Economics for Dummies (and Politicians)

32 states borrow billions from feds to cover unemployment benefits...
BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN - Hawaii has applied to be the 32nd state to borrow from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration to pay state Unemployment Benefits. Hawaii will temporarily take up to $30 million this December to cover payments to the state’s 17,000 unemployed workers who lost their jobs within the last 26 weeks. That is the beginning of what will likely be an 18-month borrowing streak, says State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Interim D...

What "Really" Causes Bankruptcy
A lot of what your friend says about Bankruptcy clients having taken on risks they couldn't handle is true. However, I DO feel sorry for most of my clients who have taken on too much risk, because almost always, they did it without realizing that was what they were doing. Nobody wants to be taking lessons in financial management from Bankruptcy filers, but the fact that someone made poor financial decisions doesn't really speak to whether one should "feel sorry" for them. For the record, I have ...

Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passes
(Dan here: I am traveling right now and am posting things late or maybe not as tidy as I would like. But posts are coming.) by Linda Beale Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passes crossposted with Ataxingmatter No big surprise here.  The House on December 16 passed the Senate-approved TRA by a vote of 277-148, clearing it for the President's signature.  The bill extends the Bush Tax Cuts for two years and reduces the number of estates ...

Breaking news: Philadelphia cures cancer, brokers lasting peace deal in the Middle East
I know, I know...just kidding with that headline. As you probably know, those things didn't happen this week. But why wouldn't Philadelphia be in a giddy state of euphoria and self-congratulation? The things that really did happen were pretty incredible -- an electronics manufacturer setting up shop in the American Street corridor and creating 650 good paying Manufacturing jobs in that Working Class neighborhood, a new bio-tech startup near the Penn campus had a hugely successful IPO, and then...

Liberal Consciences Put To The Test
Three Law Professors have established a website (h/t RightCoast via Instapundit) where people can calculate how much they are saving by the extension of the current marginal Tax Rates and then donate that amount to one of four selected charities. The website, GiveItBackForJobs.org, states that the purpose is as follows: America’s shared prosperity is under threat. Even as the Great Recession devastates the American Middle Class, the wealthy continue to prosper. The Tax Cut deal, while pe...

Raul Castro: Yeah, Socialisms Basically a Complete Failure So Were Going to Add Some Capitalism to Save it
Jennifer on HuffPo: Evil Karl Rove Behind Sweden’s Political Persecution of Assange. Havana (AP) — Cuban President Raul Castro told legislators Saturday that the future of the country’s revolution is at stake as the government tries to institute sweeping economic reforms, adding that the changes are meant to strengthen socialism — not replace it. Cuba has announced it will lay off a half-million workers from bloated state-run enterprises, while simultaneously allowing mor...

Recession forces rise in low-wage families, report says
The Great Recession, responsible for boosting Unemployment to its highest levels in a generation, has sharply increased the percentage of working people who earn wages so paltry that they are struggling to survive, according to a new report. This Story Recession forces rise in low-wage families, report says User Poll: What economic issue are you most concerned about? The share of Working Families earning less than double the official Poverty threshold - $43,512 for a family of four - increase...

Ball Announces Completion of Credit Facility
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) today announced it has completed the closing of its new senior secured credit facility. The new $1.4 billion senior secured credit facility extends bank maturities through 2015 and provides greater flexibility for Share Repurchases and other corporate actions. "The new credit facility provides Ball with additional borrowing capacity and more flexibility," said Scott C. Morrison, senior vice president and chief financia...

The Fireside Chat Returns to the White House
Franklin Roosevelt. had his radio microphone. Robert Gibbs has a Web cam. But the current White House Press Secretary has borrowed a page from the former Democratic president, answering questions from the public in front of a crackling West Wing fireplace. Mr. Roosevelt made the “fireside chat” famous in the 1930s and early 1940s, broadcasting over the radio from the White House as he addressed developments in the Great Depression and World War II. The broadcasts were enormously popular, an...

Question #10 for 2011: Monetary Policy
by CalculatedRisk on 12/21/2010 12:57:00 PM Over the weekend I posted some questions for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2011. I'll try to add some predictions, or at least some thoughts for each question - working backwards - before the end of year. Remember, I have no crystal ball and I'm sure many people will disagree. Also many of the questions are interrelated. The question on Monetary Policy depends on Inflation (question #9) and the Unemployment Rate (question #6). And the unemplo...

Obama's tax deal: read the small print | Dean Baker
President Barack Obama was forced to sign the bill on Tax Cuts and benefit extensions last week, despite admitting that he opposed some of its provisions. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images The enthusiasm of the US business press for the Compromise tax package worked out by President Obama and Republicans in Congress led to a mini-euphoria of upbeat economic projections for 2011. While The Economy will do better with this tax package than if no deal were forthcoming, much of the discussi...

Cause for Canadians to worry? You betcha
Canada’s economic rebound out of Recession has run out of steam. Canadian real GDP posted a meagre 1 per cent annualized rate of growth in the Third Quarter, The Economy recorded a record high trade and current account Deficit of 4.2 per cent of GDP, and Job Creation virtually ground to a halt in the last quarter. And this despite government efforts to stimulate The Economy through infrastructure spending – which is scheduled to soon end. For a change, the U.S. economy outpaced Canad...

Economy 2011
After watching Rachel Maddow's show last night (12/20/2010) that was live from the 92nd Street Y, I had a good feeling in regard to The Economy. Her guest towards the end of the show was the famed Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business, Dr.Nouriel Roubini. When asked about the Economy and where he saw us, Dr.Roubini claimed that the Recession was over and that there is recovery, and over the course of 2011 we could see a 3% growth overall. But that is where the ...

FYI: Citi changing its lineup of credit cards
Citi is simplifying its lineup of rewards Credit Cards. The new offerings streamline an array of cards into four versions of its ThankYou rewards cards: basic, preferred, premier and prestige. The revamped cards are already available for new customers. Existing customers will start getting notifications next month about the changes. Those who agree to switch over will get their new cards by May. Customers currently holding one of about 10 types of Citi cards—including the Simplicity Rewar...

111th Congress in Retrospect
Despite the soul-sucking process, this Congress has been one of the most productive and effective in recent history. Here's a clip from the Washington Post in January, 2010: ...this Democratic Congress is on a path to become one of the most productive since the Great Society 89th Congress in 1965-66, and Obama already has the most legislative success of any modern president -- and that includes Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson. The deep dysfunction of our politics may have produced public disdai...

Graham Berates GOP For 'Capitulation' Of 'Dramatic Proportions' In Lame Duck
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is not happy about the recent Productivity of the Lame Duck Congress, and blamed the GOP for allowing it to happen. "When it's all going to be said and done," he said on Fox News Radio today, "Harry Reid has eaten our lunch. This has been a capitulation in two weeks of dramatic proportions of policies that wouldn't have passed in the new Congress." "The Lame Duck session was meant to basically transition from one Congress to the next, not take every special interest ...

Danny Wong: No School, No Jobs -- Take the Leap With 20 Under 20!
Co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, is encouraging going Cold Turkey. Instead of fighting the war against drug Addiction, the vice here is Conservatism, being ordinary and taking the safe route in life. The Thiel Foundation is now sponsoring the Thiel Fellowship, also known as 20 Under 20. It seems it's never too early to be done with school or to forget about the cushy corporate life and take the incredibly brave plunge to become an entrepreneur. There are many notable entrepreneurs that rea...

WALTHAM FOREST: Loan firm's Tube sponsorship slammed
POLITICIANS in the borough have slammed London mayor Boris Johnson for taking money from a so-called "legal Loan Shark" to pay for free travel in the capital on New Year's Eve. But the CEO and founder of Wonga.com, Errol Damelin, has hit back at the claims and insists his company is a responsible lender. Ms Creasy said: "I've tabled Legislation to try to deal with the worst excesses of these companies and protect the poorest consumers in the capital but Wonga have written to me opposing these ...

Morris W. O'Kelly: Santa Obama Claus is Coming to Town
Although the Presidential Campaign of 2012 may not have officially begun, cynics like Mo'Kelly are of the opinion that it is actually in full swing. Of course presidents try throughout their First Term in the Oval Office to accrue chips and credits to cash later, come re-election time. With that in mind, "President Obama Claus" has been hard at work on his Christmas list, checking it twice and passing out gifts and treats this yuletide season. President Obama Claus evidently thought moderates ...

Larry David "praises" tax cuts for rich in NY Times
The liberal television icon took to the editorial pages of the New York Times on Tuesday to declare -- sarcastically -- that his life was finally getting better now that the Obama administration has extended Bush-era Tax Cuts for two years. "There is a God! It passed! The Bush Tax Cuts have been extended two years for the upper bracketeers, of which I am a proud member, thank you very much ... This is a life changer," David wrote in a missive headlined "Thanks for the Tax Cut!" Forbes Magazine ...

Curb Your Enthusiasm
You're welcome, Larry David: THERE is a God! It passed! The Bush Tax Cuts have been extended two years for the upper bracketeers, of which I am a proud member, thank you very much. I’m the last person in the world I’d want to be beside, but I am beside myself! This is a life changer, I tell you. A life changer! To begin with, I was planning a trip to Cabo with my kids for Christmas Vacation. We were going to fly coach, but now with the money I’m saving in taxes, I’m goin...

The 111th's biggest loser: Tax policy
The real loser of the 111th Congress has been tax policy. Most other issues the Congress took on, for all the Compromises and inadequacies and delays, were moved forward. Tax policy was moved backwards. The most egregious thing about the tax-cut compromise -- which, as I've said before, I supported given the options on the table -- was that it meant the Democratic Party was saying that the Clinton-era Tax Rates on the country were too high. But the real damage wasn't done during the deal-making....

Tsunami Thursday ends an era
John C. Wohlstetter is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a trustee of the Hudson Institute, author of The Long War Ahead and the Short War Upon Us, and founder of the issues blog Letter From the Capitol. Mark Thursday, Dec. 17, 2010, on your political calendar as the day twin cultures were defeated. The culture of spending, embraced by both parties, was repudiated decisively when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rose to pull the monster 1,924-page, 6,630-earmark omnibus spending bill....

BOJ holds fire, Shirakawa may assure on bond yields
By Leika Kihara Tokyo | Tue Dec 21, 2010 1:31am EST Tokyo (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept Monetary Policy on hold on Tuesday but warned of weakening factory output and business sentiment, assuring markets that it was focusing on downside risks to growth that may trigger further easing ahead. The decision to stand pat on policy was widely expected as the Central Bank likely felt no imminent need to top up its new asset buying scheme, with Tokyo stock prices on the rise and the yen well off ...

BOJ stands pat on policy, warns on output fall
By Leika Kihara Tokyo | Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:49pm EST Tokyo (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept Monetary Policy on hold on Tuesday but warned of weakening factory output and business sentiment, assuring markets that it was focusing on downside risks to growth that may trigger further easing ahead. The decision to stand pat on policy was widely expected as the Central Bank likely felt no imminent need to top up its new asset buying scheme, with Tokyo stock prices on the rise and the yen well off...