Recent comments

  • I am so sick of this fantasy of misapplied creative destruction which is supposed to apply to technology advances to jobs.

    Ya know at one time Africa had an active economic center called Egypt. So is this massive time period simple creative destruction so the new jobs can be innovated and move in?

    Last night on local news a guy said they should not use taxpayer money for public restrooms because the homeless do not pay taxes and therefore had no right to a public toilet facility.

    Reply to: If GM falls, Toyota will Suffer   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • and I believe should be an option.

    What the Obama team is suggesting is anything but.

    As far as MITI, I think that this analogy misses much of the point. The involvement of the Japanese government in building an effective industrial policy is far more complex than simply saying that the government was involved.

    The way that they state was involved matters a great deal more than the simple fact that they were involved. The Japanese where very pragmatic about their involvement, and very successful. The same thing was true of South Korea, and this is the reason that they've been able to expand their share of the auto market globally.

    The US needs our government to take a more active role in the industrial policy.

    Reply to: The problem with Obama's Economics Team   15 years 11 months ago
  • When you think in Stalinesque terms:

    To Bush, good money is money that goes to his friends, bad money goes to anybody else.

    Reply to: Bush - "We Don't Want to Throw Good Money After Bad"   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • One of my issues is global labor arbitrage or outsourcing-insourcing. Bernstein has given talks and raised this issue and that alone makes me really respect him.

    The Professional labor world, which is the Scientists, Engineers, Technologists, Mathematicians, even Economists, have been hit so heavy with this and finding Legislators or experts to stand up or even get some press is really difficult.

    So, hey, this is a community blog, if you have different views on him, you can always edit your post and expand as to why but the minute an economist start speaking truth on Professional labor issues I'm right in their camp!

    Reply to: The problem with Obama's Economics Team   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • The Bonus Army or good ole' Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party. These were the real threats to American Capitalism that FDR's New Deal beat back- and I fear that we're going to get a new new deal without actual change this time around as well.

    I'm not sure capitalism is working for us any more. It seems based on 19th century trade theories that were affected by a major lack of communication technology; maybe it's time for something new.

    Reply to: The problem with Obama's Economics Team   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • Much of the Democratic Party Left is pretty centrist, and they can certainly be unPopulist, although not necessarily anti-Populist. Remember, the original Populists threatened to take over the Democratic Party, and the Democrats tried to accede to as many of their goals as possible while doing as little as possible. Same as it ever was.

    But there is a distinctive "Left" that is separate from the Democratic Party, and pressures them.

    JR on Grist

    Reply to: The problem with Obama's Economics Team   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • What does that have to do with United Auto Workers and GM?

    Robert, perhaps we need a break from anonymous unverified posters for a while.

    Oh, on edit the next morning, I finally realized that this wasn't actually an anonymous post- there's an x-rated link underneath the word "Anonymous".....what good does it do a spammer if you can't find the link to click on?!?!?!?

    Reply to: UAW Wants a Seat at the Table, the GM Board Table   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • I noticed that on my recent tax assessment- my house lost $20,000 in value as expected, but my land went UP $15,000.

    Reply to: Housing and Recessions, Or, This Time it Isn't Different   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • that magic $.10/kwh

    Reply to: Is this a capital goods depression?   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • is that the Democratic Left is often a fake left- rich people trying to keep a populist backlash from taking away all they have stolen, instead of an actual populist/progressive egalitarian ideal.

    Reminds me of how Stalin interpreted Marx- everything for the Party, nothing for the People.

    Reply to: The problem with Obama's Economics Team   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • Already posted about Bernstein.

    I will say that Robert Rubin co-authored an article with Bernstein, and he has moved quite a bit to the "left" (or am I supposed to say "populist"?), although I still don't trust him, but according to a partly idiotic "analysis" in the N.Y. Times this morning, Obama is getting close to effectively nationalizing the auto industry, and the U.S. is on the verge of acting like Japan's MITI. We shall see (partly idiotic, I think, because Sanger, the author, says that governments have been "miserable" running economic entities)

    JR on Grist

    Reply to: The problem with Obama's Economics Team   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • The head of economist of the Economic Policy Institute, maybe the most liberal "mainstream" economic thinktank. Bernstein was put on Obama's economic team during the campaign when there was a brouhaha over Obama choosing a Rubinite for his main economic advisor. The unions screamed, Bernstein and James Galbraith (son of John Kenneth) were put on the team. I read that Bernstein was hired as Biden's top economic advisor. Maybe Biden will be the anti-Cheney?

    JR on Grist

    Reply to: The problem with Obama's Economics Team   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • foundry equipment?! Yowch!

    Speaking of Seymour Melman, when I first met him in the early 1980s, he was livid that the dollar was being "strengthened", a word he hated, which was killing the American exporters. I agree that the "tipping point" was around 1982. That may also be the point at which a majority of the American public had not experienced the conventional wisdom that manufacturing was important, which I think started to die in the 1970s. People who grew up in the 1920s and 1930s certainly intuitively understood the connection between a strong manufacturing base and national wealth, but by the 1980s people thought that we should be "post-industrial".

    JR on Grist

    Reply to: Is this a capital goods depression?   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • And just wait until the 5 year re-adjustables kick in. It's not going to be pretty.

    Reply to: Housing and Recessions, Or, This Time it Isn't Different   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • this:

     

    The Solar Grand Plan

     

    A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050.

     

    Check it out....

     

     

     

    Reply to: Is this a capital goods depression?   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • Bought our first house in 1991. It never regained its value until after we sold in 1998. We lost 10% not counting the realtors cut.

    Reply to: Housing and Recessions, Or, This Time it Isn't Different   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • ...they are not making any more of that and specifically. Certain land, say within 20 miles of downtown anywhere is increasing in value because of increasing transportation costs. This assumes that existing urban centers will remain existing centers of employment. A pretty safe bet as every effort to create 'work centers' in the countryside will run up against transportation costs. Gas will be $4.00/gal next year.

    I agree that the underlying problem is not enough income. Corporation income has risen quite nicely the last 40 years of 'conservative' economic 'free market' looting.

    The worker's income...

    Not so much.

    That is about to change big time for two reasons: the workers have finally figured out the scam, getting foreclosed upon or laid off will do that for ya; and, the system as currently built won't work unless the consumer can consume so the corporate scum will have to let go of some of their swag.

    Noting new just the 'growth economy' cannibalizing itself.

    Reply to: Housing and Recessions, Or, This Time it Isn't Different   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • The actual house is not declining in value, the value of dirt underneath the house is declining. Without the land cost, the cost of replacing the house would be about the same, no matter where you put it.

    The dirty little secret that economists can't seem to fathom is that immigration was used/pushed to create the housing bubble, sure as hedging drove oil towards $150.00 a barrel, population increases cause housing inflation. (10% annual is inflation not appreciation.)

    Meanwhile, U.S. job creation stagnated.

    Demand for housing will not return until housing is affordable -- housing valuation is based upon what amount the wage earner can afford to pay and the interest rate.

    Flattening wages through population increases (working age immigrants) will not improve the housing market -- it depletes the pool of qualified buyers. Let's not forget that there are millions of full time vacant homes that are not for sale and not for rent. The declining economy will cause many of these 7.6 million units to be introduced back into the for-sale inventory.

    "Approximately 4.0 million of the year-round vacant units were for rent, 2.2 million were for sale only, and the remaining 7.6 million units were vacant for a variety of other reasons."

    http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/qtr308/files/q308press.pdf

    Reply to: Housing and Recessions, Or, This Time it Isn't Different   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:
  • I think that the article and video showing the new PE was fabulous. I teach at a small private school where issues such as space and funding would make the ropes course challenging if not impossible. One way we have changed our P.E is to start the year with a six week unit on stretching, yoga and pilates. This not only benefits the overall fitness level of all students, but it also gives the non-athletic students the feeling they can excell at a physical activity. It also provides the athletes with the stretching techniques to prevent injuries, as well as promoting balance and flexiblility.

    Reply to: UAW Wants a Seat at the Table, the GM Board Table   15 years 11 months ago
  • Seebert,

    You and I are either both off or both on. Which is true, I don't know, but I see things just as you do. We are seeing the highest consumer debt since the 40's.

    The optimists must realize one thing...you CAN'T buy a house if you are in hock up to your ears! So many people on my street bought SUVs...big ones may I add...8 cylinder gas guzzlers by taking equity out of their house. They bought swimming pool and took vacations. Now they are upside down. No, they are not going to be buying a house anytime soon. Nothing that Obama can do to change that. I hate to be negative, but I call the shots as I see them.

    This system is built on a house of cards. Now the piper has come to ask for his wages.

    Reply to: Housing and Recessions, Or, This Time it Isn't Different   15 years 11 months ago
    EPer:

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