The Radford Free Press – Page 372 – All life is problem solving.

Economics / consumer confidence, consumption, deficits, fiscal policy, home prices, jobs, real estate, recovery, unemployment /

Consumer Confidence and Home Prices

July 27, 2010

Just a quick note on today’s news: Consumer confidence continues to drop. The Conference Board report today has confidence at 50.4 in July, down from 54.3 in June and the lowest level since February. The standard explanation for this steady erosion is that unemployment weighs heavily on the minds of everyone. I put a slightly […]

Economics / Bernanke, Federal Reserve Board, monetary policy /

When Will The Fed Act?

July 22, 2010

I see from today’s testimony before Congress, that Ben Bernanke promises the Fed ‘will act’ if the economy underperforms. Ummm. The economy is already underperforming. So: when will the Fed act?

Economics / banking, Keynes, Milton Friedman, Minsky, Paul Krugman, Paul Samuelson, Robert Lucas, stimulus /

Austerity: A Primer. The Ideas Behind The Debate.

July 22, 2010

In view of the ongoing, and fraught, discussion about austerity measures and their effect, I thought I would present the theories underlying the two sides of debate. Basically we are going through a rehash of the Orthodox versus Keynes argument that has been an episodic moment for decades. That it remains unresolved is testimony to […]