Globalization And Success

The concept of being successful in the global economic environment is a complex one. The January 17-January 23 2011 Bloomberg BusinessWeek had a short interview of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. I found the following excerpt notable, given Singapore’s successes in many areas: On Globalization Competition is intense, change is continuous, and the fruits …

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Financial Situation Facing Illinois

The state of Illinois has received much attention lately for its budgetary shortfalls and recently enacted personal and corporate income tax increases.  A January 13 Wall Street Journal article titled “Illinois Braces for Tax Increases” provides a summary of the current budgetary situation. I was quite surprised to see state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka declare …

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Disturbing Charts (Update 3), Part II

As a continuation of the last post, here are three other charts that I find disturbing in nature. These charts raise a lot of questions.  Many of these questions I have discussed in the blog, as I believe they are very significant in nature.  Additionally, these charts should highlight the “atypical” nature of our economic …

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Disturbing Charts (Update 3), Part 1

In the next two posts, I am going to display various charts that I find disturbing.   These charts would be disturbing at any point in the economic cycle; that they depict such a tenuous situation now – 18 months after the official (as per the 9-20-10 NBER announcement) June 2009 end of the recession – …

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Food Stamps As Of December 2010

This post is an update to previous posts concerning food stamps.  The program is officially called “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” or SNAP.  As stated on the SNAP website, “As of Oct. 1, 2008, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the new name for the federal Food Stamp Program.” The data was last updated December 2, …

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The “Safety Net” – A Few Comments

On December 14, The Wall Street Journal had a story titled “Fewer Homes ‘Underwater’ as Foreclosures Increase.” In the article, I found a quote by Matt Dobler as especially notable:  “It just kind of leaves you wondering what the safety net is for my generation, because it’s obviously not our home.” Although I typically don’t …

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Retail Sales Per Capita Adjusted For Inflation

On December 14, Doug Short posted to his blog a chart showing retail sales per capita, adjusted for inflation (CPI).  The data is through November, as noted on the chart: (click on chart to enlarge image) Of course, this view of total retail sales, on a per-capita (factoring in population growth) basis – as well …

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