You may have seen noticed Q3 GDP was revised downward to 2.2%. This is the third and final revision. Originally Q3 GDP was 3.5%. Here is the full BEA release.
On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.
Must Read #1
VoxEU has a post we've hit upon many times, but this is based on new, in depth research. In Trade and labour income risk in the US: Evidence from longitudinal data, they discover a permanent income risk reduction directly correlated to the import penetration in that occupational sector.
You know where I stand, I hate the very concept of a transaction tax, but if we were to have one, then let me go the "lesser evil" route. Because as it stands, what's been proposed will not work. First the guy who posted about financial markets was spot on. You'll kill what's good about the markets along with bad. Companies need capital, hell the government now needs a stock market because it owns so much stock (as citizens, it would be nice if Uncle Sam made a profit on that stock so it could redeploy that capital to say infrastructure, I'm just saying.). Robert challenged me to come up with an alternative to meet his objections, so I will give it a go.
This was written and posted by Mitchell Hirsch last week at Working America's 'Main Street' blog, where he is a featured guest blogger. Mitch was kind enough to email me his HTML text to cross post it here.
What if Wall Street's financial transactions could be taxed to help fund job creation and economic recovery on Main Street? Politically the idea is vastly appealing, especially in the wake of Wall Street's bailouts and the resurgence of its obscene bonus plans. But as it turns out a financial transactions tax also makes a lot of economic sense.
The basic idea is fairly simple. Impose a small percentage tax of anywhere from .02% to .5% on things like securities trades and derivatives transactions, thereby generating an estimated $150 billion annually.
Leading Greek economists and bankers yesterday warned George Papandreou, prime minister, that he had to announce bold initiatives to rescue the country's collapsing bond market and avert the possibility of defaulting on a rising public debt.
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On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.
Must Read #1
In reference to this WaPo Bio on Neel Kashkari, the London Times pulls out some nice little tidbits. The $700 Billion number to ask Congress for, later known as TARP, was literally made out of thin air. They had no idea in reality how much money they needed.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
Taking a break from the never ending frustration of corruption in U.S. politics and obtaining real financial reform, let's move to a currently low demand commodity, oil. This CBC documentary, from 2007, explores China's new high oil demand. China's economy and especially it's industrial output surged 19.2% yr/yr, so one can be rest assured oil soaring prices and global demand eventually will return.
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