is very clear: our biggest banks are too big. Not just too-big-to-fail, but too big to do anything properly. They are unmanageable in any real sense. Even… »