long-term employment

Do Unemployment Benefits Cause Unemployment?

The continued meme from the political right suggests that monthly disability benefits encourages people to have disabilities; Social Security checks are creating a generation of old lazy people; food stamps inspire poor people to quit their job (or not look for one) so they can eat steak and lobster for free; welfare checks seduces young unmarried women to lay on the couch all day long eating Bonbons while having multiple babies --- just as life insurance causes people to die prematurely; auto insurance recklessly leads to car accidents; home insurance rewards hard-working people to burn do

Bernanke Says We Don't Have Tools Strong Enough to Solve the Unemployment Problem Yet Does QE3

federal reserve buildingMore quantitative easing is here. The Federal Reserve will increase purchases of mortgage-backed securities and agency debt by $340 billion by December 31st, 2012. From the FOMC statement:

The Committee agreed today to increase policy accommodation by purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month.

The Committee also will continue through the end of the year its program to extend the average maturity of its holdings of securities as announced in June, and it is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities. These actions, which together will increase the Committee’s holdings of longer-term securities by about $85 billion each month through the end of the year

More astounding is the promise to continue to make MBS purchases until the employment rate is acceptable.

If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities, undertake additional asset purchases, and employ its other policy tools as appropriate until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability. In determining the size, pace, and composition of its asset purchases, the Committee will, as always, take appropriate account of the likely efficacy and costs of such purchases.

Unpublished

The Real Economy, Long-Term Employment, and Four-Inch Stilettos

Greetings all.

Searching through the site, I could not find any reference to Lynn Tilton, a unique and compelling lady about whom you may want to know.

A couple of weeks ago, NPRs Planet Money dubbed her 'The Private Equity Boss in Four-Inch Stilettos.' They posted a great podcast diving into the details of her work buying distressed companies.

More relevant for this community, however, is Lynn's unique and intimate perspective on the dire state of our economy and the solutions needed to support American industry and spur long-term job creation.

Twice on Yahoo! Finance this week, she spoke about two issues: The Huge Disconnect Between Stock Market and the Real Economy and Unemployment Benefits Just a "Band-Aid" Tilton Says, America Needs Industrial Jobs.