We are entering an era of high inflation, to judge by the massive growth of the money supply in the United States, Europe and Asia, and the stubbornness of central bankers who insist that high unemployment demands the creation of even more money. The last time the world went through a similar period was…
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In the new Wall Street Journal article, “Fed Fires $600 Billion Stimulus Shot,” Jon Hilsenrath reports that the day after the stunning mid-term elections that clearly were a referendum against the Keynesian spending binge of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the Federal Reserve has launched another gigantic “stimulus” measure exactly like what…
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In a new article in the Wall Street Journal, Louise Radnofsky traces the bureaucratic stranglehold of federal, state and local governments that has directly hindered the spending of the Obama administration’s “stimulus” funding from the federal government. Specifically, she examines the malaise resulting from the roadblocks to insulate homes in Detroit because of restrictions…
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It must be a condition of employment that a journalist who writes about the current recession include in his article the statement, �consumption makes up more than two-thirds of the economy� or �consumption spending accounts for 70 percent of GDP.� This seemingly simple, factual statement, however, is nearly always intended to carry some explanatory…
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In Slate, James Ledbetter reports that “Social Security’s disability insurance is expensive, destructive, and out of control.” “Throughout the year, economists and both houses of Congress have debated whether to extend unemployment insurance for another 13 weeks, or 26 weeks, worried that the payments would bloat the deficit or, worse, actually cause people to…
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The New York Times on Monday, columnist Peter Orszag addresses the important issue of the the unsustainable budget deficit problem and the current high unemployment. What Orszag suggests as a “compromise” neglects the heart of both problems. Orszag suggests that “ideally only the middle-class tax cuts would be continued for now” but that doing…
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This new interactive graphic from the Wall Street Journal traces the growth in job gains and losses in the United States from December 2007 through August 2010. The results show that all sectors of the U.S. economy have dramatically declined except for employees in education, health care, and government, with federal and state workers…
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In a new online poll by the Wall Street Journal, 82.2% of those participating are voting no to the question, “Can more government stimulus lower the nation’s unemployment rate?” As the article states: “Washington’s response to the country’s stubbornly high unemployment rate will depend in part on who wins an increasingly intense debate over…
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Regime uncertainty has gained increasing recognition as the current economic troubles have persisted with little or no improvement since the economy reached a cyclical trough early in 2009. As described in my 1997 paper, regime uncertainty pertains to “the likelihood that investors� private property rights in their capital and the income it yields will…
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Ever since the bursting of the real estate bubble became evident at the end of 2007, Washington has been on a spending spree to avert events that, in its collective judgment, threatened the stability and solvency of the U.S. financial system and economy as a whole. Although the U.S. economy has experienced recurrent cycles…
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