The Radford Free Press – Page 308 – All life is problem solving.

Economics / retail sales, stimulus, unemployment /

Chugging Along

April 14, 2011

Amid all the political drama the economy keeps on chugging. No great acceleration. No great slow down. Not enough to break the back of unemployment, but not bad either. Ho hum. Take today’s news on first time claims for unemployment assistance. They rose unexpectedly back above the magical 400,000 level all the way to 412,000. […]

Commentary, Economics / bank reform, defense spending, deficits, Federal Debt, Federal Reserve Board, fiscal policy, health care costs, Keynes, Medicare, Obama /

Round Two

April 13, 2011

The problem with caving in to a blackmailer is that they are inevitably emboldened to try again. Usually the second extortion effort raises the stakes for both sides. This is where we are with the budget. Obama caved in last week in order to keep the government functioning. In the process he acquiesced to a […]

Economics / bankruptcy, deficits, fiscal policy, GDP, jobs, MMT, recovery, stimulus, unemployment /

Shutdown: Shut What Down?

April 8, 2011

One of the more amusing sidelines in the ongoing shutdown saga is just how much the whole thing is grandstanding. The central point being that a shutdown is not really a shutdown. Here are some key things to remember: Only about half of government workers would be furloughed. That’s 800,000 paychecks not going into the […]