The Radford Free Press – Page 322 – All life is problem solving.

Economics / exports, imports, inflation, trade deficit /

Quick Comment: Trade

February 11, 2011

Today’s report tells us that the US trade balance worsened 5.9% in December to $40.6 billion, which ends a period of improvement and could potentially slow down overall growth early next year. The biggest shift came in oil, where imports and price increases drove the imbalance to its highest since October 2008. Overall for the […]

Economics / jobs, recovery, unemployment /

Quick Comment: Jobs

February 10, 2011

It’s been a quiet week for fresh data, but today’s weekly report on new claims for unemployment assistance is worth noting. For the first time since 2008 we have claims below 400,000 – they came in at 383,000 last week. It’s too early to breath too easily, we need many more such weeks, but this […]

Economics / banking, Bernanke, deficits, deregulation, Federal Reserve Board, home prices, inflation, interest rates, jobs, monetary policy, real estate, recovery /

Ideology, The Fed, and The Blame Game

February 9, 2011

Here we go. The next couple of years promise to bring us lots of fun as the newly elected Republicans bring their libertarian notions into the public gaze and out from the shadows where they have lurked hitherto. Today we got off to a good start as Ben Bernanke was quizzed in one committee, while […]